The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Tabirat

Active Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2019
Messages
25
Location
WA US
A couple of months ago, Meisha's urine started looking odd. It was after she ate carrots and anything reddish for a while, so I thought it just had to do with the food color at first. However, her pee started to consistently stay darker and stink, so I took her to the vet. They found blood in her urine and prescribed amoxicillin for a week. It seemed to help her feel a little better, but her urine remained dark.

We waited to see if her pee would clear up, but it started getting more pink in color, and her energy declined the day before I took her to her second vet appointment. They put her on Metacam and orbifloxacin. They helped her feel better and brought her appetite back, but the orbifloxacin gave her mild diarrhea, so we had to stop giving her that. The orbifloxacin also did something weird: it separated the blood from the urine to the point where she would sometimes have normal urine, sometimes nearly pure blood, and sometimes blood in the middle of normal urine.

I know it was Meisha's urine because she's the only one of my two rats who pees on the platforms, plus I watched her do it a few times.

The vet said the next step would most likely be to have an ultrasound done to check her kidneys. She said an X-Ray may show kidney stones but not tumors or tissue damage. I came across older threads that said a combination of Baytril and doxycycline are usually helpful for UTIs, and one thread involved a rat having more bloody urine than Meisha. Should I ask the vet about prescribing those to her to see if they help? The place they would send us to have the ultrasound done is three hours away, but Meisha doesn't like car rides and the people who drive us around aren't willing to go that far.

Also, what foods would be good to give her and Iris (my other rat) during this time? I know the food won't be a cure, but I know some are more helpful (and some are more harmful) than others. I'm mostly looking for non-sugary fruit and vegetable ideas but am open to other suggestions.
 
Last edited:
Update:

I took Meisha to the vet today. She no longer has crystals in her urine (which they found during her second visit but I forgot to mention) and she has gained 18 grams since the last visit. Her urine's blood count is still the same as before. The vet prescribed more Meloxicam since that's been helping, but she didn't prescribe Baytril and/or doxycycline because she didn't see how the combo would help UTIs (as it's usually used for respiratory issues) and orbifloxacin is part of the same family of drugs as Baytril.
 
How's Meisha? Hope everything's okay with her medication.
She's still having bloody urine. It seems to have gotten worse, but when she's awake she's as happy and active as she was before this started. Yesterday, a red fleshy thing came out with her urine. I felt it to see if there was anything hard like stones, but it was really soft. She no longer has diarrhea.
 
She's still having bloody urine. It seems to have gotten worse, but when she's awake she's as happy and active as she was before this started. Yesterday, a red fleshy thing came out with her urine. I felt it to see if there was anything hard like stones, but it was really soft. She no longer has diarrhea.
Is she still on UTI meds? I hope she gets better.
 
Is she still on UTI meds? I hope she gets better.
She's still on Meloxicam, but the vet told me to stop giving her the orbifloxacin due to it giving her diarrhea. I haven't given it to her since being told not to. It didn't seem to be helping clear up her urine, and the blood count was the same as it was before she took it. It's now getting worse, and she's eating and drinking more than usual. The vet refuses to give her a different antibiotic, since amoxicillin and orbifloxacin haven't helped, unless I get an ultrasound done for Meisha. Problems about that are: 1. It's three hours away, and Meisha dislikes car rides, and 2. The place is booked a month out, which would be too late.
 
Last edited:
Update: I found a potential place that could give Meisha an ultrasound for a price that's more within my budget. I'm going to try to get her in this week, if possible.
 
Update: I found a potential place that could give Meisha an ultrasound for a price that's more within my budget. I'm going to try to get her in this week, if possible.
That's great, hope she can finally get that ultrasound, and be alright.:) Keep us posted? Thanks.
 
I'm afraid that I have bad news:

I took Meisha to the vet I mentioned, but it turns out that they don't do ultrasounds on rats like I had been told! The vet tried, but Meisha was too small and wiggly for them to get a clear picture (they can't give anesthesia to rats, either). They were apologetic when I explained that I was told they could do it and didn't charge me anything for the visit. Unfortunately, I have to either keep looking or somehow get the funds to go to another place.

Meisha is currently sleeping in her cage with Iris. She got pretty tired and stressed out today, so Iris was careful when sniffing her earlier.
 
Last edited:
Update:

Since last week's wasted trip, Meisha's sickness seems to have accelerated. She has been more stressed out and attacking Iris (namely biting and pulling on her ears until they bleed) whenever they're in the cage together, so I have separated them for the time being to (hopefully) prevent Iris from needing to visit the vet. Meisha's more accepting of the Meloxicam, as though she knows it is helping her feel better. I had to mix it with other things before so she'd take it. I found out that a vet closer to home sees rats and has an ultrasound machine, but they aren't sure if Meisha's large enough for it to get a good picture. Because the stress from the last trip to town accelerated Meisha's sickness, I am hesitant to take her further than half an hour away. She seems to be feeling better today and still gets along with Iris during playtime, but I don't think it'll be long until I have to euthanize her. I started giving them fresh blueberries yesterday in hopes that they help Meisha feel better, as they helped one of my previous rats feel less pain when she had a mammary tumor. Is there anything else I can do to at least make her comfortable?

Also, does anyone know how to clean wounds on rat ears in case Iris's get inflamed or infected? I have plain Bacitracin, as I read that it's safe to apply on rats. I also read that getting water in their ears could give them inner ear infections, so I would like to know how to clean it before applying ointment.
 
Back
Top