Found Some Blood

[AlbertaGirl]

I found some blood in Ronnie's snuggle box today. There was quite a bit, but it was only on one piece of Carefresh. I checked her paws and don't see any wounds, and I don't think it's uterine/bladder in nature because she always pees on a piece of paper towel and I never see any blood there. I'm taking her to the vet, of course, but in the meantime, does anyone have any theories?

Update - got a vet appointment for 1:20 - only an hour from now. I love my vet! I'll let you know what he says. Please wish us luck. She is very old.

 

[Kaycoocachoo]

AWW Alberta Girl. I hope everything is okay with you little one! What a great mommy to so quickly get her in and checked up!

 

[Melissa]

You are probably at the vet (or on your way) by my math but I hope everything turns out alright. Quills crossed for you ladies!

 

[Vortex]

aww, i hope everything is okay with ronnie! :heart3: let us know how it goes.

 

[Nancy]

Possibly a tooth, oral issue.

Hopefully it's something minor.

 

[pricklesnquills]

Oh! Hope it's something minor! Keep us updated!

 

[shetland]

Thinking of you and Ronnie!!!!!!!

 

[AlbertaGirl]

Well, the short answer is we don't know what's wrong (if anything), and we can't do any of the usual things to find out because she's too old for anaesthetic.

She was very good for the vet. She let him use the stethoscope to listen to her heart (which sounds good), and she let him palpate her abdomen (no obvious lumps) and look in her mouth (looks good). There is no blood on her anywhere which is quite mysterious. He said if she was younger we could anaesthetize her for an ultrasound or even an exploratory surgery, but she's just too old. He gave me some antibiotics and some Heal-X for her and I'm to keep an eye on her for any further blood.

Her appetite is good and her weight is holding steady - literally not 1g difference for the last several months.

There's really not anything else that we can do. I'll just give her the medicines and hope for the best, I guess.

 

[xwhateverx92]

Glad to hear that she's okay!

 

[Courtney]

I'm glad there were no obvious lumps and bumps, but that's very strange that she no signs of blood anywhere else. Very weird. When Hemi was bleeding, the vet prescribed ChloroPalm, which worked very well to keep the bleeding at bay. Hemi also really liked the taste.

Best wishes for little Ronnie. Here's hoping she did something completely strange and simply cut herself somehow. A nice, quick fix...

 

[AlbertaGirl]

That's what I'm hoping - maybe she just snagged her paw on something, it bled and healed up, and it won't ever happen again. Fingers crossed!

Just thought of something - can hedgies get nosebleeds? I've been having a heck of a time keeping the humidity up in here, even with two humidifiers going. It's sitting at about 25%, which is way too low. I know when the air is dry I get nosebleeds - could a hedgie have the same reaction?

 

[AlbertaGirl]

I haven't seen any more blood. Fingers crossed!!!

 

[pricklesnquills]

Great

 

[AlbertaGirl]

This morning during medication time/bumps & lumps check, I found some fresh blood under one of Ron's toenails on a back foot. I looked as closely as she would let me, and I couldn't see a cut or anything, but the blood was still red so it must have been fairly fresh. I wonder if this is where the original blood came from. I seem to remember reading that foot wounds can bleed profusely, right?

 

[Nancy]

Yes, foot wounds can bleed like crazy and often you can't tell where exactly it's coming from. Usually though, bleeding feet happen to those who are new to a wheel or if they climb the cage. I'm assuming she is not a wheeling maniac anymore nor does she climb her cage. Is there anything in the cage she could have cut her foot on or does she have a sharp spot on that nail that could be catching on her bedding? Perhaps the first blood was the initial injury and today she'd opened it back up.

 

[AlbertaGirl]

No, she was never a climber and she hasn't wheeled in a while. I've turned her cage upside down and can't find anything that she could have cut herself on. The only think I can think of is a paper/cardboard cut from her tissue box, but I never found any blood on the box itself. Her nails are pretty well trimmed - I usually do one or two every day since she's such a grumpy bear about it. I'll try to have a closer look at the nail itself tonight and see if she could have caught it on anything.

 

[Courtney]

Hemi did something like this when she was younger. She caught her nail on something in her cage and must have ripped it out. There was blood all over her cage when I woke up in the morning and I had no idea why. When I checked her over, I found nothing amiss aside from one nail that looked thinner, shorter and much newer than her other nails - it was actually rather soft and pliable. To my best guess, she ripped the nail out and there was a new one starting to grow underneath it.

 

[shetland]

Good thoughts for our Ronnie.

 

[Philogirl]

I don't know if anyone remembers this from CnQ, but Spike had a mysterious blood splotch once in his cage. Couldn't find an injury, took him to the vet and had him anesthesized and still couldn't find anything wrong... never happened again after that.

These little guys just looooove to make us worry, eh?

 

[AlbertaGirl]

Now that you say that, I think I do remember that happening to Spike. I swear they thrive on turning our hair grey! We haven't had any more blood here... just some green poop from the antibiotics. Thank goodness we're almost done with the meds!