my rat died

Question
Last night i went up to my rats cage to give them their nightly vegetables when i noticed one of my males ( hes under a year ) was laying down and struggling to breath (his stomach was sinking in and he had his mouth open with every struggle to breath...this scared me so i decided to run him to an emergency vet but with all the stress off him being scared he ended up suffocating on the way...I am just shocked and saddened deeply over this and am looking for some answers. He was perfectly fine yesterday and none of my rats (i have 12) have shown any signs of sneezing or wheezing.Please tell me what could have happened..this is a huge loss in our house. Thanks so much. Brenda

Answer
He could have had an unknown heart problem and he was going into heart failure. Was he wheezing at all as if he was congested?

I am very sorry for your loss. Sometimes though its best they go fast rather than suffer with some drawn out illness that can cause them to be sick for months.

Hang in there....