The Rat Fan Club
Bumblefoot
by Debbie Ducommun
updated
Bumblefoot (the medical term is
ulcerative/granulomatous pododermatitis)
is an infection in the bottom of the heel that usually appears as a round reddish swelling (the bumble) and/or an ulcer that
can form a yellowish crusty scab. It sometimes breaks open and bleeds. It often
affects both back feet, although one foot is usually worse than the other. Fortunately,
bumblefoot usually seems to cause rats little pain or
discomfort. Some bleeding now and then is not serious.
Bumblefoot is most common in older,
overweight rats who live in wire cages. The infection
occurs through continuous pressure and irritation on the foot and is a chronic
problem. It may also be associated with the use of pine or cedar shavings. It also seems that some rats may have a
genetic predisposition to the problem, as it seems to run in families. Once the
infection occurs, it can be very difficult to eliminate. Neither oral nor
topical antibiotic treatment is very effective. Below is a case of a
long-standing severe ulcerated bumble.
Treatment
So far, the best treatment I can recommend for bumblefoot is Blu-Kote, a wound
medication for horses. Dab it on with a cotton swab once or twice a day, and
blow on it until it drys. It stains, so wear old
clothes and place the rat on an old towel. It will also sting if the wound is
open.
Unfortunately, Blu-Kote
doesn’t help in all cases. You can also try grapefruit seed extract (
I’ve also had a report of good success soaking
the foot in an Epsom salts solution. Use water as warm as you can stand, mix
¼ tablespoon of Epsom salts in 1 cup water. Put in a baggie and hold
over the foot as long as you can.
Other treatments that have worked in other cases are:
a calendula ointment from a health food store; Altabax,
an ointment containing 1% retapamulin (a new antimicrobial
from mushrooms); Betagen Topical Spray (a combination
of gentamicin and a steroid, from Med-Pharmex); and a liquid bandage product.
Preventative Treatment
Treating bumblefoot involves
not only treating the sores, but also changing the conditions that led to the
problem. Often, changing the
rat’s environment will cause mild sores to heal on their own. Most important is to change the type of
litter or flooring in the cage. If
the rat is in a cage with wire floors, the floors should be removed or covered,
or the rat moved to another cage without wire floors. Even if the rat seems to
spend little time on the wire floor, it’s still important to eliminate
it. Wire floors can be covered with
vinyl flooring, Contact paper, carpet, plastic needlepoint canvas or vinyl sink mats.
If there is no wire floor, and the bottom of the cage
is covered with litter or bedding, try switching to another type. Eliminate pine or cedar shavings and
avoid corn cob litter, which is rough.
You might need to experiment with different floor coverings to find what
works best. Confining the litter to
a litter box instead of covering the whole floor might help. Or, covering the floor with a soft
bathmat (without rubber backing) also might help.
If the rat is overweight, she should be put on a diet
to reduce the amount of pressure on her feet. First weigh her so you’ll be able
to keep track of her progress. You
can buy an inexpensive kitchen scale for this. If your rat won’t stay still on
the scale, put her inside a small paper or cloth bag first. Be sure to subtract the weight of the
bag. First reduce the amount of
food you give your rat by one third, and in particular eliminate any extra high
fat foods such as peanuts. Often
the rat will lose a certain amount of weight and then reach a plateau. If further weight loss is needed,
you’ll again have to reduce her rations by one third until the desired
weight is reached.
Surgery
In rare cases, bumblefoot can
cause pain, which will cause your rat to be reluctant to move or put weight on
the foot. In this case, surgery might be needed. If pus or a bad smell is
present, it means that a secondary abscess has formed under the bumble and
surgery might be necessary in this case as well. This should be discussed with
your veterinarian.
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