Blood in the urine and very sleepy

[Mr White]

My 2 year old white dumbo has suddenly become very sleepy ~24 hours ago. He has had blood in his urine which baytril has not solved. He had an xray a month ago when he was wheezing and there was no apparent tumor growth.
He appears very tired but not in discomfort. Obviously I am concerned particularly as I am not sure the vet will offer any alternative to putting him to sleep or more baytril. If anyone knows a rat specialist whom they would recommend near Hertford it would be much appreciated.

[Ratgirl@RatRitz]

I have no idea how close they are, but this Vet has been listed by another member - viewtopic.php?f=16&t=217

If they are too far from you it might be worth calling them to see if they know of anyone closer who has experience with rats?

Is the blood in the urine very obvious?
Is his urine bright or dark?
Does his urine smell odd?
Is it clear or opaque?
Is he drinking more/less than normal?
Has his urine been tested at all for anything?
What dose of Baytril was/is he on? (he may have been under-dosed)

There are certainly other antibiotics that can be tried if Baytril appears not to be effective, so providing he is comfortable enough to continue with meds, I would suggest you try something else. I would probably ask for Clavaseptin/Synulox which is quite gentle as antis go, and can be tolerated in fairly high doses with support from probiotics.

You could do with having his urine tested if hasn't been already, check the pH, check for sugar, and protein ... and if possible, get a Vet to look at a sample under a microscope as there is a small chance he may have 'bladder crystals' and if this is the case, Baytril can make this condition worse.

Please print this article out for your Vet to read if they dismiss that Baytril can cause urine crystals - http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Conten ... &A=553&S=0

Under Side Effects is the following:

The use of enrofloxacin can produce crystals in urine. These crystals may show up on a laboratory test thus it is important to be aware of this side effect. Enrofloxacin crystals should not be confused with more clinically relevant struvite, oxalate, or urate crystals.

The tiredness may be due to dehydration ... you can check this by pinching the skin on the back of his neck and then letting go, the skin should pop back straight away if he's okay, and if he is dehydrated, it will slowly sink down again instead of springing back.

If he's dehydrated, you need to get some fluids in to him, hand feed him some water ... and get him to a Vet for some sub-q fluids, dehydration can get pretty serious quickly, so the sooner he is rehydrated the better if he needs it.

Apart from that I think you need to narrow down the possible causes really (answering my questions should be of help there), and I would want to rule out crystals in particular given that there's been no improvement with Baytril.