# excessive blood, no injuries HELP!



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

View attachment 126441


Last night I gave the girls extra paper towels because they were nestin like crazy. I was home all last night and sleep lightly in the same room as them. I was absent from 7-11am, and again from 2-6 but have since been home and free ranging them. As I putting them away I decided to add a puppy pad because they've torn the other one up for a nest. When I moved the nest to arrange it atop the puppy pad, I felt moist. I pulled it up to see what I believe to be blood. 


No possibility of pregnancy. Everyone free ranged without lethargy or limps. In a brief inspection, I found nothing wrong and no one distressed. This is too much and too solid to be porphyrin. 

The only abnormalities; in my inspection, I found that Iris had a slick tail and worried of degloving but my touch didn't pain her and she'd been lying in the blood. I've also found that they've been hiding their lab blocks, not eating them. At this time I'm making them wait an eat them. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Oh also they've no nearby wood toys or anythjnf to bleed red. At best, their crinkle tunnel has red stripes...


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

And no red foods or crayons. It again was slick like fresh blood. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## LeStan82 (Dec 31, 2013)

Definitely looks like blood. Is it bloody urine? Pyometra? Cut on gums? I would reinspect them thoroughly again. Hard to say what it could be from.


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I'm checking them now. I've replaced the cage bedding and am searching them over. No one seems to have blood around their vaginas, and they are all white-bellied. 

I found one bite wound but it was to the back of ones neck and very tiny I don't think it could've bleed this badly. 

Caius, the rat in the photo, stuck her face in the frame at the last secon but is a full grown female a year old. So it is a lot of blood. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## LeStan82 (Dec 31, 2013)

its weird b/c it looks wet as well. And on the right at the green house, is that small puddles? Pic becomes blurry when I zoom in.


----------



## Daize (Jun 8, 2013)

Are any of them taking any medications? Sometimes the meds can mess with the color of their urine.


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Iris is bleeding from vagina 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Daize (Jun 8, 2013)

nanashi7 said:


> Iris is bleeding from vagina
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


That sounds bad. I hope she's going to be alright.


----------



## DustyRat (Jul 9, 2012)

Oh no...


----------



## LeStan82 (Dec 31, 2013)

oh no, sounds like a spay is in order.


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

No e vet will spay her only euthanize. She is still active and mad at me. I've separated her for now. 

Any advice is welcome. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## LeStan82 (Dec 31, 2013)

What? Why wouldn't they spay her? Do you have a way to contact your reg. Vet after hours. At work if it is an emergency, you can still contact the dr.


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I got a hold of a doc about an hour away who agreed to come in. He felt her and looked at the blood and suspects polyps in uterus, maybe cancer. Decided to spay her tonight. Awaiting his call that she made it through. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Xerneas (Aug 6, 2013)

Hope everything goes well


----------



## Dovahkiin (Sep 24, 2013)

Puppy pads are very bad for small animals. They have artificial pheromones added to get the puppies to use them. VERY toxic for rodents.
I would remove the puppy pads and continue to keep an eye on your babies.

I hope everything turns out okay!


----------



## Hey-Fay (Jul 8, 2013)

I hope she made it alright through the spay. Sending healing thoughts to both of you.


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

She made it through. It was a huge tumor that could only be felt by palpating her abdominal region. I always check my rats visually and by touch for growths, but this is a warning that that isn't enough. 

I'm super thankful to this vet. Not only did he meet me after hours, but I was not a patient there. We talked and this was actually his first rat spay (done tumor removals and neuters but no spay to a rat; spayed Guineas and ferrets and bunnies) so be warned me to go somewhere experienced if I could. Due to the amount of blood, I asked him to go ahead. I wasn't sure she'd make it through the night. 

Now we just have to see if, if it was cancer, it spread to anywhere. 

I retrieve her at eight thirty. I've been tossing and turning all night. What an affair. 


Dovahkiin, I'll look into the puppy pad thing. I had been assured they were safe and never purchase ones that advertise added scents. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I wasn't prepared to deal with a post-surgery recovering rat. Right now, I've got the hospital cage minimally set up and I was wondering a few things, since spays are more intrusive than neuters. 

Are hammocks okay? She loves to lay in them when she is cold. 

Can she have a friend or two? I've got two very subdued girls, Demetria and Artemis, and I was wondering if they could keep Iris company. She hates being alone, and hasn't been since she came home in August. I'll be likely trying the ace bandage type wrap to keep her stitching safe. 

Can she free range? I don't intend to free range her with my rowdy boys or hyper girls, but can she be allowed out at all? I assume if she can, it shouldn't be in an area she can run climb and otherwise explore the entire mess of my bedroom?


