# HELP! Rat has red poop!



## LoveWithRats (Jun 27, 2016)

I'm not sure if my 3 month old female poop is red because of her new diet and introducing new fruits and veggies, or if she has another issue. It's not dark blood red, but more like this emoji  . The entire thing is not red, but more like half of the poop nugget. I cannot go to a vet at the moment because I haven't gotten my pay check, what do you recommend? Is there anything at home I can give? I have some human antibiotics because I have a chronic illness, but I know I wouldn't want to do that until absolutely necessary.


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## Prince (Jun 17, 2016)

There's a pretty darn good chance that it's from the fruits and veggies you've been giving her. Have you been feeding your rats strawberries? Carrots? Cranberries?
Is she on any blood thinners? Taken any in the past week?
Bloody stools is nowhere near as common as coloured poop from food.
As a precaution, I do think you should take her to the vet, and give your rattie some foods very high in fiber to help soften his stools.
I can't remember exactly what animal of mine I fed milk of magnesia for constipation, but that might be something worth looking into. Ratguide should be able to point you in the right direction.

As a side note, if you're 100% sure it's blood after you rule out dietary things (remember it can take up to 12 hours for a rat to fully expel food from its digestive system) then you can gage where the blood is coming from by colour. The brighter the colour, the farther down the digestive track it is.
Bright red blood indicates the bleeding is likely right at the colon, which could be a fissure. More serious internal bleeding would be either very dark red, or she would have black, almost coffee grind like poop.


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## Lady Wulf (Jul 20, 2014)

It could be due to something she ate. Is she showing any other signs that she might not be feeling well? I would just keep an eye on her for a bit, see how she's acting, and wait for her to poop again to see if the same thing happens again.


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## LoveWithRats (Jun 27, 2016)

I have been giving her carrots and bits of strawberries. Should I stop to see if she gets better? She is not on any medication and has not been on any meds ever. It is not very dark red or black. This color --->  I may post a picture of it next time she poops.


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## SerendipityRats (Jul 1, 2016)

It could be the strawberries coloring her poop. I would hold off on the strawberries and just keep an eye on her and see if it happens again.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

I think it is the food too. I would stop giving them red food for a few days and see if the poop is still red. If you have hydrogen peroxide on hands (costs $1), you could put a drop on a normal looking poop and 1 drop on a red poop. If it is blood, the peroxide will bubble up sooooo much more on the red poop. Peroxide is great to clean rat related stuff- I use the top of a spray bottle that I screw on the dark bottle the peroxide comes in.


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## LoveWithRats (Jun 27, 2016)

She seems okay and the poop has stopped and returned to normal!


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## Tuncay93 (Jul 3, 2016)

LoveWithRats said:


> She seems okay and the poop has stopped and returned to normal!


Probably something she ate had colored her poop


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