blood?!?!

by Jadamouse Mon 21 May 2018, 6:35 am

so im gonna make this short and the grammar probably wont be too great because i am in a bit of a fluster right now... but like 20 minutes ago i went to check on my mice as they were awake and i opened my elderly females tank and went to clean ot and refill her food dish when i noticed what looked like brown dried stuff all around the bowl, only my lamp was on and i couldn't really see what it was, so i turned the main light on and it was blood. i went back into her cage to find her to see what was going on and notices splotches of blood all through her cage. like it was everywhere, and i mean everywhere. it was all up the side of the tank and through her toilet roll tube and literally everywhere. i kind of panicked and found her and picked her up and checked her over and she is like completely fine???? there wasn't a single wound or anything on her, she was eating fine and running around like normal. my mum called the emergency vet and is taking her tomorrow morning to make sure everything is ok. (its currently 11:30pm)

i ended up cleaning out her entire cage and giving her new substrate and clean toys. i used white paper bedding so that if anything else happens it is easily visible. i ended up moving her tank (10 gallon retirement sort of cage) right next to my bed for the night too.

the only other thing i can think of it being is blood in her feces or urine or something?! if this has happened to anybody before please let me know.

by MerciToujoursMaPetiteBoop Mon 21 May 2018, 7:36 am

Ohhhhh ..... I'm having a terrible flashback ..... at least sort of.

In the case of my sweet little April, I was in the process of cleaning her tank one Friday morning last June and found what appeared to be blood-tinged paper towel staining around where she had slept overnight. My guess was that something had hemorrhaged internally and drained out the gastrointestinal route. She appeared to be all right -- no noticeable change in behavior or routine, no outward markings or infirmities -- but I nearly blacked out twice before I gave myself the two-second pep talk (April is in trouble, so get your act together NOW!), cleaned her tank, saved the bloodied towel and the poopies that were in the tank in case the doctor might want to see them, and kept an eye on her through the day at work. At the first sign of fresh blood-tinged staining, I called her doctor.

Unfortunately, the appointment only resulted in a prescription for antibiotics that April refused bit-by-bit to take, and I'm not sure they would have made any difference anyway. She was definitely bleeding internally -- the drainage to outside stopped, but whatever was broken just continued to leak into her insides and eventually a big dark blue contusion appeared on her belly ...

But I don't want you to think that there is only one possibility here. A lot of dark blood stains spattered around with no surface wound could indicate that your little one bit her tongue! Of course, then the question becomes what would have caused that all of a sudden? How could she just take a chomp and forget her tongue was in the way? Did she have a neurologic event? Or was the quantity of blood lost just way too much for that scenario?

I suppose also that she could have ingested something that has caused a gastrointestinal tear or puncture. Maybe if they run an x-ray the vet office can find something like that -- but then removing the object and repairing the injury might present a whole new problem, given the difficulties of performing surgery on mice.

Did you check all of her claws? She may have torn one off, but has licked it all nice and clean so you can't see the evidence right now. But you would want to monitor something like that for infection.

You are already doing the smartest thing by getting mousie to the doctor as quickly as possible. The vet can check for more exotic things like parasites, if they are suspected.

by Jadamouse Mon 21 May 2018, 2:51 pm

thank you! i just checked all her claws and they are all there i think. vet appointment is in a couple hours. there was no more blood overnight.

by Peachy Mon 21 May 2018, 3:02 pm

Quite fond of Merci's detail! Just wanted to mention that tails can bleed a lot too, and small bites or scratches can be hard to miss afterwards. Good luck at the vet!!

by Rodents rock! Mon 21 May 2018, 8:17 pm

That must have been very scary for you. Hugs. Wishing you all the best at the vet. Keep us posted.

by Jadamouse Mon 21 May 2018, 11:03 pm

I just got home, the vet found a small bite or cut at the base of her tail which is most likely the reason for all the blood (i couldn't see it because it was like almost covered in fur) which looked as if it had recently scabbed. she said it looks fine and it looks like it it healing well already, no sign of infection. i've been told to not give her any sharp or rough toys, so she has a very VERY simple set up right now with just a few plastic toys and things. i'm just hoping she doesn't scratch the scab off or anything. its quite amazing how much it bled though! hopefully she will be ok Smile

by Peachy Tue 22 May 2018, 8:38 am

Hooray! Happy to hear it was something simple. I've had a mouse pull the skin off her tail and run around with the thin, string-like bone trailing after her. Bled quite a bit but after some time she just chewed it off and got on with life. Mice are something else. Laughing

Happy healing!

by Rodents rock! Tue 22 May 2018, 9:49 pm

So glad to hear all is well.

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