Constipation? Bleeding bum?

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allykatt

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
214
Location
London, ON, Canada
The other night, my girl Dolly nearly scared me to death. She was laying very strangely, kind of draggin her legs and contorting in weird ways. I picked her up, and she seemd fine,a dn stopped doing it, and was walking normally, so I knew it wasn't her legs.

Then a few mins later she was doing it again. I picked her up again, and was feeling her all over, looking her over, when I noticed her bum was bleeding. It was definetly not her vagina, it was her anus, and there was a fair amount of blood! I think she was constipated, and the contorting and way she was laying was just her pushing, and trying to poop. SHe finally went, and the poo was normal sized, not too hard or anything, but she kept bleeding.

I washed her, and she seemd alright, but in a bit of pain, so I gave her a tiny bit of metacam and some fruit, and she was fine the rest of the night. But the next day, she bled again, though she didn't seem constipated at all.

Could it be that she tore herself when she was constipated, and now when she does her normal poops, it re-opens teh tear, and thats why she bleeds when she poops? Could it be anything else? A hemmoroid? She is otherwise very healthy, though a lttle chubby. She is quite active, and isn't quite a year old yet. The bleeding seems to stop a few mins after she poops. But I worry that the location of teh cut/tear, that bacteria will stall healing, especially if it gets opened up everything she goes poop.

Any advice? I clean it for her, though she does a good job herself, and check her poops. THey don't seem to contain any blood, just a bit of blood on them where they pass through it.
 
Is it bright red or dark red? I'd be very concerned... the contorting sounds like when rats have cramps, they do this funny stretch kind of things. I think it would be best to bring her to a vet.
 
First off, I would take her into the vet immediately.

Constipation in rats is sort of rare, especially since they have a fair amount of fiber in their diet and they generally stay very well hydrated.

As Jo said, the contorting stretches sounds very much like the Owie Stretch. It's what rats do when their stomach/abdomen is in pain. I would definitely get her into a vet immediately. If there was a fair amount of blood, something could be seriously wrong inside and now would be the time to find out and try to help her. She's in pain and is bleeding, both of which are fairly bad signs. If there is enough bleeding, she could lose too much blood in a very short amount of time.
 
It was bright red blood, and she hasn't bled at all since then. I have been watching her very carefully, checking her all day. No more funny stretching since that first night, and all her poops are fine. Other than that first night, she really doesn't seem in any pain, and lets me check her out without fussing (mostly).

I was just really worried that she had torn herself and it wouldn't heal, but the spot where it seemed the blood was coming from is totally healed now.

Not sure if I should still take her in, as she seems completely fine now, and I would have to borrow money to take her.
 
Bright red usually means closer to the surface and not from deep within. Might have been superficial. If she's acting fine now, may not need a vet after all. But do keep a close eye on her.
 
So tonight she took a turn for the worse. It was strange, I have been checking her all the time, just in case and for the last few times, and it kept looking like she had a poopy half sticking out. Last night she actually stopped wriggling for a second, and I noticed it wasn't a poop at all, it was like.. a hemmoroid? like a little abcess, but it was sort of a little ball that was only attached a tiny bit.

I tried to look at it again, but she twisted, and when in her cage, it fell off, I think she had been picking at it. As soon as it fell off, she started bleeding like crazy. And she pooped a ton. The hemorroid or whatever it was, was full of blood and smelled a bit bad, like old blood, and I think it may have gotten too full of blood, and was blocking her bum, so thats why she pooped so much right away.

I put her in the hospital cage, with white carefresh, so that I could see how much she was bleeding. It was really bad for awhile, but it was 2 am, and no vet was open. It would stop for a bit, then if she moved too much, or pooped, the bleeding would start again.

I woke up early to check on her, and she was breathing a bit fast, and her sides looked a little sunken, and her ears had gotten really pale, so I gave her a bit of chocolate soymilk, a tiny bit of metacam, since she seemd for sure like she was in pain, and got my dad to take us to teh emergency vet.

The vet who treated her kept saying that the bleeding may have been because of the metacam, but I had TOLD him how it started a few days ago, and the bleeding came way before the metacam. I showed him the cist/hemorroid thingy, and he really didn't explain it, and he gave her a shot of pepcid AC, and told me he though it was her gut perhaps. Yet, you can SEE the blood comes right from just inside her anus! I felt like he didn't listen to a thing I said.

Anyways he gave me Metronidazole , 0.3 ml twice daily for a week. Luckily, her bleeding has stopped now, and she seems alright, but I wonder if I should get a second opinion, or wait and see if the meds work. She is much perkier now, and her ears a normal colour, sides no longer sunken, breathing normally.

Should I wait and see, and give her the drugs, as she is no longer bleeding? Or see my normal vet on tuesday? ( I can't take her tomorrow)
 
I bet she had a cut, it abscessed, blocked her a bit and now she's better. Or could be a polyp? I did a quick search on that med and it sounds like the right one to give. I'd definitely stick with it. The peptic AC will get her gut flowing again and happy. Although it may not seem like it, I think he did listen to you by giving her what he did, he just didn't explain it to you.
 
I would keep her on those meds as she seems to be doing better. Watch her and if she doesn't look well, then make an appointment with your regular vet.
 
OH no sweet Daisy. I hope she's doing better now.

Ally, if you need a ride to the vet ever....Don't hesitate to call me.
 
No, it was Dolly, and she is doing much better now, though she hates her medicine. I tried hiding it in yoghurt for her, but she can tell, takes one tiny lick, then ignored it, so she just gets it by syringe. Other than spitting a bit of it on my pants, she is pretty good.

And no more bum bleeding today! She is getting very sick of my checking her all the time, but she likes that since she is in the smaller hospital cage, she gets free run of my bed all day long.
 
Wow, I've never heard anything like that. I sure hope she continues to do better. Poor little dear.

You might try and see if she will take her meds in a dab of Cool Whip. We give all our rats' meds in that, and they think it's the greatest 'treat' in the world. For the ones who can still detect the meds, we put a drop of chocolate syrup in the cool whip too. Sure, it's not all that healthy...but for us, we do whatever works to get those meds in our rats, without stressing them.

Did your vet feel around in Dolly's tummy? How old is she? I have recently had a few oldies with stomach masses :sad3: . I just wondered if it might have been some type of tumor that might have come out a bit....but if she's doing better now, that's just the best news of all.
 
She seems perfectly fine now, has had no more bleeding at all thankfully. I have no idea if the vet felt around her tummy, as at teh emergency vet clinic, they have the animal in the back to check them out, and the owner stays in the room until they are done, and bring the animal back in to you and talk to you. SO no idea what all he looked at. He said it may have been a tumor, which is of course very possible. She has a small one on her inner left hind leg, but not really anywhere near her anus.

She is just about one year old. Has anyone had a rat with a hemmoroid? That is honestly what it looked like, and my mom said that growing up, her cat had a hemmorriod, and it looked very similar, and bled a lot when it came off. She has gotten a bit better about taking her meds, and luckily she only has a few days left of it.

She is back to her old self, and I am so happy. I was really scared for awhile, especially when she was just sitting on my chest letting me cuddle her, since she never sits still for that unless she is asleep. When her ears and feet got pale,a nd cold, I knew she had to go tot eh vet, and thankfully now she is okay. I jsut worry that if it was something like a hemmoroid, or a part of tumor, that it will reoccur.
 
I too have never heard of a rat have a hemorrhoid but there's always a first.
I would think it's a mass as well. I'm so glad she's doing so well!!
 

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