>> if the vet can squeeze urine out of them like they have done with my cats/dog. <<
Whoa. Didn't know of that.
You feed them anything red?
>> Nimbus gave me a scare yesterday morning. I picked him up for a cuddle and found one of his feet had a large bluish red patch on it. My first thought was "Oh my god!!! Bumblefoot!!!". I panicked for awhile (as you do), concerned that he might be in pain... until I looked at the cage floor and found large bluish stains all over the place from their breakfast. Blueberries!! He had obviously trodden on one, as his "bumble" wiped right off with a wet tissue.
Then there was the time I came home to find Dapper lying with his head in a pool of blood, which turned out to be a giant red globe grape skin. And a huge gash on Statty's side where he'd slept on a piece of tomato skin.
I take this moment to warn all rat owners of such ratty practical jokes. Strawberry juice is not blood. Raspberry staining on bedding is not porphyrin. Red kidney bean skins are not pieces of dried blood. Juicy cherry seeds are not barfed up lungs. Red grape skins are not peeled rat skin from fights. Pink watermelon stains on bedding are not caused by blood in rat urine.
Consider a large "Fed Red!" sign to place on their cage whenever you feed them anything red... it could save you from a heart attack. <<
www.dapper.com.au/ramblings.htmIn humans. . .
>> Causes of Blood in Urine
Hematuria has many different causes.
* Blood in the urine can come from any condition that results in infection, inflammation, or injury to the urinary system.
* Typically, microscopic hematuria indicates damage to the upper urinary tract (kidneys), while visible blood indicates damage to the lower tract (ureters, bladder, or urethra). But this is not always the case.
* The most common causes in people younger than 40 years of age are kidney stones or urinary tract infections.
* These may also cause hematuria in older people, but cancers of the kidney, bladder, and prostate become a more common concern in people older than 40 years of age.
* Several conditions causing hematuria may exist at the same time.
* Some causes of hematuria are serious, others are not. Your healthcare provider will perform tests to help tell the difference.
The well-known causes of blood in the urine include the following:
* Kidney stones
* Infections of the urinary tract or genitals
* Blockage of the urinary tract, usually the urethra - by a stone, a tumor, a narrowing of the opening (stricture), or a compression from surrounding structures
* Cancer of the kidney, bladder, or prostate
* Kidney disease
* Blood clotting disorders
* Injury to the upper or lower urinary tract, as in a car accident or a bad fall
* Medications - Antibiotics [for example, rifampin (Rifadin)], analgesics such as aspirin, anticoagulants [blood thinners such as warfarin, (Coumadin)], phenytoin (Dilantin), quinine (Quinerva, Quinite, QM-260)
* Benign (noncancerous) enlargement of the prostate - known as benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH), a common condition in older men
* Chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and sickle cell anemia
* Viral infections
* Inflammation of the kidney - usually of unknown cause
* Strenuous exercise, especially running - results from repeated jarring of the bladder
Sometimes no cause is found for blood in the urine. <<