Long Term Vaginal Bleeding. Foul odor

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Sam

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2009
Messages
101
Location
British Columbia, Canada
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:
 
It definitely sounds like pyometra (infection inside the uterus) and the only fix (if antibiotics didn't work) is a spay. I'm surprised your vet didn't pick up on this.

If she's healthy enough for a spay, then go for it. I don't think you have much other choices except waiting until it gets too bad and painful for her, then euthanizing her.

How long was she on the Chlorpalm for? Sorry if you said it in your post - I'm typing this on my cell so it's kinda hard to navigate. Haha. Antibiotics need to be given for minimum 2 weeks to see if that will clear up the infection.

Here's a link to a good article on pyometra: http://ratguide.com/health/reproductive/pyometra.php
 
the chlorpalm wasn't given for long enough..poor love, a week is not enough for an infection like this. You could attempt to give chlorpalm again and see if it works and keep her on it for weeks until her health improves, then consider a spay if she starts to bleed again.
 
Yes she was only on Chlorpalm for a week last time.
Okay, so the best course of action here is to put her on two+ weeks of Chlorpalm and not consider spaying unless that doesn't work? Sounds good to me.

She's bled on and off her entire life, it's only gotten really bad now. I am wondering, if the bleeding does stops, how will I know that it's actually from the antibiotics and not just a coincidence?

Oh, and just another question: my other female who recently had a lumpectomy+spay, followed by a stroke a few weeks later is almost completely mobile again, but her body feels ... um... "harder" that before... like less squishy. Following the stroke, she lost a LOT of weight and has gained it back now, eating enthusiastically. But she didn't go back to being her usual squishy self... Is this okay? Sorry for bringing up a random topic in this thread, I didn't know if this is a big deal or not

I'm definitely getting all my rats spayed at a young age now, I've learned my lesson.
 
Yes, I get all my personal females spayed, and all my males neutered. Since starting that, I've never had to deal with mammary tumors, pituitary tumors, or any uterine problems with any of my girls. Yay! I think it's VERY worth it.
 
I don't know a lot about the topic. My only experience with vaginal bleeding was with Eve who was spayed within two days.
The vet said that another day or two and her uterus would have ruptured.
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=22061&hilit=eve

I also get all girls spayed and all boys neutered.
Helps with many health issues, but I have not seen a difference with pt
 
Alright so we're back from the vet's and she's on Baytril for 2 weeks, although it looks like there's an excess so I'll give it to her until it's all gone. It seems like this has been a problem her whole life and I am still wanting to get her spayed even if the Baytril works, is this a bad idea at her age?
 
If she is in good health with no breathing issues and it is done by a good, experienced vet with lots of good experience and kowledge re surgery with rats, it should be ok.
 
I am glad you are medicating prior to the spay, as it will help beat down any infection, and improve her health before she goes in. And no, this isn't really an elective surgery, its more of a necessary medical one.
 
As for your other girl, I wonder if she's more muscular instead of fat. Usually, squishy rats are fat rats.
Can we get a pic of her? It's interesting how you describe it.
 
lilspaz68 said:
I am glad you are medicating prior to the spay, as it will help beat down any infection, and improve her health before she goes in. And no, this isn't really an elective surgery, its more of a necessary medical one.
Click to expand...
SQ said:
If she is in good health with no breathing issues and it is done by a good, experienced vet with lots of good experience and kowledge re surgery with rats, it should be ok.
Click to expand...
She seems to be in okay health otherwise. Is Monday too early for a spay? Is it harmful for her to be spayed before the infection is cleared up?

jorats said:
As for your other girl, I wonder if she's more muscular instead of fat. Usually, squishy rats are fat rats.
Can we get a pic of her? It's interesting how you describe it.
Click to expand...
Here's a picture of her. She doesn't look any different from before, just less squishy. I think you might be right about it being muscle. When she was still getting her mobility back, she'd often get stuck on her back like a turtle and had a very hard time flipping back over. Maybe she built some muscle doing this hahahahahah
 
So she's been on the Baytril since Wednesday and as far as I can tell, she is getting better. The bleeding slowly stopped, near the end there was more pus than blood, and now there's no discharge at all. I canceled the appointment for the spay because I didn't know if it was okay for her to have surgery before the infection was totally gone. Will reschedule for her to have it done once she finished her antibiotics. :)

xxchelle said:
Yes, I get all my personal females spayed, and all my males neutered. Since starting that, I've never had to deal with mammary tumors, pituitary tumors, or any uterine problems with any of my girls. Yay! I think it's VERY worth it.
Click to expand...
SQ said:
I also get all girls spayed and all boys neutered.
Helps with many health issues, but I have not seen a difference with pt
Click to expand...
Other than reducing aggression and sebum, what are the benefits of neutering? When I adopted my boy, he was already neutered. I'm looking to adopt two 3 year old brothers tomorrow and was wondering whether or not to get them neutered.
 
I would go ahead with the spay since it seems to be a recurring problem. Does she seem more comfortable now?

As for your 3 year old boys I wouldn't neuter them at their age, just let them live their lives together until they come to the end of their roads. I cannot wait to meet them!
 

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