Mysterious blood in cage - assistance please?

[Mittens, Ph.D.]

Hi!

A little background... There are two of them in the cage, a boy and a girl. The boy was neutered in January.

I came home from a couple of days out of town to discover that there was blood on three shelves in the cage. Neither of them are missing fur, or have any apparent injuries/scabs. There was no fur on the floor of the cage (as I would expect if they had been fighting). There has been no more blood appearing in the cage since (this happened several days ago). I'm not sure how to quantify how much blood there was, but I guess you could say there were 3 main spots, each semi-covering about 2"x2" (it was patchy, little bit of blood, little bit of wood).

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Vicki

 

[alli713]

Do they both still have all toes and fingers?

And did you check the pads of their paws to make sure they're not cracked and dry?

Those would by my only other thoughts of possible areas where they could bleed if you didn't notice any fur missing or anything.

 

[Mittens, Ph.D.]

Fingers and toes accounted for! The pads of her hind feet each have a red area, which looks a little raw. Maybe my home is too dry? My hygrometer is reading 50%. I just moved into this place. Do I need a humidifier?

 

[AZChins]

You know, someone may have just scratched a paw pad somewhere. I see that all the time. It freaks me out each time...I look everyone over and sometimes I find the teeniest little scratch on a toe or paw pad. They run around the cages like crazy little monsters and sometimes can get a scratch here or there.

If everyone is acting fine and you don't see anymore blood, I wouldn't worry about it. It happens to almost everyone with chins eventually. Those little scratches on the paws can make a lot of blood AND the chins get it everywhere.

I don't think that your home is too dry or anything. It's good to feed a pellet that has an adequate amount of vitamin E because that helps with keeping the skin in good condition.

 

[Ash]

This might sound like a "duh" question, but are you positive it wasn't urine? Chin pee is a reddish color and could be mistaken for blood. Otherwise, it could be cracked feet.

 

[alli713]

As far as being too dry, I wouldn't get a humidifier. If they do look dry, you can get bag balm or rub vitamin E on the pads to moisturize them.

 

[Mittens, Ph.D.]

Ash, it definitely wasn't pee. I wish it had been!

Thanks guys! I'll keep an eye on them. I didn't think it was anything to worry about, but I thought it best to throw it out there.