My rats are coughing up blood

Question
QUESTION: Okay i know that i could end up getting yelled at for doing this so here it goes.

For a science project, me and my group decided to test the effectiveness of de-carbonated coke, energy drink, and then sugar water for an added result.
Our teacher said it was fine and we decided to buy the rats. One of my group members has had rats in the past so he was making sure that i got the right materials of the rats i was going to keep.
I kept three rats and my friend decided to buy and keep 5 as pets.

Right now its been three days since we've finished all the experiments.
I saw that they were coughing up blood when i saw something that looked like blood on the youngest rat (and my fave).
I then checked to see if there was blood anywhere else and i saw that his muzzle was covered in blood.
I checked the other two and they are coughing up blood too.
First I want to know if you have any idea what could be happening to them because my group and i have become so attached to the rats. We try to keep them happy, petting them and we even gave them names.
Second I would like to apologize in case any of the ingredients in the energy drink or coke could have caused this.
Thank You


ANSWER: Hi Marcos

I think you have already beat yourself up enough already with guilt thinking you have caused the rats to be sick so I wont lecture you.:)

However, the good news is, the rats are NOT coughing blood up because of the coke or energy drink etc...
Although its not real healthy for them, this is not causing blood to be coughed up.

Rats cannot cough the way you think and they cannot vomit, either.
There is an esophageal barrier that the muscle of the diaphram cannot overcome so the rat cannot vomit.

What you are seeing is not blood. It is called porphyrin and it is a reddish brown mucus found around the rats nose and eyes. Often in a light colored rat, when they groom themselves, they may smear the porphyrin around their fur as well. You may see it covering the rats bedding too and they sneeze it out as well. Porphyrin is a discharge produced by a gland called the harderian gland. This gland is located behind the rats eyes and it produces large amounts when the rat is stressed out. I am sure the rats are a bit stressed being handled at school and now having yet another place to get used to now since they are home with you.

Check out these photos on my website and tell me if this is what your seeing on your rats: Scroll half way down the page till you see the rats with the red around the eyes and nose:

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/allaboutratcare.htm

Let me know after you see these photos if this is what your seeing on the rats.  I am almost certain that they will be just fine, but of course do not give them anything to drink other than water in their bottle from now on.

They may also have something else going on such as allergies. What type of litter/bedding are you using? If your using pine or cedar, stop using that right away. Aspen or carefresh should be used, but no litters that have phenol oils in it.
Also, the rats should not be fed seeds and peanuts in those cheap pet store mixes. They need a good rat pellet or lab block and plenty of vegetables with fruit on occasion and some boiled chicken, beef livers or oysters weekly to provide protein. They need a low protein and low fat diet,too and should be kept in a cage, not a tank, for proper air circulation.  Providing them with all of these things they need, and NO MORE SODA, and I you will have your new rat friends for several years.

Are they eating ok? Are they male or female?  

Let me know about the few things I asked so I can be sure of a few things before I determine if they need medical attention but at this point, I am thinking they are going to be fine and you did NOT cause this to happen.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much!
I am using a bedding that says its pine and ceder oil free.
Should i trust that or should i buy a different type of bedding?


ANSWER: As long as it isnt dusty....

Did you go to my website and look at the pictures of the rats with the red mucus on their nose and around their eyes?

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Yes I did and it seems like thats what happened to my rats.
Thank you so much!

Answer
Hi Marcos


Well that should make you feel better that it isnt blood your rats have coming out of their nose, but they are still stressed so you need to evaluate why. If they are not congested in the nose or chest and are not sneezing like crazy, and if they are eating and drinking and energetic, they probably are not ill but stressed from the move from the school to your home.  
I wanted to ask: what exactly were you trying to do (look for etc...) with the experiment you did on th rats? How each drink affected their energy levels perhaps?  If this is the case you probably did not see any notable changes in the rats behavior since rats have a super fast metabolic rate. They no doubt metabolized the drinks fast and showed no real side effects.

You can breathe a sigh of relief that none of the rats were hurt and will be ok...but I would refrain from doing experiments on any animals when your not sure if it could cause serious injury.
Glad you have them with you now and no more experiments!  Promise?


Sandra