When I woke up this morning, I found Curry had passed away in his favorite spot in the cage. It must have been sometime in the middle of the night. I feel bad, because I had a bad day yesterday so I went to bed right away after coming home from work, instead of greeting all the rats like I normally do... so I didn't get to even say goodbye to him. We adopted him from Star's Rat Rescue of South Dakota in April 2011, along with his brother Aspen. Curry was around 2 1/2 years old. He passed away from old age, though he was starting to get degenerative osteoarthritis, and his back legs were not working like they used too. :-( Curry was featured in an article in my work's newsletter along with his brother back in April.


On top of finding Curry this morning... Templeton had a sprain and the swelling had gotten worse, his little back foot looked like a rubber glove it was so swollen. My vet wasn't in so the nurse gave me a number for a 24 hour emergency vet- only the rat doctor wasn't there today & they referred me back to my own vet! So I called our vet again and the nurse tried contacting another vet (which their doctor that treats rats wasn't in either- weekends are so bad!), so eventually she just told me to come over and the doctor that was there would see Templeton, even though she doesn't normally treat rats, (though she did mention she has had them as pets before).

She gave Templeton a anti-inflammatory steroid injection and some Baytril antibiotics to take home. So hopefully the swelling will go down now. That's the same treatment- Lily had before for an extremely swollen sprained foot and it worked. If it doesn't get better he will have to go back to the vet Mon or Tues.

ETA (9/14/12): Templeton is doing just fine! The swelling in his foot was down by the next day and he moved back into the big cage with his brother's on Thursday. :-) 

My Templeton

 

Lily passed away this weekend... she was a few months past 2 years old. We brought her home in July 2010. She never really had any major health issues or tumors in her life. I hate that we only have a maximum of 2-3 years with rats. It's truly not fair. They have so much personality. Lily was my ♥ rat. She was so spoiled in her old age. She loved to lay back in my hands and stay that way for the longest time on her back.

♥ When she got older and more frail, every morning I would take her out on the bed and get her some Vanilla or Strawberry Ensure. (She would have it at least twice a day). When you tapped the bowl, she would come running. She loved hanging out on our bed, she would stretch out or curl up in my comforter.

♥ When my husband came to the USA in March 2011, she would always sit on his leg and let him pet her if he was sitting on the bed. He used to tease me and say Lily was his rat now. Her nickname was 'Bean'. (When she was younger she was a little roley poley thing so I nicknamed her Lil-La-Bean, like a jelly bean). She had her feisty moments when she was younger, but for the most part she was a very laid back rat. ♥


Video of Lily with her Lolli-pop:



I love all of my pet rats, but there are a few special heart rats that you have. So I'm taking Lily's loss a bit hard. ♥

 

My Honey girl passed away this morning. She was 2 1/2 years old. Honey had 2 tumors, one of which was quite large and had begun to get scabs, etc on it. This coming week I was planning on taking her to the vet to be put to sleep, but Honey passed away this morning. :(


Honey traveled 1,500 miles 2 years ago. I adopted her from Star's Rat Rescue, along with her 2 other sisters (RIP). She was a very feisty girl. I called her 'Firecracker', her other nickname was 'Cheez-it'. Honey was a silver fawn. She had a gorgeous golden orange coat.

Honey Girl:

This has been the most difficult week... I've had four losses... Hazelnut due to old age & a tumor on 2/12. Rosie who passed during a spay for a prolapsed uterus on 2/13. And now Fern (2/22) and Clover both to pneumonia... this sucks...

Clover was adopted from Star's Rat Rescue in South Dakota in August 2010. She always loved running around on the floor and exploring. She never liked to sit still, she was always too curious.

I really hoped Clover would get better... she drank some water on her own earlier today, but she had stopped eating. I tried giving her antibiotics in baby food, ensure, etc in an oral syringe, but she did just not want it. When I came from work today, she was doing very poorly, she did not even want to move much. I wrapped her in a baby blanket, and cuddled her and pet her head until she passed away...

It has not been a good month for me. I already lost my Hazelnut to age & a tumor and my Rosie during an emergency spay for a prolapsed uterus just last week. Fern contracted pneumonia. She's been having respiratory issues since she's getting a little older. Fern was somewhere around 1.5 years maybe 2? I'm not really sure.... she had been doing very poorly the past few days, not taking her medicine in baby food, so I would have to try and get it in her mouth with the oral syringe. She stopped eating... I knew it did not look good. Fern passed away yesterday evening around 5pm...

