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my bald rat has had an eye infection off and on since we bought her (about a year now), and we have been using eye drops - they work, usually. last night the eye was pretty swollen. today, it was bleeding - badly. now... it looks like the eye is oozing right out of the socket. she's still eating, and she's still cleaning herself, careful not to touch her eye... is this going to kill her? we have accepted that she's gonna lose that eye - but is there ANYTHING we can be doing for her right now? i know you'll say take her to the vet, but we can't take her until monday as HER vet cannot be reached until then, and any other vet is going to charge us $$ we don't have right now, just to LOOK at her... please help!

Submitted: 120 days and 16 hours ago.

Category: Pet

Value: $9

Status: CLOSED

Pet's Sex: Female
Pet's Age: 1

Already Tried:
our vet prescribed tobramycine opthalmic soltion SP 0.3% to keep it clean. he told us when we first brought her in that most likely, her eye wold shrivel in its socket, she would lose the eye, but she would live. her eye never did shrivel up - the drops knocked the infection right out.

now, i'm not even sure that it IS or ever WAS an infection. it's always appeared to be a swollen red dot on her normally black eye. same eye, everytime. as she is bald, we've always assumed it's just something that got in her eye that she couldn't flush out, for lack of eyelashes...

her eye is now bleeding, though the bleeding has slowed and has dried a bit. but it seriously looks like it's oozing out of the socket.

Accepted Answer

Hello,

I'm sorry to hear this is happening to your rat. Since the bleeding has slowed down, I wouldn't put anything else in the eye. Any liquid may soften the forming clots and cause the bleeding to begin again. Keep her in a darkened room because light may irritate the eye. If you use any kind of bedding that could be dusty, such as shavings or ground corn cobs, switch to a paper-based one such as CareFresh. You want to avoid getting small particles in the eye. Once the bleeding has stopped and the blood is totally dry, you can resume her eye drops.

Under the circumstances you've described, I suspect that this is really blood you're seeing. However, (and you may already be aware) small rodents secrete a substance called porphyrins which may appear as an eye or nose discharge. It's red and looks like blood, but it isn't. You may want to read the information on the following link. If you think porphyrins is what is coming from the eye, there's no reason to discontinue the eye drops.

http://www.egerbil.com/tears.html

Beyond keeping your rat comfortable and preventing dust from getting in her eye, there isn't a lot you can do until you see your vet on Monday. Unless the bleeding is excessive, this shouldn't be a life-threatening condition. If you have more questions, just let me know by clicking on REPLY. I hope your rat will be fine.

Anna

Accepts:
Expert:	Anna
Pos. Feedback:	100.0 %
Answered:	7/25/2009

Pet Expert/Biologist

40 yrs.: herps, pocket pets, rabbits, poultry, dogs, horses. Biology degree. Volunteer vet assistant

119 days and 14 hours ago.

Reply

thank you SO much for your response! it really means a lot that you took the time to read my question and answer knowledgably and with care :)

sammie is doing much better - we had her in our kitchen, in a clean cage, and basically just left her alone for the night. in the morning, we found that her eye had scabbed-over, but had not oozed out of its socket i had originally thought :-P we are going to start the eye drops again tomorrow, when it's completely dry-looking.

it was tramatic, as i had never seen her or any animal bleed that much, but she made it! she is eating, and cleaning herself and making nests, so i don't think she's in much pain, though we're pretty sure she's completely blind at this point. we still love her, and hope she's with us a little longer. rats are GREAT pets, but the downer is, they do have short life-spans :-/

again, thank you SO MUCH for your advice. i will definitely look you guys up for all my future pet problems/questions :)

Posted by Anna 119 days and 4 hours ago.

Answer

You're welcome. I'm glad to hear Sammie made it and is doing better. I know what you mean about the short lifespans. After my last two died, I didn't get any more for just that reason. Rats are so personable that it really makes it hard to lose them. I hope Sammie will be with you for a good while yet.

There's no need to click on accept again. Thank you for accepting above.

Don't hesitate to ask if you need anything else.

Anna

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