mouse bleeding from vagina

Question
Hi Tam

Help! My mouse is bleeding from her vagina! I don't know if she is having a miscarriage or other health problems. She used to be with other males in the community but recently I have taken out all the males due to other mice giving birth. So she is in an all female community now. She also used to have a constipation problem and still have the problem but it has lessen. What should I do about the bleeding? It is dark red but not bleeding profusely.

She did look kind of bloated - don't know if it is from the constipation or she was pregnant. :(

Answer
Hi Kimberly,

This is an emergency and your mouse needs to see a veterinarian now.  While we are happy to help in any way that we can here at AllExperts, it can take up to three days to receive an answer, and any time your mouse is actively bleeding you should take her to someone who can help her immediately.

Mice take about 21 days, give or take two days in either direction, from the day they conceive until they day they have their babies.  How long has she been separated from the community?  If it's been less than a month, the problem could be related to pregnancy, and she needs to see a veterinarian who works with pocket pets like mice.  Miscarriage can happen but is not life threatening, however, retaining fetuses that have already passed away but are not being expelled normally can kill her.

If the problem is not related to a pregnancy that went poorly, it could be from whatever is causing her intestinal problems.  Are you positive the blood is coming from her vagina, and not her anus?  Bleeding from the anus can be a large number of things from disease to food sensitivities which cause repeated gastrointestinal irritation.  Even some parasites can cause blood in the stool.  This is again something that needs to be examined by a veterinarian.

Either way, she needs to go in to a professional as soon as you can.  If you can't find or can't afford one, talk to your local vets and rescues to see if anyone can help out or point you in a better direction for help.  Discuss her history of constipation and the bloating, as well as her diet with your vet to see if she might be allergic to something in her food, and have the vet palpate her stomach very gently to see if he can feel babies or anything that might be wrong.

I am sorry that I cannot help you more from here.  As I said - it's our passion to help people take the best care of their mice, and we offer all of the advice we can, but I am not a vet and I can't see her in person, so I hope you are able to bring her in and identify the problem so she can be more comfortable and healthy.

If there is anything else I can do, please let me know.
-Tam