Itsy

Question
Hi Sandra
when i got up this morning i noticed there was alot of blood in my rats cage. you could see that the bleeding had started while she was up the top of the cage and the blood followed her down into the bottom of the cage I picked her up but there was no sign of any blood on her. I took her to the vets straight away. when i was holding her on the vets table the blood came out from her Virginia the vet said it could be one of two things a uti or a tumor and has placed her on antibiotics. When i picked her up this evening and held her ready to give her the medication as she will not take it from a spoon mixed with something so i have to suringe it down blood poored from her i was covered whats strange is she is not unwell at all she is still runnung around and eating and surely with a uti she would be showing signs of being unwell this is making me think its more serious then a uti. Just woundering what you think on this.

Thankyou for your time
Denise

Thankyou for your time
Denise

Answer
Rats hide pain, but if it were urinary tract, she would NOT bleed vaginally, she would bleed from her urethra.  Did the vet not see the location of the blood flow?  

This sounds vaginal. It could be a tumor, it could be an infection in her uterus (pyometra) which would make her feel sick, and should not cause alot of bleeding, and you would notice a foul odor as well.  It could be polycystic ovaries.  For peace of mind, the vet should have done an xray on her and the answer would have been there rather than worry. Spaying would save her if it was a tumor in her uterus.  Not sure how well versed your vet is.

Have you tried mixing her meds with ice cream, even a bit of chocolate ice cream, strawberry jam, anything like that to hide the taste works. Not to worry about sugar at this time. Its more important to get meds in her although at this point I am more worried its NOT infection.

Let me know about your vet and his or her experience with small mammals. The fact that he said it could be a UTI when the blood is coming from her vagina makes me wonder how well experience he or she is with rats.