Krümel has somehow broken his foot. Unfortunately the x-ray showed that the break is right in the ankle joint, which is a bad place for it to heal. Casts and such aren't an option for rats, because they'd only hurt themselves more getting things off, so the only thing is to wait and hope it'll heal on its own, by making him rest as much as possible for a few weeks, though the vet did give him something against the pain and swelling today.
The best case scenario is that the joint just gets stiff. Unfortunately the vet said that sometimes rats will gnaw or bite the places that hurt them, so I have to check that he doesn't chew his limb open too. And I can't let him climb stairs or anything else or the break won't heal at all. And he isn't the youngest anymore either.
My cage is large with six levels and I can only separate two level elements with the built in barriers, so I rearranged things to put a small hamster cage I still had as an isolation/sick cage inside one level of the larger cage. Krümel and the others can see and smell each other (so that there hopefully won't be any trouble when he rejoins them), but he can't move much, get into scuffles or climb anything (seriously how anyone could incarcerate a rodent permanently in a cage this small is incomprehensible).
Krümel isn't too happy with this turn of events, but OTOH I hope he won't mind too much because he hobbled very little yesterday evening anyway, just to get food and to the toilet corner, which is understandable, I wouldn't walk on a broken foot either, but both involved stairs from his favorite sleeping place, and obviously that couldn't go on. It's kind of unfair too that he now can't sleep cuddled with the others, but of course the others won't be careful with his foot and non-sleeping rat interactions don't really lend itself to keeping an ankle as still as possible.
Anyway, wish Krümel luck that his broken joint will heal without serious complications.
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