My spunky girl, I adopted her last April from SRR, along with her sister Olive (RIP). Fern was shy, but she was spunky and territorial in her own cage. She lived with her other SRR sisters. She was my short little pudgy girl.

The sad thing is... Clover, who is already 2 years old, has been getting frail also and I'm pretty sure, contracted pneumonia from Fern. They were both ill, so I had them set up in a hospital cage together and have been giving them their antibiotics in baby food and Ensure, etc. Clover is stronger, but she's barely eating at all during the past 24 hours... which is not good....so please keep Clover in your thoughts, it has been a tough month...

It's not been such a great 24 hours... very early Sunday morning (1am or so) we discovered Rosie had a prolapsed uterus. (It looked a lot like this picture). Unfortunately the vet wasn't open until Monday.... so I had to wait until then to call & make Rosie an appointment.

Also this past weekend Hazelnut wasn't doing so well either. Her tumor had been getting larger and she wasn't as energetic anymore. I had a feeling she would be passing soon and Sunday evening Hazelnut passed away. She was one of my Star's Rat Rescue girls and she traveled 1,500 miles back in August of 2010. Hazelnut was already around 2 years old. She was a very curious girl who always loved getting off the bed to run around and explore. And she loved sleeping in any kind of cardboard box or oatmeal tube that we put in her cage. ♥


Rosie had her appointment at the vet this afternoon. We decided she would go in for an emergency spay. I was pretty nervous already to put her through the surgery considering she would have been 2 years old around June/July. But the only other alternative was having her put to sleep, because her uterus was coming out and the tip of it was already badly infected. So we left Rosie at the vet to be spayed. (I had a female rat, Cinnamon spayed years ago but she was only around 6 months old). Unfortunately, I got a call directly from the vet himself a little later in the afternoon.... Rosie passed away during her surgery. The vet said her uterus was in really bad condition. Sadly we had to go pick up Rosie from the vet. We dropped her off at my parents house to be buried with Hazelnut...

Rosie was so laid back and special. She was my nap rat. She loved taking naps with me. She loved laying near your feet. She was cuddly and would give kisses occasionally. She was such a friendly little rattie and I'm so sad to have lost her so suddenly...  ♥

My sweet Iris, my "ratatouille" passed away sometime last night.... I found her this morning when I woke up. My sweet girl was getting frail, she had an abscess on her one paw and what appeared to be a tumor growing in her belly. (She had a paralyzed tail from a back injury when she was younger). Though weak & getting frail, her energy was good, she was always so very excited to see me when I opened the cage door, and her appetite was good.

I will miss my "ratatouille". That was her nickname because she was the colors of Remy in the Disney movie. She was a blue berkshire. Iris was very affectionate, like her sister Jasmine. She loved to give kisses to your hands, your face. She loved grooming your nails. She had a hearty appetite like her sister Jasmine. They even looked a lot alike when they were both younger. I will miss my blue girls... it really sucks losing them so close together.

♥ I love all of my pet rats, but blue rats are my favorite color, if I had to choose. Goodbye my sweet Iris. ♥

Jasmine on the left- Iris on the right.

Iris & Jasmine- By Ciara Kay Barsotti

We had to take Jasmine to the vet this morning, to be put to sleep. I hate having to make that decision... it's the worst.

Jasmine started with an eye injury back in November. We think maybe one of the girls scratched her in her eye. It got infected and started swelling. The vet started her on Cipro eye drops & oral antibiotic. She was doing betterish, but then developed a nasty respiratory cold on top of things. Poor girl was wheezing and losing weight and her appetite was really decreased. She had a re-check at the vet and they switched her to Baytril antibiotics, plus the Cipro. Her eye started to get worse a few days after her 2nd vet visit. The eye had ulcerated. If she hadn't had the respiratory infection, the eye could have been removed. Poor girl wasn't doing so well though, she was hardly eating, and we could not get the antibiotics down her. Even when we tried mixing them in baby food or Ensure.

Jasmine was always really sweet and energetic. She LOVED to give kisses. She would kiss your hands, your face all over. She was a sweet mellow rat. She also loved to eat- when she was well. She loved treats or scraps of food. I will definitely miss her kisses. ♥

You can see just how bad Jasmine's eye was in this picture with Violet & Daisy.

Fennel passed away Thursday evening a little after I arrived home from work. My poor old man was very very frail, and he had cataracts in both of his eyes so he couldn't see well anymore. The last few days he was with us he had stopped eating his rat food. He only wanted his yogurt peanuts & Ensure. His brother Barley passed away in October. Fennel would have been 2 years old in March.