Vaginal bleeding/Update 06/06/08

Shop with us on Ebay
Fins us on Amazon
Advertise with us
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.
M

Melissa's ZOO

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2007
Messages
2,199
Location
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
I know I have seen a post somewhere about this but cannot for the life of me find it.

Monday night I noticed blood spots all over the cage and in the hammock blanket, I inspected everyone and could not find where someone was bleeding.

Last night I am cleaning the cage put all back in and see the blood spots again, this time fresh so I started inspecting and it is Rose (18 months) from her vaginal opening, bright red and quite a bit of it. I started her on baytil last night. What else do I need to do. Spaying is not an option as it costs $350.00 and I just don't have that much. She also has a very hard tumor on her under belly not far from her VO. I have plans to remove it and wonder if the soon the better.

Other than me freaking out she seems just fine acting normal and mean as always. She is very hard to hold as she HATES it, so a real close inspection is impossible without some major restraining and then she gets all stressed out, panics and starts nipping.
 
If you are going to be removing the tumor, would your vet still be charging you the $350? Some vets will do a combo fee if the rat is already being put under and technically being opened up. Of course, some won't, but it never hurts to ask!

At the very least, she needs to be on antibiotics. Hopefully your vet will be able to determine if there's anything going on internally, or if it's just a UTI.
 
My vet who does the tumor removals is not an "exotic" vet so he will only do tumors and neuters (he only charges me $50.00) but does not feel comfortable doing a spay since it is actually opening the body cavity. And the so called Exotic vet here will not do both, he has basically told me I am stupid for wanting to spay a rat and that is why he wants so much and to do two surgeries. He also told me spaying has no health benefit.

But my vet "non-exotic" agrees spaying would prevent the tumors and many other things but he is not an exotic and at least he was honest with not wanting to do the spays because he is not comfortable with it instead of saying okay and them dying. So I am at a loss on getting her spayed.
 
Oh that's awful! Your 'exotic' vet sounds like a putz.. I'm very glad the surgery vet is honest and upfront with you, atleast. Yea, other than hauling them to another vet further out, I don't see a whole lot of options for you. G'luck with the abs, and I hope it clears up whatever's going on.
 
Melissa, how far a trip is OKC for you? I know of three vets off the top of my head who will do a spay. The one right down the street from me specializes in small animal surgery.
 
How much would they charge to do a spay? OKC is 2 hours from here. My vet fund is pretty slim right now. I took her in and have Baytril to try and see if it is just and infection or something more serious.
 
For pyometra [infected uterus] they would have you do 1-2 weeks of Baytril prior to the surgery anyhow. For all other surgeries, they want them to be as healthy as can be, so the Baytril is the next step regardless of what option you're able to go with.
 
Melissa's ZOO said:
How much would they charge to do a spay? OKC is 2 hours from here. My vet fund is pretty slim right now. I took her in and have Baytril to try and see if it is just and infection or something more serious.
Click to expand...

I don't know how much they charge. I'll call around today and get some prices and let you know. A four hour round trip with the price of gas might make it not worth it, but at the very least, could be an option for you in the future, if not now.
 
Well, shoot. I left messages with two places, who are going to call me back when the exotic vet comes in, but the other three I called were a bust. All of them will do a neuter, but none of them do spays anymore.

My guy down the street that I use all the time said that he doesn't do them anymore because of the risk of the anesthetic and the amount of time the surgery takes. He did agree from the description I gave him of what's going on with Rose that that's what she needs, but he doesn't personally know anyone in town who still does them.

I'm sure sorry. I was sure that I could find someone. Well, maybe one of the two I left messages with will pan out.
 
Thank you everyone.

Kristy, I agree with the gas prices, taking a day off of work to go down there, and completely depleting my vet fund would be one heck of a chunk of money.

My vet seemed optimistic that the Baytril will take care of the infection temporarily and then he will remove the tumor that she has now and said we will go from there.

He mentioned that he would read up on spaying and if I was willing to risk it he would do a spay for me for $85.00 but that he would not guarantee anything since he has never done a spay before. I really don't think it is worth Rose's life to attempt it. What do you guys think?

Kristy, thank you so much for checking the vets out for me. I posted right after you did =)
 
It really all depends on what's actually wrong with Rose. If it's something as simple as a UTI, then the antibiotics are all she needs. Other problems, like internal tumors and pyometra need a spay in order to fix them.

Have you noticed any bad smell from her genitals? Any discharge other than the blood? Has she been eating/drinking okay? Is she sensitive about you touching her stomach at all? Here's a link to Ratguide's Pyometra article. Look it over, see if Rose's symptoms match any of those.

If you can palpate her stomach, or have a vet do it, they may be able to feel if there's any growths.
 
No bad smell, nothing other than the blood. She eat and drinks like normal and the vet felt her stomach and could not feel any masses other than the tumor she has near her groin area which looks black through her pink skin and white hair. She is not senstive about me touching her tummy and I apply pressure to feel around and she just lets me do it. She is not bloated and her tummy looks the same as it always does.
 
Recently, my Cande had blood in her urine but it wasn't from the vagina opening, it came from the urethra. I put her on Baytril and it cleared up.
 
I was hoping I was wrong about where it was coming from but when you inspect her vo closely you can see the blood inside. But fingers crossed the Baytril will help and maybe once I get the tumor removed she will go back to normal. If not she maybe put on Baytril for the rest of her life.
 
Is the tumor right up in her groin? If so, that may very well be the culprit, especially if it looks like that. It could be 'invading' her uterus or the surrounding tissue, which would cause inflammation/irritation, which could then cause the bleeding. Hopefully getting that removed soon will fix her..
 

Latest posts

Back
Top