Sam
Well-Known Member
HI everyone,
One of my female rats bled vaginally when she was around 3-5 months old. She is not spayed. When we took her to the vet the next day, the bleeding had stopped completely and he said to come back if it started again. My rat is about 2 and a half now and about 3 months ago she started bleeding vaginally again (I am 100% sure the blood is vaginal, not in her urine). She was given chloramphenicol for a week and the bleeding stopped the first day. Since the bleeding would always start and stop randomly, I didn't know if the antibiotics helped or if it was a coincidence. She has started bleeding again, but now it's continuous. She looses like a quarter of a cup of blood on a bad day and not too much on good days. She's (obviously, from all the blood loss) weak, inactive and losing weight. I've been babying her and feeding her a bit more iron and protein rich foods. A few days ago I noticed that the blood smells really bad.
I've been trying to get her to a vet (hopefully today *fingers crossed*) and she has an appointment for a spay on Monday (with another vet who is annoyingly far away but I trust with rat surgeries).
My question is: is spaying a good idea? With her symptoms and at her age, is it worth the risk?
When we were given the chlorampenicol, the vet said that it might be better to just let her live out the rest of her life and not put her through surgery. Since we don't know what EXACTLY is wrong with her and this infection she seems to have (I'm assuming the smelly blood is from an infection and will make sure she gets on antibiotics), is a spay a good idea? What else can be done?
Thanks :heart:
One of my female rats bled vaginally when she was around 3-5 months old. She is not spayed. When we took her to the vet the next day, the bleeding had stopped completely and he said to come back if it started again. My rat is about 2 and a half now and about 3 months ago she started bleeding vaginally again (I am 100% sure the blood is vaginal, not in her urine). She was given chloramphenicol for a week and the bleeding stopped the first day. Since the bleeding would always start and stop randomly, I didn't know if the antibiotics helped or if it was a coincidence. She has started bleeding again, but now it's continuous. She looses like a quarter of a cup of blood on a bad day and not too much on good days. She's (obviously, from all the blood loss) weak, inactive and losing weight. I've been babying her and feeding her a bit more iron and protein rich foods. A few days ago I noticed that the blood smells really bad.
I've been trying to get her to a vet (hopefully today *fingers crossed*) and she has an appointment for a spay on Monday (with another vet who is annoyingly far away but I trust with rat surgeries).
My question is: is spaying a good idea? With her symptoms and at her age, is it worth the risk?
When we were given the chlorampenicol, the vet said that it might be better to just let her live out the rest of her life and not put her through surgery. Since we don't know what EXACTLY is wrong with her and this infection she seems to have (I'm assuming the smelly blood is from an infection and will make sure she gets on antibiotics), is a spay a good idea? What else can be done?
Thanks :heart: