Introduction

• Cause: bleeding into tissues causes local hemorrhagic discoloration. Causes include trauma, thrombocytopenia, vasculitis, septicemia, disseminated intravascular coagulopathy.
• Signs: variable sizes of discoloration to the skin or mucous membranes.
• Diagnosis: clinical appearance, hematology, clotting factors, biopsy, blood culture (reptiles).
• Treatment: pressure, cold compress, treat underlying cause.
• Prognosis: depends on cause.                                                                                                                                                                                            

Pathogenesis

Etiology

• Trauma: physical damage to vessels in area
• Vasculitis with loss of capillary integrity: immune mediated, infection, heat stroke.
• Disseminated intravascular coagulation.
• Coagulation disorders: due to consumption, destruction or lack of production.
• Pancytopenia due to persistent estrus in unspayed female ferrets.

Predisposing factors

General

• Persistent estrus Prolonged estrus.

Pathophysiology

• Traumatic vascular damage.

Timecourse

• Traumatic injuries are acute and take 7-14 days for bruising to resolve.
• Persistent estrus leading to estrogen associated bone marrow suppression may take four weeks to be evident clinically.

Epidemiology

• Unspayed female ferrets.

Diagnosis

Treatment

Prevention

Outcomes