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Ellavedder (Feb 19, 2013)

i had one of my girls spayed and the other had both ovaries and uterus out after a hemorrhage. the one that had both out was difficult as her incision was on her stomach so she had to be wrapped and i kept her by herself for 10 days right next to the main cage. she had her hammocs and toys as usual. checked the incision every chance i got through the day. gave her supervised visits with the other girls. the other one with the back incision i kept her apart from the main cage for around the same time but she didnt have to be wrapped cause she couldnt reach the incision. if you let the other rats near her without watching i guarantee you they will rip out her stitches. thats just what they do. having it open up and get infected is a nightmare. just keep her seperated but next to the cage. free roam by herself is fine. the main goals are check the incisions for infections and keep her away from other rats until its healed an appropriate amount (wont open up if stitches are pulled out)


----------



## Ellavedder (Feb 19, 2013)

the cage was set up so that she didnt have to climb to get to the hammocks. she also had a tent on the floor that she could walk into and sleep if sh didnt want to jump. i kept her quiet for the first three days and then i let her free roam. she hated being alone but the risks of the other girls grooming her is way too high.


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Alright, thanks. I'll let her have company with the calm girls only under careful supervision. 

I've set the cage up with two boxes, one full of paper to nest with and one with bedding she likes to play with. I put in a corner hammock and another hammock, both reachable without much climbing. I'm going to try and even further reduce that climbing, but I hve to see how the water bottle will be (the vet has my bottle). 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

By the way, does anyone have more information on uterine tumors or cancers in rats? I can't find much specific. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

View attachment 126665


Iris is home. She's drinking like mad. She looks really thin now though I hope she was just puffy with pain. 
Everyone at the clinic was fawning over how nice and cute she was, which is funny since just a few months ago she was mean. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

She's begun pinching sides and doing owie stretches. She was dosed before she left with pain meds and I just gave her tonight's dose (with permission from the vet). I'm very concerned for her. She keeps laying down to sleep then snapping up to I assume owie stretch her eyes are half open and she's not very responsive. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

She just came out of her nest pretended to take a drink and is shuffling along the cage floor making a chewing sound. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Ellavedder (Feb 19, 2013)

both my girls were fluffy as the first day. the vet said expect them to be quiet for a few days but they perked up by the second day. i did the same as you did regarding the pain meds. it sounds like a standard recovery. the first night i was so worried that i set my alarm up for every three hours during the night to check on her lol. she is probably making that noise cause she is frustrated with the pain. she will perk up. the best sign is the drinking and eating the vet told me. so everything sounds great


----------



## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

What a scary experience! Nanashi, you are seriously an amazing rat parent. You very likely saved your little girl's life. I hope it was just polyps and nothing cancerous that you have to worry about later. The vet you found to help her was great too, what a kind person!

I know you have experience with neuters already, but for my boys, they were doing the owies for the first day but stopped by day 2. Hopefully Iris feels better very soon, I can only imagine the chaos she's felt from this whole sudden experience. At least now all she has to worry about is relaxing and recovering.

Again, you are great!!


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

See, my boys were groggy and sleepy and grumpy post-neuter but never in such severe pain. They just came home and went to sleep. Iris couldn't, it was so bad. She had her sides suched in as much as she could and refused to move her back legs or lift herself up.

She's a lot better today, thank the gods. She slept in her hammock and doesn't want the heating pad anymore. After her morning dose of Tramadol, she did her typical bratty thing and turned around like, "Uh, where's my treat?". I still can't get her to eat anything solid, but she loves Nutrical now -- I couldn't leave her any porridge because I am at work until 2 and if she didn't eat it all it'd go bad -- she'll only eat it warm, last I tried. 
How much Nutrical should she get, and rice cereal with soy milk? I don't want her to start refusing her lab blocks for better food (which she would totally do), and I don't want to over-plump her. But other than porridge and nutrical, she'll only eat lettuce.

She hasn't touched her stitches at all.


----------



## Maddie (Jan 13, 2014)

Poor girl, hopefully she will start feeling better soon. I know when my dogs were fixed my boy was up moving around pretty quickly but the girl was sick for a while(makes sense of course bigger surgery there). She was kinda loopy and dust eat much for four or five days an then was up running about again.


----------



## LeStan82 (Dec 31, 2013)

You could try to add a little H20 to her reg. Food enough to make it soft, mush it up with a little babyfood, so it is like a gruel, you could also warm it up a bit, see if she will eat her food like that. Thats how I got one of my boys to eat when he was sick.


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I mushed it, put oatmeal on it, slathered it in NutriCal, and she still won't have it.


----------



## LeStan82 (Dec 31, 2013)

I would give the vet a call, some antibiotics / pain relievers can cause decreased appetite. Does she still seem painful and uncomfortable?


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

No she seems pretty good but not eating. She'll climb a bit hasn't fussed her stitches but she won't eat much; I have to take her back in a week for a checkup. 

It's unfortunate to say, but right now I don't think I could afford for anything to go wrong. I'd rather buy her a pizza than more vet and gas bills ($350 vet bill, $25 tramadol, $30 gas). 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## LeStan82 (Dec 31, 2013)

In that case, I would feed her what ever you can get her to eat until her recheck.what antibiotic is she on?


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Tramadol .2cc twice a day; Metacam .2cc once a day. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Antiquatemyheart (Mar 25, 2014)

I hope everything is going well! Healing vibes!


----------

