When I went to bed last night I was already worrying about my rat, who hadn’t eaten anything since I filled his bowl on Monday as far as I could tell.
When I woke up this morning he refused to take a banana chip. This is not normal behaviour.
When I came home from work, he wouldn’t eat any of the fresh fruit I brought him, and was breathing in an extremely laboured fashion.
So I took him to the vet.
The vet diagnosed pneumonia with almost total immune system failure.
I know people think keeping rats is weird, but he was my sweet boy and it was a hard decision. I had the vet give him an injection, and I held him until he had gone on.
Sorry to hear that SisterCoyote. I don’t think having rats as pets is wierd. I have a good friend who has a few and loves them dearly. Take care of yourself and I think you made the right decision on letting him go.
Our condolences; a friend is a friend no matter what their corporeal incarnation and losing a friend is hard. Good for you for letting him die peacefully, and not letting his death drag on, it was brave of you.
We had to put one of our dog’s to sleep last week. Goldie the Lab, 13.5 years old. She’d had a couple strokes. The sweetest dog on the planet. My mom’s still in a deep blue funk. Losing a family member is never easy, human, dog, rat, cat or other.
Nothing wierd about keeping a rat. Now snakes… that’s kinda wierd (but not bad wierd). But a rat’s a mammal, and don’t all mammals on this planet share the vast majority of our DNA? No reason we can’t be companions for each other.
I understand. I lost my kitty last week and am still very sad over it. I loved her more than some of my family. She was family. Not strange at all, that you would be sad. I am sorry for your loss.
I’m so sorry for your loss SC. I kept rats for a time and know how attached you can get to them. Do you have other pets or rats? I’ve always found that spoiling the pets that I still have takes some of the sting out of losing one.
And Kirkland–snakes can be just as affectionate as mammals, I’ll have you know! I kept a burmese python for five years. She would cuddle up between me and the back of the couch and lie her head up at my neck while I lay there watching TV. So sweet. I had to find a new home for her when my son was born, she was ten feet long by then and I couldn’t bear to keep her constantly caged. I still miss her.
I’m so sorry to hear that; I know that seeing a dear pet suffering is so hard.
I had to put my ferret to sleep a couple weeks ago. She was old, and had been having various health problems; I knew her time would be up very soon after all the weight she’d lost. She looked pretty bad that morning, but I had to go to work - with all the budget cuts and things going on, I couldn’t take time off. So all day I worked and thought about the poor creature, and when I finally got home I cried my eyes out when I saw the state she was in.
[TMI warning for the sensitive]
She’d been having intestinal troubles of various kinds for the previous few weeks, and during the day she’d begun bleeding rectally. I couldn’t believe the amount of blood she’d lost and yet continued to live. I gave her one last bath - she liked them, plus I didn’t want her to stay caked in her own blood - and held her, wrapped in a towel, in my arms until my husband got home. Then we drove to the vet clinic, and I stayed with her, petting her head gently, as she got her injections.
[/TMI warning for the sensitive]
I was laid off due to budget cuts anyway. Today’s my last day, and my only regret is not taking that day off to be with her, but I’m glad I did her the courtesy of cleaning her up and being with her in every last moment before sending her on, out of her suffering.
We had a liter of pups born in early may from our husky/wolf doggy. 6 of the most beautiful dogs i’ve seen. they were doing great, very healthy and active, pretty blue eyes all open. well, about 3 weeks ago, one croaked off suddenly. a week later 3 more died unexpectedly. of the remaining two, one died the next day and the wife took the last one into town to see what the hell was going on. Vet was stumped, but suspected a virus.
The next week the mother stopped eating all together and looked bad, so in she went too. Vet says looks like anti-freeze poisoning and wants to do some tests. Dog died that night, and the next morning she gets taken up to the lab (state does free testing on dead ones if the vet suspects foul play)
Initial results indicate deliberate poisoning. still waiting for the final word.
I raised that female from her first day on earth. Those pups were all spoken for by good familys. What a pisser, to put it mildly.
Keeping rats as pets isn’t weird. In my 10th grade bio class, we had a couple of lab rats. I immediatley named them Nicodemus and Jennor (Nicky and Jen) after the rats in the rats of NIMH. I knew one of them licked your finger when you put it in (Nicky) and one of them bit it (Jen).
I still visited them after 10th grade, and our Scholastic Bowl team adopted them as our unofficial mascots. But soon, Nicky got a tumor and died. Then Jen did. I actually cried over it.
So liking rats isn’t silly. I’m sorry for your loss…but at least it was relatively quick, and you were with him at the end. That probably made all the difference in the world for him.
gatopescado, that is so awful! Do you have any idea who would have done such a thing and how? I hope you find out the perpetrator of this horrendous deed and their punishment is to drink Drano.
**SisterCoyote, ** may I just add my condolences. Any animal you choose to care for is lucky to have you as its owner.
THis is all so heartbreaking. Loving animals is like falling in love with someone who has a terminal disease… you always know you are going to have to say goodbye someday. I think about it alot… I try to let the thoughts inspire me to make certain I spend more time with my dog so I never regret anything.
Anyway, just a tip for everyone in this thread who will be facing the decision to have your animals put to sleep: if you can, try to find a vet who will come to your house to do it. I have had to put down two dogs and a cat in the last three years and the vet always came to my house. It made a huge difference for me and my animals…no final stress, no worrying about being in public, having to drive home crying. I got to spend the last hours and minutes with my pet at home, where they felt safe and comfortable.
My vet always lights a candle and says a little poem, she brings clay to press their paw into and a piece of their hair, and she removes their remains to be cremated and has them returned to me with a condolence card and tied up with a little bow.
It makes it all a little nicer and easier to bear…not cold and clinical.
Rats are cool critters. I once had one of my ferrets along in one of those big pet stores that let you bring your pets inside, and one lady stopped to see what I had after seeing a familiar-looking long, sinuous silhouette. Turns out her daughter had owned a pet rat, and after some initial trepidation she adored it. It even rode on her shoulder while doing household chores. They’re the smartest of the rodents, and I think they’re neat creatures. Looks like you had a real cutie.
It’s kind of sappy, but my vet clinic has sent me this poem before: Rainbow Bridge Even though normally I don’t really like this sort of thing, it seems to offer me a little cheer when I’ve had to deal with the loss of a pet.
Stoid - my roommate took me to the vet; FatBoy rode on my shoulder all the way down there. It’s only about a block and a half from my home. I only regret that his usual vet wasn’t in town.
The vet’s assistant told me he was a smart little guy - they’d put him on oxygen as soon as I got him in, and when the vet tried to take the mask away from him he grabbed it and pulled it back over his face. He knew it was helping him.
And when she brought him in after giving him the shot he tried to leap from her to me, and he curled up in my elbow and lay there as the shot took effect.
I wish I’d thought to take a thing of clay for his little footie. He would have hated it, though, he hated to have his feet handled. Trimming his toes was very difficult.
