rat bleeding a lot from eye

[pscychopomp]

I noticed one of my rats had some blood in the corner of her eye, I didn't see or hear anything happen like a fight etc. She was squinting but seemed ok, eye looked ok, she was acting normal. I irrigated it a bit with saline and she didn't seem to care. I left for 5-10min and now there is thick blood covering the entire eye (can't see her eye at all there is so much) and going down the side of her face and there is blood on the shavings everywhere. She is acting sluggish, she can't walk well, like kind of limp on one side... it makes me think stroke, but I'm not sure with the bloody eye. She is a year and half. Of course I can't find anything online because 'rat with bloody eye' just brings up porphyrin questions :/

 

[fenshae]

Obvious question, I guess, is are you sure it's not poryphin? The symptoms you describe sound possibly indicative of a stroke as you say, and my rats who have had strokes always had very heavily porphy eyes on the side that they lost most of the motor skill on. It's very dark, thick porph that looks very much like blood.

If you're for sure it's blood, it sounds like she probably suffered some kind of trauma, probably to the head, which is causing neuro symptoms. A fall, possibly?

Either way I'm sorry to hear about this Hope she's OK, it's terrifying to come up on them like that.

 

[pscychopomp]

It's definitely blood, and after looking closer I think a piece of her eye is coming out...it's like her eye just exploded

 

[victoria]

I have no idea, I'm sorry. Try to keep her warm and hydrated until you can get her to the vet in the morning or you can try calling the VEC and seeing if they have a rat savvy vet working tonight.

 

[pscychopomp]

here's some pics

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[pscychopomp]

This is messed up...she's been trying to clean up her face a bit, there was clearly something coming out from her eye, I was convinced it was the eye itself. I put her in a cage by herself, gave her some ibuprofen (maybe not the best for bleeding but it's all I have for pain meds). I just checked on her now before I go to bed and she has a normal eye, whatever that blob was is gone...it must have been a clot or something. I'm still clueless what would cause so much bleeding from the eye all of a sudden.

 

[victoria]

Maybe it was a blood clot that caused the vein to burst and it's cleared itself. I still think a vet visit in the morning is a very good idea but I'm glad she's improved so much so quickly.

 

[jorats]

A scratch in the area of the eye can bleed like mad. Next time, hold the rat and apply pressure with a tissue. That could stop or slow the bleeding.
It's super scary when it happens though. Glad to read that all is well.

 

[Argent]

Wow those pics are terrifying, I'd be in pieces if I saw any of mine like that. Glad she's starting to recover though, I agree with the others though, vet check just to make sure it's nothing that can reoccur.

 

[hopefloats]

wow I am glad she is ok so far! That would be horrible to discover. Those pictures made me flinch when I seen them. Poor girl

 

[mamarat]

That happened to Noah and it took almost an hour of applied pressure to stop the bleeding. I was feeding him all kinds of treats to keep him quiet while doing it and making sure he stayed hydrated. Glad your little one is ok now.

 

[Joanne]

Wow, how scary! I hope she continues to do OK and that the vet gives her the 'all clear'.

 

[handmeafish]

All I could think was "yep, thats not poryphrin"
I can't immagine going through that. Good luck tomorrow at the vet. Some ABS might be a good idea if shes got a big cut, to prevent infection.

Maybe she got something in it, and scratched it to get it out?

 

[hprats]

Wow that's amazing. That must have been so scary.
I'm so glad she is doing better so soon, and now I know what to do if that ever happened to one of mine. Terrifying.