Did I do the right thing?

[ShamelessAardvark]

Today, when I came home from school, I went to go move one of the rats and her kittens into a larger cage, when I noticed something in a neighboring birthing cage. A little weanling had managed to get his foot (at the ankle) stuck between the bars of the door hinges. There was blood on the surrounding bars, and his mom was standing over him. It was obvious she was trying to help him out, as she was investigating his foot and was generally comforting him. Freeing him was simple, I just had to open the door. The entire time the little guy didn't make a peep, and even tried crawling away after I had freed him, but his foot would not move. I picked him up and took him inside to clean the wound and asses the situation. His foot, from the ankle down, was purple, cold, and unresponsive. The rat was still very active, but it was clear his foot wasn't going to wake up. The ankle itself was constricted, bloody, and broken. I did my best to clean it, but what else could I do? I couldn't take it to the vet, I had to leave for work soon, and he was more than likely too small for surgery (opened his eyes about three days ago.) I couldn't put him back in with his mom and littermates, his foot would probably have gotten caught in something, or he could have been bullied to death. The only thing I could think to do... was feed him off. I did. I cried so hard though, I just felt terrible. My mom says I did the right thing, as he was probably in a lot of pain, but... part of me can't help but feel that I could have saved him. It doesn't help that I didn't have any dry ice or CO2 to euthanize him myself. I just feel awful.

[alpine]

Don't be upset, he went towards helping one of your other animals. And you took away his pain rather than keeping him and having him hurting more. You did the right thing, and in that kind of situation, many people would have done the same. Momentary pain before he passes at the hand of a reptile is better than long term pain due to an injury that might not have any way to fix it. You did the right thing, even though it hurt.

[Flikky]

I think you did the right thing as well. I would have cried if I were you too but you ended his pain in the quickest way it seems. I would have done the same, sorry that had to happen

[mainbutter]

That's the right thing to do.

Don't forget that cervical dislocation is a great choice to put a small rodent out of its misery if you ever need to in the future, but don't have access to CO2. Heck a form of it works extraordinarily well even on 5lb rabbits.

[ballpythonluvr]

Yes, you did do the right thing. I once had a few rat pups and I wanted to keep one because it was so cute but it fell ill and I didn't have access to any CO2 so I ended up feeding it off to one of my snakes. I was very sad but I know I did the right thing in this case.

[FoxReptiles]

You did the right thing. Its unfortunate that doing the right thing sometimes moves the pain onto you instead of another. Many times, doing the wrong thing is easier but causes more pain and suffering over-all.

[RestlessRobie]

You did the right thing. I will do this if I have an injured or ill rat as well they either get gased or fed off so dont beat yourself up about it