Sudden Death of my sweet rattie

Question
QUESTION: Hi Sandra,

Sorry to bother, you must be so busy as I am still waiting on an answer from a couple days ago...but my rattie died.  I sent you a picture of his tail on Saturday which looked so strange to me, early Monday morning he died in my hands.
I have been a TOTAL wreak.  

He had a bit of blood in his urine which I noticed at 10:30pm Sunday.  I planned to take the next day off of work and bring him in to the vet at 8:30am. At 1:30am he passed on right in my hands.  I'm telling you, I lost it.  These little creatures are so gentle and loving, it breaks my heart.  My boy, Schnozee, had just turned 1 year, 6 months.  What could have happened?

I don't know how to get beyond this grief and I feel like I don't want anymore rats because I can't go through this...any advice?

ANSWER: Oh NO!!  I just answered your first question!!  I am so sorry!!

I thought it looked as if he had an infection on his tail but I dont know how this  would be connected to his death unless the infection had become systemic and he died of sepsis.

I am so sorry this happened. I know how you feel about not wanting more rats because it is heartbreaking. I have had rats die suddenly too. Once years ago my favorite boy Peanut was out playing his usual time out of the cage with us and I put him away for the night, feeding him and giving him a treat and a kiss.  I turned my back and about 10 seconds later I hear this hideous noise that to this day I cannot describe. I looked to the rabbit cage first since it did not sound like it could be a rat noise....and my son yelled PEANUT!!! I turned to peanie and he was just....dead...eyes wide open, tongue hanging from mouth.
Talk about a basket case!!! I did not even cry. Instead, I took him out and kept saying "your not gone, this is a nightmare...your not gone...and I put him in a blanket and held him tight for two hours, rocking back and fourth, almost like I was spaced out.  My kids and husband did not even know how to act, I was so...freaky, like I was in some kind of weird state of shock.  Hubby said SANDY!  Let me have the rat now....he needs to be kept cool you said so you can have the necropsy done (which I do this with each unexpected death anyhow) I screemed like the exorcist woman and said LEAVE US ALONE!!!!!!  Once I give him up I will never touch him again so leave us alone!!!
Finally I broke down, gave the rat to hubby and just went ballistic like some freak.  I was far from acting professional thats for sure.
I thought for a split second that I would never get more rats after the others had died off and here I am, years later and still have 4 rats, all older males by the way, ages 2 and up to 3.5 years old and will probably lose it when they die, too.  Peanut died from a heart attack. He was never sick a day in his life.
So....long story longer, I know your pain...I think all rat lovers do. We are unique though because we love them and give them happy lives the short time they are here on this earth and we have to accept the fact tht their life span is short. In fact, their bodies are not even made to live past 2 years as far as their skeletal system goes which is why we see them have hind leg paralysis and other ailments when they hit 2 and older.  I cant tell you to keep having rats, that wouldnt be fair, but it wont be fair to deny yourself having rats when you enjoy them so much.  Just try to understand that they dont expect much more than what they get....they dont know that their life span is short...
Just like when we lost a grandparent that is in their 80s and we are sad yet we feel that because they are 80, they had a long life, so if we can do the same with the rats, it may be easier to accept their short life span.  

As for what could have happened, its hard to say. With the blood in the urine I am thinking he may have had some blockage and he became infected. I just cant say for sure.
Hang in there....and if you need anything please write. That is what I am here for!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Sandra,

I am writing back to you through my tears.  You just described what I went through last night.  I can feel your hug coming right through my computer.  Thank you for that.  I was screaming, "NO NO not MY Schnozee NO"  I acted like a freak too.  Ballistic.  I was pounding the walls and so totally desperate.  I gasped for air inbetween my outbursts and even gagged, like a dry heave. My hubby looked at me in disbelief.  He didn't know what to do.  In the middle of it all - I actually didn't know how to get a grip on my own out of control reaction.  Sandy, I am so comforted to read your same response - exactly like an exorcist woman!  You are so expressive in your writing (you should really write a book about all this).  My veterinarian said I could have a necropsy done too - my vet is so awesome.  I just want my sweet boy to be at peace.  He is already tucked into our flower garden.  But please share with me your experiences with the findings of the necropsies you had done.  Do you get your pet back afterwards?  How invasive is it?

