Midna's Passing

On Monday night, around 10, I went to go check on the girls. Most came to greet me, and I noticed that Midna, usually one of the first to come say "hi", was nowhere to be seen. I started worrying, but not too much.

Then I found her hiding under the liner I made for the cage. She was extremely thin, mostly unresponsive, and seemed to be doing overall poorly. I tried to make her comfortable, and tried to get some water and food into her. I don't know how long she went without eating.

Two hours later, after getting some advice from some always helpful rat-based pet care forums (and doing personal reading and research on the Rat Health Guide) I ran to the grocery store to pick up some Ensure, Pedialyte, and baby food to try to coax Midna to get some sustenance into her. Unfortunately by the time I got home, it was too late, and Midna had passed away.

I did some research afterwards, and have come to the conclusion that her symptoms most closely match her having suffered congestive heart failure, leading to her death. I don't know exactly what happened - maybe she wasn't feeling quite as well, and she started taking in less food and water, compounding the problem, or perhaps she just simply wasted away in two days. I'll probably never know.

I knew when I rescued Midna, Freya, and Lilith that they would not be in this world long - and I knew they would likely be here for a shorter amount of time than any of my other girls. Just by virtue of their birth circumstances. But I had expected to have them for much longer than a sparse four months and some change.

Midna, my fastest rat, I will always remember you. I hope you will rest in peace, enjoying yourself among the vast running fields on the other side of the rainbow bridge.

Moe

Late into the evening on Monday I went to check on my girls before bed. I found that Moe had the bald patch that you can see in the picture and some bloodied ears. I freaked out, because I wasn't certain what was going on. Moe seemed less active but otherwise normal.

Then I took her out of the cage. She was limping awkwardly - more just ignoring one of her legs than avoiding using it. This seemed odd but not too horrible.

I put her in a separate cage for the night, and checked on her the next morning.

Her limp was more pronounced and she was more lethargic. She wasn't moving much, just laying in her hammock. I decided to take some video of her limp to see what the great folks over at the Goosemoose Pet Portal Rats Rule forums thought. I had previously had a thread about her baldness.

This is the video.




They urged me to take Moe into the vet as soon as possible. So I called and made an appointment - this morning at 7:00AM. I took Moe over to the Adobe Animal Hospital, and met with the vet there. Moe had worsened greatly from yesterday - now almost completely listless, only wanting to be in the darkest corner of the carrying case, and not using either of her front paws. She was off balance and seems extremely confused.

The vet didn't have anything really comforting to say (the official diagnoses of the two vets who observed Moe was "I don't know") and gave me the standard regime of Baytril and Metacam to give to her.

It's my belief from the symptoms I've observed that Moe has a pituitary tumor and has at most a few months to live, and that only if the medication helps. I'm hoping it does - and I'm also hoping that my diagnosis is wrong and the vets are correct; that Moe is far too young to have a pituitary tumor, that it has to be something else, that PT doesn't cause the skin condition she has, and since the two appeared together they must be related, if it is PT that the medication will help and she'll have some happy time left ... but I'm bracing for the worst.

EDIT: Around Sunday (December 5) she began showing signs of an upper respiratory infection. Then, in the early hours of the morning of 7 December 2010, Moe passed away. Her death was not unexpected, but was extremely tragic, and she will be very missed by her cagemates, and by myself.

Rest In Peace, Aviendha

I put Avi to sleep. I took her to the vet at 10:30 this morning, and after talking to him we decided that the best course of action would be to euthanize her. Like Min, Avi's tumor had gotten large, and was uncomfortable for her. It was also beginning to take away the nutrients that she needed - essentially starving her slowly. I'd called the vet yesterday to have her looked at, so this wasn't as much of a surprise as Min's death (2 days shy of one year ago) had been.

She's buried in my mother's backyard - next to Min and under the cherry tree.

Rest in Peace, Little One

Just a general update for everyone.

Around 4:30pm today, I put Min to sleep. Her tumor was large enough that it was beginning to bother her, and she had bit at it last night - essentially attempting to bite it off. I woke up to a cage full of blood. What resulted was me taking her in to the vet later in the day (around 3:00, the earliest they could see her). My options were clear - I could get her the surgery to remove the tumor in the next few days (a 400$ procedure), or I could put her to sleep.

After an agonizing hour, I finally came to my decision.

She's buried in my mother's backyard - under the cherry tree. I thought that would be nicer than leaving her to the vet to take care of.