blood in urine

Question
Hello Sandra,

You helped me back in June when my little Oreo was sick, she passed away. Now I have a problem with her companion rat named Cookie. Hopefully you can help as I am out of options.

I have taken her to an exotic pet Veterinarian. Cookie has blood coming out in her urine.

She is active, eats well, very social and drinks.
Like Oreo she is free ranging anywhere she wants in our house.

We have had her on baytril. And now baytil and cefadroxil. I have also been giving her vitamins provided by the vet.

She has had x-rays and even surgery. And nothing is helping. The vet is stumped.

I am very low income and after large vet bills she has not gotten any better! If there was some sure fire fix for her I would not hesitate. But all's i am getting is long shot maybes from them. And also they say if it is cancer there is nothing much they can do. Basically they are totally stumped.

I cried everyday for a month when my Oreo died and even emailed you privately.

Anyway back to Cookie

-she is 6 months old

-the blood is not every time she pees but about 40% of the time light pink to light red. Sometimes it is totally clear though.

- she squeeks about anything she doesnt like. but does not squeek when being held and doesnt seem to be in pain or sore.

-the vet thought it could be bacteria and she was on baytril

-then the xrays to check for bladder stone(s)

-then the surgery since they could not get a catheder in her to inflate the bladder (with air) and check (with an xray) for abnormal bladder
pockets.

I cannot remember the term but when the rat is baby sometimes where the bladder connects to the abilical cord doesnt heal right after birth and leaves a little pocket next to the bladder that can cause repeated infections.

so that is why she got the surgery is to check for that ...and nothing was abnormal.

So her i am now at the end of her antibiotic cycle and she peed blood again today.

So is there anything you can think of?

There is one more thing they shaved her and she seems to have only one nipple that i can see. I have allways noticed that she had one nipple bigger than the rest but now that she is shaved belly it is the only nipple...or am i missing them or something? Are they so tiny they can barely be seen or something..? Or on her sides and not on belly?

So after that i am just wondering if she has some kind of major defects inside too that are causing this blood in her pee.

Any help you have is much appreciated and thankyou in advance.

Daniel Degre

Answer
Hi Daniel

I do remember Oreo and it stuck with me I think because I also had an Oreo myself, a little fat black hooded girl that tipped the scales at 900 grams and lived to be 3 years and 6 months old!!

Anyhow, your vet has done some extensive testing, from films to exploratory surgery.  However, I think perhaps, unless you just forgot to mention this, what he should have done is take some blood for starters. Also, has a urine culture been done?   

Please let me know and we will go from there.