dying...

Question
QUESTION: My female, 2 yrs. and 5 months old, is dying. She went gradually downhill after one side of her stopped functioning, about 2 1/2 weeks ago. About 3 or 4 days ago, I stopped putting her back into her area; she was curling up rather, but managed to stretch out to reach me, after her sisters finally stopped tending to her. To my basic question: She hasn't been able to get up at all, except the occasional attempt to wash her face, for 3 days. I keep expecting Colby to pass on, but she hasn't. Her eyes keep crusting over with dried blood. I am feeding her liquid nutrition from an eyedropper. It can't be enough to sustain her. I never thought that she'd still be alive tonight, but she even has tried washing again. She has not passed any stool or urine for 3 or 4 days, at least, and has a strong odor. When I insert a little food into her mouth, she will gradually start taking it down, over a period of several minutes. This has all been very difficult on me. I want to do what is best for her. Her breathing is fine, but I don't feel that I should bother her with much eye bathing, as I feel that she can barely see now anyway. I basically can only tend to one side of her now, as I feel that it may be painful to move her. She is in a basket. How long can this go on? I guess that she had a stroke, but even though I kept her fed well enough at first, she still seemed to lose abilities. Colby has had the best life that I could give to her and her 4 sisters and 3 brothers. While fertile, they were kept apart, but in the same room. The girls have never been caged. The boys shared 2, 2-story cages put together. Long story, but I need to tell some of it. I got their mother, and 3 other females, from the back room of a pet store - doomed otherwise, to be snake food- about 4 days before they were(unexpectically)born. Blondie, who has always been blind and therefore a biter, Soots an agouti like Colby, and 1 boy, Snickers, are all that I have left. Blondie is hauling a tumor, almost the size of a tennis ball behind her. Soots has multiple smaller tumors. Snickers is quite fine. Colby...Is there anything else that I can do for her? And again, I guess this is my real question, how much longer can she linger in this state? I guess that I will keep feeding her little bits, as long as she still takes it down, though not voiding, is obviously not good - nor is anything else about her condition, other than her spunk to live. Bless her sweet heart.....Thanks.

ANSWER: I had a very hard time reading this letter from you. Colby is suffering terribly and even another hour of it is too  long.  You must take her to the vet and have her humanely euthanized today. Even an ER vet can do it even if they do not treat rats. The humane way to euthanize a rat is to first put her under a general anesthesia as if she is having surgery. Once she is totally unconscious and doesnt respond to any stimuli, the vet will administer the injection that will stop her heart. I repeat that the vet MUST be sure she is unconscious before adminstering the cardiac stick, and most vets are aware doing it any other way is inhumane and even illegal in many states since it can be painful if they are awake.   

I know this is hard to take her to put her down, but she is suffering greatly. Not urinating for 3 days  means there are toxins building up in her body and her kidneys are probably going haywire now.  

Please do not allow her to suffer and let her go on this way any longer. It is, in fact, our duty to see that our pets do not suffer even if it means having to make this decision which for many of us is very hard to come to this point and we often need a push to do it. Sometimes we prolong it because we hope it is something that just may pass and they will recover, but with Colby, she is not going to get better. I am not sure what caused her problems but if she has a urinary tract infection and it wasnt treated and now she has gone this long without urinating, its probably too late to help her now as her kidneys are probably damaged.

By the way, not sure if you know this but the tumors that your rats each have can be easily removed by a qualified exotics vet. I will be happy to make arrangements for you to see one in your area if you want. They are no more expensive to see than a traditional vet is. They usually discount when you have two rats being treated so its not that expensive to have the tumors removed and they can even be together too. Let me know your location and I can help, or you can use whoever it is that will take care of little sweet Colby for you.

I closing, you asked what you can do for Colby and I will be honest with you: The only thing you can do for her now is have her put to sleep.

