going ito bleeding

Question
My rat Princess, has blood coming from her private parts. I was not sure where it was coming from and thought it happened when she went to the bathroom, but there is no blood when she goes to the bathroom so I wiped her and saw the blood around her female opening. It is not real heavy but it has been going on for about 2 days now.  I read that rats go in heat every five days so I figured she would bleed for that but did not think it would be every 5 days.
Is this normal to have blood for 2 days during their heat cycle?

Answer
Hi Bethanne

Sorry about Princess and her problems that she is having.

I will tell you right off that vaginal bleeding in female rats  
is not a part of being in heat and it is not normal in any way.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  I will tell you that this is serious and she needs to see a vet right away to see what is going on.

Female rats absolutely do NOT have "periods". Rats go in heat every 5 days and since they do it so often, this does not give the uterus enough time to build up the endometrium lining since she goes into heat so often so there is nothing to shed which is why there i no blood. If you see any blood you need to take her to the vet asap. Now don't panic, because it doesn't mean she is going to have something wrong with her that is fatal.

However, it could be many things, from infection in the uterus to  hormonal problems or tumors and polyps etc....
Often, polycystic ovary disease is   common in intact female rats and statistics show that along with pyometra, which is a nasty uterine infection that also  can  cause vaginal bleeding.  All of the above conditions are totally treatable so please seek the attention of a vet at once.

Hope this helps and good luck to you and your little girl.

Sandra Todd