Bloody Mucus in Rats Urine

Question
I'm currently a vet tech student who owns four rats. My oldest rat is a female dumbo hairless who is close to 3 years old. Unfortunately, none of the veterinarians or vet techs know much about rats aside from normal care of lab animals. I took a urine sample a week after I noticed red stuff in it when I cleaned it off one of the plastic levels of her cage. I am between jobs and do not have the money to get an appointment with the local specialist unless I know this is serious. (School is expensive the way it is.)

The sample looks like a red tube like thing or reddish mucus in what is normal urine. It's been going on for two weeks. She eats and drinks normally. She still runs on the wheel and explores like normal when she's out. At some point she broke her tail, possibly from a failed attempt at jumping onto my desk and fell. Her tail doesn't seem to bother her either. I do know that rats, being prey animals, are very good at hiding pain though. But the fact she runs and plays like normal leads me to believe she feels fine.

The other three rats seem to have no symptoms at all. I'm sure it's her blood because I've cleaned it up right after she peed. My question is what could be causing this? Also, how much would a urine test possibly cost if I drop off a fresh sample in a sterile syringe?

Thank you for your time!
-Rex

Answer
I wish I could give you a price but unfortunately, prices on urinalysis varies from clinic to clinic.  Some vets may charge $30 and others may charge twice that.   Some vets will not even use the urine unless its a sterile sample obtained straight from the bladder, which is an invasive and painful way to sample it from the rat unless they sedate her, which is when it can get expensive.

If there is blood it the urine(hematuria) it would more than likely be from infection.
It can be easily cleared up with a round of antibiotics.

However, other causes of hematuria could be from kidney or bladder stones , or even disease involving the kidneys. Sometimes even tumors can cause hematuria.  The good news is, since your rat seems happy and healthy, its probably infection.

Rats do hide pain well, but when it gets bad enough, they usually stop eating and withdraw from their group or want to be left alone and not come out to play etc...   so you can usually learn to read your rat by learning her actions.   

Your girl is a wonderful senior rat and although like I said, its probably infection, being she is older, I would try to get her treated soon just so you know what your dealing with.  

Drugs most used for UTI include Trimethoprim-sulfa but many vets go for the baytril, which I think could be reserved in treating a UTI unless you have a culture done.  Many vets dont bother with a culture and just start the meds, esp with a senior rat. If the blood doesnt clear up after a few days of treatment, that is when further evaluation should be done.