Blood From Ear

TheRatQueen · Nov 19, 2012

We were doing feeding time w/ the boys and found this:

[BBvideo 450,375:2mlfc7do]http://youtu.be/sGxb_fN_Tjs[/BBvideo:2mlfc7do]

[BBvideo 450,375:2mlfc7do]http://youtu.be/F7nrqKhP2vs[/BBvideo:2mlfc7do]

He seems fine, not lethargic, acts like it's not there, no head tilt and also...I do not see a rip or scratch anywhere. I don't want to clean it because there's a huge blood clot at the base of his ear. We're going to take him to the vet and I'd rather have him clean it since if it starts bleeding at least he can stop it.

Not sure if there's anything that can make him bleed out of his ear like this...?

lilspaz68 · Nov 19, 2012

He may have cut inside his ear but usually scratches like that don't bleed quite like this. He may have a deep inner ear infection, but your vet would have to look deep in his ear for that. You would also be able to see a polyp in his ear as well. think once he's cleaned up, you'll be able to see a wound, io polyp, if not, then I would treat it as a possible inner ear infection with antibiotics.

TheRatQueen · Nov 19, 2012

Great Thanks! Sadly I'm not seeing the normal rat dr, I'm seeing a 'fill in' who is not as educated so now I'm a bit nervous

rhapsody · Nov 19, 2012

Ear polyp maybe? My Missy had one and it bled a ton whenever she nicked it: http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=28316

Hopefully not though. Missy's polyp went rogue, and we eventually had to let her go because of it.

TheRatQueen · Nov 19, 2012

I haven't seen him today, but bry said a lot of the blood is gone, but he didn't want to mess with it. He also smelled it and said he only smelt the blood smell. So I'm assuming that's a plus. He goes to the vet in about 1.5 hours. Sadly I'm not going to the vet I like at the practice, she's not as knowledgeable so we shall see!

TheRatQueen · Nov 20, 2012

Good news! It's just a 'cut'. Somehow where his ear meets his head, it was sliced horizontally pretty deep and pretty much disconnected his ear from his head. It was rather gross. Some surgical glue and he's good to go (metacam and baytril as well, of course)

*whew*