Slightly Bloody Nose

Cookie and Mischief said:

Hi! My young (I'm not sure of her precise age, but she is about 5 inches from nose to tail) albino feeder female ratty, Rosie, has a slightly bloody nose. She has been sneezing a lot lately. After her cagemate, Missy, died of pnemonia I sanitized her cage thouroughly. it's not much blood, it's just a little around the rim of her nose. Why was it bleeding though?

Thanks!

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It's most likely porphorin which is basically like mucus. If there's a lot it's not a good thing if combined with sneezing. If there's a lot throughout the day with sneezing, I'd make a vet appointment as soon you can so you can get medication to treat her.

Don't panic. If you catch it early she will be fine . You can always private message me also with any other questions you have. I just got 2 rats a few months ago and have been dealing with porphorin as well as sneezing a lot.

Someone else on here had a similar problem recently... They associated it with their room being dry and getting a humidifier fixed it I believe. With the sneezing though, I'm not sure. She could have pneumonia though, if Missy had it. Pneumonia is contagious if my source was correct.

Oh dear... I'll do everything I can to tend to her. She hasn't been sneezing for 5 minutes for a few days, in fact, I only heard her sneeze maybe 5 (?) times in total since yesterday....

Cookie and Mischief said:

Hi! My young (I'm not sure of her precise age, but she is about 5 inches from nose to tail) albino feeder female ratty, Rosie, has a slightly bloody nose. She has been sneezing a lot lately. After her cagemate, Missy, died of pnemonia I sanitized her cage thouroughly. it's not much blood, it's just a little around the rim of her nose. Why was it bleeding though?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

It does sound like porphyrin. (Which does look just like blood.) Porphyrin is secreted when rats have respiratory disease and/or are stressed. It comes from the Harderian gland located right behind each eyeball. She most likely has respiratory disease or mycoplasma. Healthy rats rarely sneeze.

I agree she needs to be examined by a veterinarian. Do you already have a good rat veterinarian?

Just so you know, almost all pet rats have respiratory disease to varying degrees. The important thing is you get right on it (as erikablanchettexo said) and manage it by following your veterinarian's instructions.

Unfortunately, I cannot afford to take Rosie to a veterinarian at the time, and since my last two rats died within a month apart, I fear that if I keep getting rats they will keep dying, that's why I'm going to get a guinea pig when Rosie passes, because I had my last guinea pig for 4 days short of a year and only had to take her to a vet once.

Is there anything I can do at home to help her?

And she hasn't sneezed much for awhile.

Hmm its good she hasn't sneezed much. Maybe look up some remedies on how to relieve rat's respiratory systems if they seem to be bothering them? I have seen some remedies. Or, you could call the vet and ask her for advic, explain the situation adn ask if you can do anything at home to help.

Okay, great! THanks!

No problem! Good luck!