Bless you both


Sandra

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

QUESTION: Just wanted to let you know that we took Colby to 24 hour emergency care at about 1 am, and had her humanely put to sleep. I made sure that the vet understood that the 2 phase procedure must be followed.
We brought her body home and have put it temporarily with the other rats. Through my years of rat experience, I have found that this is important, for the survivors.
I am sure that Colby, due to her advanced age, had had a stroke and that is why one side of her body stopped working.
About 3 years ago, I took a rat who was about the same age as my remaining 3 are now - about 2 1/2 years old, to the vet to have a tumor removed. It cost $200, and Bailey died right before we were to come and pick her up, from her surgery.
I hesitate to ever put rats of this age under anesthesia again, so Blondie and Soots will live with their tumors, as well as they can. They are at the typical age, of the life span of rats.
From the litter of 8, only they and Snickers remain. The others died, one at a time, just past the 2 year mark. It is interesting to note, that they have died in the exact order of the most dominant, active and responsive going first. The 2 shyest - Blondie and Soots are left, of the 5 girls. It has been a hard year. The others though, thankfully, passed abruptly, without notice.
When they were born, I asked the same vet, who did Bailey's surgery, (the only local vet that I know of, who treats rats), how much it would cost to have the 3 boys neutered, so I wouldn't have to separate them. Dr. Baldwin, at Cardinal vet, in Midlothian, Va., said that the boys would cost $186 each, to neuter. So, the boys had to live separately from their sisters, until they were all well past 18 months, and the girls were no longer fertile.
I would be happy to know of any other vet in this area, that will treat rats. Our zip code is: 23139; Powhatan, Va.
Rats live such tragically short lives, that I am not sure if I can ever get more. I have wept buckets. These 8 came from a mother, from a snake food breeder, so perhaps there are rats available somewhere, that are genetically more sound, and someday, I could get more.
Can you tell me if there are rats available, with longer life spans?  I love them each so much, that their short life spans, are heartbreaking.
Thanks so much for your help.   ...   Phebe


Answer
Hey Phebe


This is seriously long.....one of the longest I think I have ever written on here. Just thought you should know so you can devote a few minutes to reading this. lol!

First of all I am really sorry to hear that you lost sweet colby. I know exactly how you feel...its so much easier when they make the decision to pass on their own rather than have us make the decision...plus we fear that maybe they will improve. When they still have that spark in their eye it is so hard to let them go. Its easy for me to tell someone that its time to let them go than it is for ME to do it, if that makes sense. My last female I had, Holly, had been through 3 surgeries to remove mammary tumors. They kept growing back no sooner did I remove her stitches. Finally I decided enough was enough and to let her live her life out with the tumors and when it was time....we will deal with it.  She was 3 years old when I took her in to have her PTS but I did not feel good about it. The tumor was as big as she was. She could not walk any longer yet found a way to propel around the cage floor (I removed all litter and it was bare plastic except for an area where I made her fleece bed) and she even used her litter pan. She was eating, grooming and bruxing, but this monster tumor....and she was SO thin. I could not stand it any longer so I brought her to my vet and said to let her go.  We both sat there staring at her as she propelled around the examining table bruxing, coming up to the vet and pulling herself onto his hand for him to scratch her head.  He about lost it at that moment and he looked at me and said...."Sand...I c...cant..she still has too much life in her"
I agreed...tears pouring down my face, but what do we DO? I cant let her like this and surgery??????  At 3 years old, in her weakened state?
So heres the deal....I was going to put her down anyhow...so if she passes away due to complications, which is more than likely going to happen, it wasnt meant to be and I did way the heck more than I needed to do to help this little old girl.  WIth a 5% chance of making it through the surgery (anesthesia was not the worry, instead, it was the  amount of blood loss since this thing was so vascular) the most critical part would be recovery for the next 24 hours, which she would spend there.  In fact he said he would take her home if need be since he had an area set up at his house for animals he wanted to watch himself.  He is awesome, btw.  
Long story longer, my Holly MADE IT through everything....the surgery was 90 minutes long which is LONG for an old frail rat to be under, and she did lose some blood he said no sooner did he start to cut and he hit a big blood vessel...but she made it.  
SHe came home 10 days later and Holly lived to be 2 months shy of her 4th birthday.  This surgery gave her nearly 7 months of life since she was already over 3 when we did the operation.  
This was not a miracle, either, rather, the skill of the surgeon and the will of the animal to survive.  I dont believe in miracles. THere is too much suffering for miracles to be real.  :(