Your words have comforted me more than you know.  Thank you for sharing yourself with me.

Love, Heidi

Answer
You are very welcome.

As for necropsies...they are invasive. I wont lie. They are, after all, autopsies and tissue is removed and sent out to pathology for evalution etc...  Last necropsy I witnessed of my own rats was my wonderful boy Sebastian. Last January he just started acting limp. He had no energy at all. He spent a week at the vets along with his brother SMudge who went to keep him company. Sebastian seemed like he was perking up but they found him dead the next day.  After exposing his brain (we knew it was neurological) there was a lesion on his little head that looked as if he had a gunshot at point blank range.  A few other tests revealed meningitis.  SMudge had it too believe it or not. Much to my horror, he started to walk in circles and he started to buck his head pointing it straight up in the air. It was so bizarre. Long story short, he recovered and it was because of Sebastians necropsy we assumed Smudge had it too so we knew how to treat it. Unfortunately he is blind (totally) from it and has to live alone in a single story cage. That was last year and he just had his 2nd birthday in October. He does fine though. He really does.
Also, after the necropsy you can get them back if you want but I donate them to the labs for other tests. I know this sounds bad but because I know what I know, it makes it worth it. By donating my rats body, this is teaching exotic vets more and more and more about domestic rats.  Lets face it, Vets cant learn everything about rats if they dont get to treat them and when people dont bring them in when they are sick, they cant learn from practice. Medicine is, after all, a practice not a guarantee. I get letters from the Colleges that my rats were donated to each time this happens and they thank me for allowing them to help other rats by learning through Sebastian or whatever other rat I have shared. I know my rats would want to help their fellow rat mates and this is one   way to do it.
I can go on and on. I have loved and lost so many rats. So so so many. ANother love of my life was my wild rat that I trained, Holly. That nasty brat bit me to death all the time until finally I trained her to trust me and she became my best friend till she left me at close to age 4.  I even let the vet remove mammary tumors from her when she was 3 years old. I also trust and love my vet too so that makes it easy.

As far as findings with necropsies: it depends on how far you let the vet go with it. My vet doesnt charge me to look around and take photos and make an educated guess, but when you start getting into sending all these different samples to pathology, that is when it starts to get pricey. However, donating your rat is free and you can find out so much about them, even what they were allergic to. I found out my one rat had a strange second part to his stomach. Others had heart disease, bad lungs, blood clots to the brain or the lungs, heart attacks, sepsis, you name it.
I just dont think about the procedure and know they are not there anyhow. They took their wings and left their old body behind and have a new one now as  angels.

I still cry over my rats. When one dies and if it lived alone I put a blanket over the cage and cant stand looking at the cage. I left Hollys cage untouched for 6 months. Is that weird? I couldnt take her little bedding out of her cage or move her old food dish. I just couldnt stand to look and not see her in her cage. These rats bond with us so much and they have these great personalties. I have a one eyed rat named Santana who lost his brother a few months ago but he is a bit testy and being handicapped I feared a new cagemate would bully him. I do have two other males in another cage so he goes and sniffs them, walks sideways trying to bully them through the cage, pees on the cage, puffs up and snorts at them and they just ignore him and go back to sleep. The two I am talking about are 3.5 years old and they show it. They are black with gray throughout their fur and they waddle real slow when they move. They come out for play time, walk around a bit, go back in their cage and eat a bit and hit the bed again. This shows their age right there. My one eyed boy and I are very bonded. I stand over him and snap my fingers and say "Santana, UP" and he runs to me, stands on his back legs and reaches up for my hands with his front paws. He does have a bad habit of biting my earlobes and eye brows though, not sure why.
I dont even want to think about losing him. He just hit 2 also in October.

I can go on and on so I will stop now. Have you gone to my website, Critter city? If not, please check it out.

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/index.htm