Vaginal bleeding in a spayed girl? *Post-surgery Update*

[SoA]

Well, Hazel's recovery has been a bit slower than normal, but then again it was a little more invasive than a regular spay. Her incision finally started looking dry/scabby like it was healing up, so I decided to put her back in the FN with everyone else.

I think she knew the other rats didn't want her there; as soon as I put her in, she hunkered down and didn't move at all. Everyone swarmed around her to give her a good sniff. The only one that was taking it a bit too far was Maddie, my spazzy 8 month old girl. I figured Maddie would pick on her a bit and stop - after all Hazel had only been out of the cage for a couple of days. There were a couple small tiffs, but Hazel seemed okay (though a bit shaken up).

I was putting Ensie and Fyn on the bed for some playtime, and heard a ton of insane squeaking and screaming. Maddie had cornered Hazel into a cube, and I rushed over to get her out as quickly as possible. Hazel practically jumped into my arms. I had her on the bed with me and kept apologizing for putting her in there :cry: She seemed overly anxious and weird despite being away from Maddie and the others, but I figured it was just from the big fight. After a couple of minutes, I got up to get her cage so she could calm down for a bit, and that's when I noticed her hair on her shoulders was parting kind of strangely. Sure enough, she had a huge gash from Maddie.

I gave her a big dose of Metacam and some yummy foods, which she scarfed down immediately. I checked on her real quick this morning before leaving, and the laceration looks like it's not as open and is starting to heal. She screamed bloody murder when I put some medicated cleanser on it last night My poor girl.

I hope she pulls through this big mess... There's no way I'm going to even try putting her back in the big cage, she just can't handle it, and her skin is so thin because of her advanced age, it tears like wet paper. I'll house her with sweet Fyn and my oblivious-to-everything-except-food girl, Ensie.

Hazel definitely needs some well wishes now If her wound still looks fairly open by tomorrow, I'll take her in to the vet to have it sutured. I'm just worried about her being anesthetized twice in such a small amount of time.

Oh sigh :cry:

 

[lilspaz68]

Poor Hazel..sounds like she will enjoy the 2 quieter rats to live with. I am sure that wound should be healing nicely by tomorrow.

I think she's had quite enough now and just needs to live a long time and be happy. :heart:

 

[chicky82]

poor girly not being well and then getting picked on, good thing she has a great owner to spoil her and give her lots of yummy treats, good vibes heading your way sweet Hazel :tumkiss:

 

[mamarat]

Poor sweetie.

 

[Lise]

Hazel definitely needs some well wishes now If her wound still looks fairly open by tomorrow, I'll take her in to the vet to have it sutured. I'm just worried about her being anesthetized twice in such a small amount of time.

Oh no! All of my well wishes to Hazel! I had trouble having elderly rats live with the young ones as well, which is why my sweet Tevy is now living on her own. I think Hazel will appreciate living with the mellower crew.

As for suturing, usually there is only a brief time window when you can suture up a wound... about 6 - 8 hours max after the wound occurs. After that it usually needs to be left open to heal, as suturing does more damage than good, with antibiotics given of course. I would get some antibiotics from your vet if she isn't already on them.

 

[SoA]

She's on Clindymacin (been on it for almost a week) in hopes that it will help get rid of her adhesions, or at the very least will stop them from multiplying.

I just checked on her now, and although the wound is still very much open, it's less so then last night. When she's not moving, it closes up, so hopefully all of her resting will speed up the recovery. I just feel so bad for her. Maybe I should have rushed her to the ER vet last night? There's no blood at all, though, just the open laceration. She doesn't seem to notice it at all and is her normal, sweet self.

I wonder... could I use those butterfly bandaids on her, just to keep the skin together? Are those sold at drug stores? I hate just leaving the wound open like it is

 

[jorats]

Poor little girl. But rats rarely feel much pain when it comes to a skin wound. And I would recommend letting the gash close on it's own. You don't want to trap any bacteria in there. It may take a while but it will eventually close.

Lots of healing vibes for the sweetie!!

 

[lilspaz68]

For some reason there is little blood supply to the shoulders and back. I would just leave it alone with a bit of neosporin. I have seen some gashes like that, right down to the muscle, and they close and heal beautifully with very little assistance from us.