My Little Henry the Hairless Rat

Question
Hello at the end of October My husband and I purchased a baby hairless rat from our local pet store.
They told us he was between 4 and 6 weeks old.
We named him Henry. He was not our first rat as we have had other rats in the past and one hooded rat now, but he was our first hairless rat. We got him his own cage,  rat food and bottled spring water that is what we give all our pets because the water in this city is high in chlorine and chemicals. Henry was a real baby, my husband and I took him out and loved us up, my baby Henry gave kisses and never soiled on us but waited to be put back in his cage. Yesterday my husband went to take our baby out and he was passed away. I don't understand why he would pass so quick an hour before I had been talking with him and he was fine. We kept him out of drafts and his food and water we always cleaned as well as his cage. He never displayed any symptoms of anything unusual(I would have rushed him to the vet.)  My husband tried to give him CPR since he was still warm we he found him 15 minutes of CPR did not work. His eyes were closed and he looked as though he just feel asleep. I can't stop thinking I could have done something better I have been crying a lot. My animals are part of my family. After he was passed  I wanted to look at his body to see if there were any visible signs of trauma. None not a scratch and his teeth were fine as well.  I did notice he seemed to have fluid in his abdomen and on the top of his head a blue vein was bulging out with the rest of his top of his head looking blue as well. (He never had this when he was alive). Could this have been a bleed in his brain? I worked in an animal shelter for five years as a shelter manager, then with a vet for two years before I moved down here from up north. I am kind of educated but mostly in dogs and cats. I miss my Henry so much I keep looking at pictures and videos of him over and over again crying. I was wondering what you think? If you have any further questions for me about this you can email me anytime.
Thank You Kindly
Respectfully Yours Kalena


Answer
I am so sorry for the delay. I have been in the midst of starting my life over again and this meant moving about 700 miles away from home.....the transition has been hard but I am trying to keep as current with my rat friends as possible.  I am sorry to hear you lost your little baby. I am thinking it was congenital for sure. Often our little rats are born with heart defects we do not know about and sudden death is common. Any time you see purple or blue extremities, you can be certain that there was lack of oxygen at some point.  It could have been an aneurysm but it does sound more cardiac related than anything.  I am very sorry for your loss.  Also, please do NOT blame yourself. There was nothing you could have done to stop this. I have lost rats this way and in fact a few weeks ago, our beloved 5 year old cat just dropped dead out of the blue as well and it was due to a heart defect we did know know he had.