Broken toe

[Monica]

So being a normal ferret-mom worrier, I wanted to double check. My big boy Henry managed to break a toe this morning. I have a ferret nation cage, with one door taken off so it's always open (it's flush on the ground, no wheels so they can get in and out easy) and if you've seen one without a door, the hinge is a little pole on the cage and a peg on the door. Well while flipping about and playing this morning he somehow flipped perfectly so a front toe got stuck in that teeny gap. I had to wrap him in a blanket to keep him still and carefully get his toe out.

He's walking around, limping a little, but walking. And playing and getting over the baby gate and eating and drinking so it looks like other than that all is well. As long as there aren't any complications I'm assuming a vet will just look at it and say "Yep! It's broken!" and tell me to wait for it to heal just like with any human or animal. I was trying to look up if there's anything I can give him for the pain because I feel bad he's got to tough it out, but the way he's behaving is quickly convincing me he isn't hurting too badly. I held a cold washcloth on it every half hour or so for as long as he'd let me while he was awake this morning hoping it wouldn't swell horribly. It's nice and purple and swollen though.

So my question is I'm right in the assumption that a vet will just say it needs to heal, right? And I should just keep an eye out for complications, yes? It's funny how much they can make us worry :P

Thanks in advance :)

[Deleted]

Aww poor wee baby!

No idea what the vet. Would say but Im sure someone here will know

[Deleted]

Until someone more who knows more weighs in, just a word of warning, that you probably don't need..DO NOT use tylenol, it is toxic to ferrets. I know what you mean about the vet though, a broken toe for humans and I suspect ferrets can't really be bandaged. I think most of the ferrents will recommend Bachs Rescue Remedy, but wait and see what everyone else says. Poor little guy, hope he feels better soon.

[Sherry]

I would still be taking him in just in case more than the toe was broken. If there is a fracture of the lower leg he could be in trouble.

[Monica]

Thanks guys! It looks pretty dark purple/red and swollen still, but he's sleeping pretty soundly right now so I don't want to wake him, I know sleep is sometimes the best medicine. If he's favoring it more I may bring him in, he did do a flip after he realized he was stuck, so I am a little worried about twisting or damage to his leg. He was putting pressure on it earlier, but with the time that has passed since this morning he might be favoring it more when he gets up.

Thanks for the tylenol info, I didn't know that. I don't keep tylenol brand in the house as it upsets my stomach, but good to know for the future!

And thanks for all the support in general, I used to be on a few other ferret forums and they seem to have all petered out. I may be sticking around here now

[unclejoe]

acetominophen and ibuprofen are both toxic. The vet would likely prescribe torbutrol or metacam for pain and/or swelling. I hope he heals quick!

[Monica]

Thanks unclejoe, I like knowing the names of things like that so if we do need to bring him to the vet I know what to ask about. I guess we've just been lucky with our other 6 we've had (we have 4 now and had 2 girls before them) that we haven't had any major emergencies or injuries. He woke up a little bit ago to potty and was putting weight on it again like this morning. If his leg starts swelling at all we will be heading in quick tomorrow though.

[Deleted]

My guy Taz broke his toe getting it caught in his cage, my dad walked in to find him hanging by his toe, not sure how long he was stuck The vet did x-rays to confirm it was just the toe that was broken, and luckily there was no other damage. It ended up healing crooked and always stuck out at an odd angle. I didn't get any pain meds for him at the time because he seemed to be tolerating it well, but in hindsight a broken bone is a broken bone and I'm sure he would have appreciated some metacam.

Like the others have said, do not medicate with anything you have at home. I would think he'd appreciate some pain relief, ferrets hide it well.

[Sherry]

Bupenorphrine is the pain med our vet prefers.

[Thérèse]

know if I even just stub my toe it hurts like h*ll, so I imagine a broken toe is painful and would be looking at getting some pain meds for him.

Hoping the silly boy heals up well

[Monica]

Thanks again for all the advice This morning the swelling has definitely gone down a lot. I'm going to give the vet a call and ask what they would consider giving him for pain meds and talk about fitting him in somewhere though. They sure do hide the pain very well, he's playing and jumping around and being his normal self. I'm sure this injury looks a little worse than it would on our others, he's albino and super huge. Stretched out he is literally 2 feet long