Death of Nibbles

Question
We just lost our pet rat this morning. He had been eating well and drinking well. We found him in his cage unable to move his front paws (they were already stiffening when we found him). We held him and tried to get him to drink but he died 20 minutes later.

The only remarkable history was he ripped a toenail off of his paw a few weeks back. It took a long time to stop the bleeding, but he seemed fine after that. Any chance an infection could have set in and this was the cause?

He was a great pet and any insight would be appreciated. Thank you.

Answer
Hi Michelle

I am very sorry for your loss. How old was Nibbles?

I found my rat the same way a little over  a week ago, but he was a little worse than nibbles. Templeton was almost unconscious and unable to move at all, his heart rate and respirations were very slow. I had him put to sleep within an hour but he probably would have died within that time frame had not gone to the ER vet which is right by my house.
He was 3.5 years old and healthy too, like Nibbles.  Templeton had a stroke which is what was responsible for his condition and eventual death.

With what you describe with Nibbles, it doesnt sound like he had a heart attack, but more or less neurological. He probably had a stroke like Templeton or possibly a cerebral aneurysm. This is very common with rats, esp older rats.

As for the toenail that was ripped prior to his death: The nail bed is  a very vascular area on a rat, sometimes it is even a source for getting blood samples since it is so vascular. Bleeding time in rats is also about 4 minutes before it starts to coagulate. Sometimes that sends a rat owner up to the ER worried that rat is bleeding so much that the blood loss could harm them, but again, they do take longer than we would expect for them to stop bleeding. In cases like these (for anyone reading this as well) to stop bleeding, apply pressure for a few minutes and also put some flour on the toenail to aid in slowing down bleeding too.  If there was infection, there would be noticeable swelling etc....did he  have anything like that going on?