Blood from Vulva???

[brittnaya]

Hi one of our rats who is about 10 weeks old now seems to be bleeding from her vulva.
I am new to the whole rat capper and we have only owned them for three weeks.
When we got her home she was sneezing so we treated her for two weeks with antibiotics, the sneezing is still there, though not as frequent.
Yesterday i treated for lice with revolution, just a drop on the back of her neck as my research had told me to do. Still eating fine.
She has not got wood shavings or anything like that in her cage. I am unsure if this is something that she has come home from the supplier with and been laying dormant till now???
Any help would be appreciated.

[wulfyskingdom]

Hi, I am not familiar with what this would be caused by or what it is caused, but you may find a helpful article in here ratguide.com/health/

Being that I am not familiar with what it is (I've only owned boys mostly) but perhaps depending on the severity or if in doubt see your vet.

Hopefully another member can help out here (i sound pretty useless on this topic right now lol)

[Kim]

Female rats don't menstruate, so if your rat starts bleeding from the vagina, there is something wrong, and she needs to see a vet as soon as possible.

Possible causes of the bleeding could be a uterine tumor, a urinary tract infection (Myco is not just isolated to the respiratory tract. It is also found in the female rats uterus which can cause the rat to have an infection and even have some bloodied discharge during this time.), pyometra (puss filled uterus), a miscarriage or the beginnings of labour.
(Remember females can get pregnant from 5-6 weeks of age.)

If you can eliminate a miscarriage or labour from this list, then it's best to treat for an infection.

She needs to be put on antibiotics straight away.

If antibiotics don't clear it up, the only other course of action is to have her spayed, especially in the case of pyometra, which is life threatening.

[brittnaya]

Thanks for the advice.
I am lucky enough to be a vet nurse but we don't see many rats at our clinic (hence you all probably know more than me! ). The vet that has a special interest in exotics was not at work today but i will talk to her tomorrow.
Currently the bleeding has stopped and i have started her back on antibiotics, so we will monitor her for now.
I am aware that that they do not bleed whilst cycling and am aware of pyometra so will possibly spey her when she gets a bit bigger as she is still quite young and only 10gm's!!!

[callistoluna]

10 grams is tiny! How old is she?

[flame]

her rattie is only 10 weeks old