bloddy soft stools

Question
I'm very scared.  One of my male had very runny stools for a couple of days.  Now his stools are still soft but not as liquid but they seem to have blood in them.  They leave a red circle around them.  He is only 10 months old.

I had noticed in the past that there where occasional soft smelly stools in the cage but since there are 8 guys in there I didn't know who's they where and didn't really get alarmed because it wasn't on a daily basis.

About 4 days ago, I noticed really wet liquid stools.  I found who's they where because his bottom was all dirty.  He was all soft with no tonus.  I have to admit that I had been unusually busy for the two pervious days and don't know exactly when he started to deteriorate.  I took everything other than the ratchow blocs out of the cage.  I also usually give a mix of 7 grains puffed cereal (no salt or sugar added) with oatmeal, millet, barley and hole wheat or vegetable dry pasta.  The only table food I give are fruits, veggies, yogurt and soy milk.  He hadn't had table food in the last 2 days.
The next day he was all puffed, dehydrated, his eyes where half closed and he was really lump.  I immediately started him on rice water and liquid food replacement for humans.  I put his rat blocks in water also.  He wouldn't eat but he drank.  I got the dehydration under control.  He now has some wet stools but most are soft, gelatin like, very dark and leave a red circle around them.  They also don't smell the same.  They used to be smelly but now they smell like Iron or metal.

I couldn't go to the vet on Saturday because i had to work, Sundays they are closed and today is still Easter vacation.  I must admit that I am really scared. I haven't found much info about rats with this but in humans it might be something wrong with the colon (maybe cancer). He won't eat much so I syringe feed him rice water, food replacement and a bit of rice baby cereal.  He has lost weight.  He was also a bit obese before this if it might be an extra clue.  What do you think it could be???  What do I do in the mean time??  Will the vet want to put him to sleep??  I'm scared to know!!

Answer
Hi Carole

I dont think the vet will want to put him to sleep without at least trying to treat him first unless of course he does enough extensive testing to find he has something terrible and painful and it is terminal too, and if that is the case, you would want to end his suffering...but usually a good vet does as much as they can to even treat something severe first as long as you agree to it etc...

He may just have endoparasites (worms) or he could easily have Colorectal Polyps which can also be taken care of by an educated vet. If the vet isnt real up to par with rats, he or she may not be able to diagnose or even treat these (surgery is sometimes needed but not always)  

I wouldnt worry just yet. Its not fun to see blood anywhere with our rats...once I woke to find blood all over the cage and on their paper towels they nest with etc...and still to this day have no clue where it came from and everyone is fine and that was a year ago!!
Is his belly distended?
Also, when you make the appointment bring in a sample of his stool, making sure it is fresh.

Hang in there!