Poor Rocket grieving and hurt his leg.

[Jovi]

Oooo what a week . Still so upset from putting Blizzard asleep Saturday. Been spending extra time with Rocket as everyone suggested. Put him in his cage after a run last night at 1am and checked him at 12 noon and he was laying on bottom of cage in shavings which he never does. I picked him up .. took me a while to figure out what was wrong. He was limping . His hind leg he couldnt put pressure on . There is no where to fall in his cage.. shelves are staggered to prevent this. I took him in for emergency visit cause i didn't wanna wait until 5. They felt his leg and noticed tender spots and x-rayed but luckily no break. She said it must be a muscle injury . Anyone have any experience with this happening? She gave him a pain / anti-inflamatory med. Said to limit him to lower level of cage and no run for a week . I can't even explain how bad i feel for him . He has already been so stressed with the death of his brother and now all this. Medicine was prescribed for a week . Please does anyone know what can cause this and if he will be ok ? All playtime is surpervised in his very own room. He did get spooked twice this week ( he seems more skittish with blizzard gone) and took off really fast for shelter. I have had no issues for 5- 6 years and now all in 1 week.

 

[InkedupTara]

He may have just fallen and twisted it funny, what pain med did she give, Metacam? poor guy. make sure you do restrict him to the bottom of his cage for a bit, so he cant reinjure it.

Get well little buddy!

 

[lauralynne]

Poor Rocket! I don't have any advice, but your little guy is in my thoughts. Hope he is doing better very soon!

 

[Jovi]

Yes , they gave him metacam .5 mg. for a week . They said chins sometimes actually even like the taste of it. Again if anyone has experience with injuries that arent fractures please let me know what their experience was and what i can expect. How true it is when they say "when it rains , it pours".
Oh she also mentioned the bottom of one foot looked a little sore and swollen but i am completely confused. He has no wire shelves at all and no surface i can think of that would cause this. She said if not careful it can turn into an infection but she didn't give me anything to put on it and i cant imagine what it is from .

 

[Carol~Anne]

Hmm, this sounds similar to what I went through a couple of weeks ago with my boy Zeke. I checked on the boys one morning like every morning and he was hunched up in the corner of the cage at the bottom on top of his shavings. He NEVER would sleep down there so I knew something was wrong with him.

I took him out and checked him over but couldn't see anything wrong so I put him on the couch and then I noticed he dragged his butt end behind him and looked really awkward. I immediately thought that he had taken a fall and hurt his back leg(s).

Got online with some chin-savvy people, described what was happening and immediately a very knowledgeable person (thank you Dawn!) recognized the symptoms I was describing as bloat.

I took Zeke to the vet that day and the vet looked him over and took an x-ray, couldn't find any fractures and told me she highly doubted it was bloat and that she would start him on anti-inflammatories if he hadn't gotten better by the next day.

In the meantime I treated him for bloat which included, hand feeding Critical Care, simithecone (sp?) baby gas drops, Life Line, a little water and lots of belly massages and run about time on my couch. It took me three days of doing all these things diligently and little Zeke pulled through.

I am telling you my experience just in case your guy does have bloat and has not taken a fall. Keep a close eye on him to see if he's eating drinking, pooping etc. Zeke wasn't doing any of those things and was all crunched up at the bottom of his cage and he just didn't 'look' well.

Edit: I should also add that when I examined Zeke, his sides seemed somewhat caved in which is another sign of bloat.

 

[Jovi]

wow, didn't even think of that . But his leg did seem tender when she touched certain areas and he has actually been eating a lot. he is eating his hay and pellets. He has been pooping too. I was actually surprised to see him eating while at the vets office. I put hay in there just in case . I will do some more research on that because if it is something like that and not his foot we are giving him totally the wrong care. So i hope not but ty for the advice.

 

[Carol~Anne]

It's just something else to think about that's all. It's very possible that Rocket has injured his leg but it's always good to keep an open mind as well as ruling out other possibilities.

That's a good thing if he's eating and drinking on his own, my guy was not.

 

[InkedupTara]

I have a chin who takes metacam and she loves it!

 

[Jovi]

Calling the vet now to ask if she considered that while examining him today . TY

 

[Carol~Anne]

Keep us updated on how things are going, and if Rocket suddenly stops eating and pooping then immediately start with the force feeding. I know people call it hand feeding but you really do have to force food into the little buggers.

 

[VolunteerChin22]

Bless his heart. I hope he doesn't have bloat! Good luck to yall

 

[Jovi]

Vet has been so nice.. she just called me back and she did check his abdomen and gave everything a good once over . She didn't see any signs of bloat and he is eating fine. In fact , he hasn't stopped eating . So i guess it's just a muscle strain.

 

[CerLynn]

We went through this with one of our boys - he had gotten caught in one of his ladders (which were promptly removed) and ended up hanging upside-down by his back leg. It was luckily just inflammation and he healed up just fine within a week or so. However, about a month later, he had a fall and ended up breaking the same leg. We'll never know if the two injuries were related, but I have a hunch that the bone might've been weakened in the first incident. So to answer your question, if it was a fall/injury, he'll probably recover quickly and be just fine, but just be aware that it could be a weak point in the future. Good luck and keep us updated!

 

[Newt]

My Poppy had metacam after an emergency spay (for pyometra), and she really loved the taste....she'd come to the bars and even open her mouth for the syringe!!
Here's hoping Rocket feels better soon, I'm sure the pain meds will help him. Best wishes to Rocket xxxx

 

[Jovi]

Thanks for all the well wishes. The pain med must be working too good. Rocket is not happy being stuck in his cage and wants to get out and bounce around! He is definately not limping or holding the leg up like he did yesterday either so i think he is feeling better. I guess i better follow directions though and wait the week for it to fully heal. Vet said he mayfeelbatter cause of the meds and over do it if i let him out. I hope this was just a fluke and the result of an abrupt movement . Still cant figure out how or where he could fall from.

 

[Nancy S]

So happy to hear little Rocket is getting better. As far as the bottom of the foot ---i have 2 boys with feet problems and it can be because of the wood shelves and how they jump on them. Use the "bag balm "(put it on bottom of his feet 2-3 x week) to prevent a bigger problem. They get use to you putting it on and it really "does" help. You can get it at drugstores/grocery stores. Sending my love to Rocket!He He