My 12-week-old rat is bleeding from her tail and legs, but seems fine?

If she hasn't been mated, a rectal prolapse is a more likely cause of the bleeding than the 2nd most likely cause...a vaginal prolapse. A rectal prolapse would look like an outpocketing of tissue from the anus. Application of neosporin and Preparation H ointment (alternating) twice daily each may be helpful. With some cases you can actually manually reduce the prolapse by pushing it back in. I recommend examining the area closely and if the above steps do not improve her symptoms, perhaps a friend can take her to a vet with you.

Hi, and thanks for your question. This sign could be compatible with a severe upper respiratory tract inflammation/infection or possibly to a rhinitis (inflammatory, allergic, infective). An immediate clinical examination at your local veterinarian is essential to confirm these clinical suspicions and treat appropriately. Nutritional support and antibiotics are likely to be needed. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

The red tears are due to the secretion of porphyrins. This typically happens during times of stress or illness. If your rat has bloody urine, you should have her examined by your veterinarian to diagnose a UTI or a more serious condition such as a bladder tumor.

Hello. Unfortunately, rats are very prone to cancer. If there is already a tumor on her body, there is also a very good possibility that there has been metastasis to the intestines. If you can have her seen by a veterinarian, this would be best, otherwise keep her as warm & comfortable as possible. Feed her whatever she will eat, but if the bleeding does not stop soon, she may not survive long. I hope you can have her seen. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Just make sure to keep an eye on it and try to clean it very gently at least once a day with warm water and a mild soap, you can use a gauze pad to do this. Dry it carefully and then apply your topical treatment. However, if this stresses him out too much, just continue as you have been doing. Make sure his toes stay pink and warm and he keeps getting better. If anything at all changes for the worse, swelling, weeping wound, loss of appetite or activity level, if his toes change color or get cold, get him back in to see your vet right away. It sounds like you're doing a good job caring for his injury.

It sounds like he has a degloving injury to his tail. If there is bone showing, then he needs to see a vet right away. This can easily get infected, and he will need antibiotics to prevent it. In a degloving injury of a rat's tail, the skin and tissue do not grow back, and the bone showing may need to be removed surgically. This will be painful to him as well, and he will need pain medications for it. I would take him into a vet now.

Ouch, that can be a very painful condition when the raw nail bed is exposed or the nail isn't completely torn off. The nail bed does tend to bleed a lot. The best way to stop the bleeding is Styptic powder or Kwikstop, which are used for dogs who had their nails trimmer too short on accident. If you have some of that around, pour out a a bit (around 1/4 or 1/8th teaspoon) and dip your rat's bleeding foot/toe in it, then apply light pressure. You may need to repeat that a few times. If you don't have an styptic powder, do the same thing with flour or cornstarch. It will take a bit longer to stop the bleeding. Finally, if you can't stop the bleeding, he's limping, won't eat/drink/rest normally, or the bleeding keep starting again, he'll need to go the vet to make sure he doesn't need pain meds or antibiotics and to make sure the nail is fully removed. Good luck!