I am sorry you had a bad experience with your rat and surgery. I lost a rat three days after a neuter. I begged and pleaded with this vet (who referred herself as being an exotic vet, I will get to that in a minute) I told her I knew he was not right...that he felt as if he was hypothermic and to please put him under and take a look but she reminded me although I work as a rodent rat care consultant that cannot compare with her license in veterinary medicine and to stop trying to diagnose problems and that he was fine.
He died in the vet techs arms three days post op. She offered to do a necropsy and I declined, telling her that I would not let her touch another animal of mine, even if it were dead...plus she would lie in the necropsy results covering her own arse.
I was right. My little double rex dumbo bled to death internally. Due to their open inguinal  canal, rats can be neutered either through the scrotum or through the abdomen. She went through the open inguinal canal and did not clamp off a major penile artery that slowly caused him to bleed to death. He could have lived a normal rats life rather than die at 5 months old but this arrogant Vet thought she knew it all.
I later found out during the investigation that she was NOT a real certified exotic vet. This explains why I go out of my way to remind people there is a HUGE difference and some vets try to portray their practice as an exotic animal clinic when in reality, none of the vets there had taken the special extended courses (we are talking a few more years of college) and passing the state boards to be a certfied exotic Veterinarian.  What these traditonal vets do, however, is shadow an exotic vet for a short time and even use them as a mentor, and they are self taught. This is what is called having a "special interest" in exotics. These vets do not legally have the right to call themselves exotic Vets but they can say they treat exotics. Rat owners become confused when they see a sign saying SMALL ANIMAL SPECIALIST and think this means they are rat specialists. What they need to realize is that small animal specialists are simply vets that see cats and dogs. A large animal vet sees horses, cows, some farm animals and of course there is the avian/exotic vet,which is a class of its own.
Confusing to many but this can be dangerous. Often these vets learn the basics and thats it.  To them, every rat has mycoplasmosis when they sneeze and wheeze rather than realizing that they have a secondary infection and need something more than just baytril. They also have a one track mind about mammary tumors and think all rats have cancer and a rat is too old to do surgery on them if they are 2 years old and older. These vets often do not have the proper implements to accomodate the small mammal and they cannot handle any type of trauma that may occur during surgery such as being able to provide IV therapy (yep, rats can have IVs if the right needles are used in extreme cases) some vets even do blood transfusions if needed.

That said, the vet you mentioned above that wants to charge you half a car payment to neuter one male does not belong to the AEMV (Association of exotic mammal Veterinarians) so I dont know if she is indeed an exotic vet or just someone that has a special interest in exotics.  Also, for other readers, dont get me wrong, there are many traditional vets that have taken such a special interest in exotics and rats for one thing, and they have gone beyond the norm to be able to provide proper care for them. THis includes having their own seperate area at the clinic so they cannot hear the dogs and cats  should they have to stay at the clinic and these vets also attend the exotic mammal conferences to educate themselves more on the care of exotics, including the latest techniques etc... but unfortunately there are more vets that do NOT know enough about rats and should not attempt to treat them especially surgery.

The vet that killed my rat had her hands slapped and was told to stop saying she is an exotic animal hospital, but that is it. She still had the nerve to send me a BILL!!!!!!!

That was many years ago and yes this vet still practices and it says she sees exotics but doesnt say she is an exotic vet in the ad in the yellow pages.

I have found a few vets for you but they are over an hour from you.  If you want the names I will gladly give them to you. There is one other vet that is close to you but I need to check out their credentials first and I will let you know tomorrow.  Again, I am not sure about the vet you mentioned above being a certified exotic vet but it does seem as if she has experience with them.  Was this the same vet that you took your rat to for surgery for her tumors?

As for rats and their short life span, as you have read , my Holly was almost 4 years old.  I had several others that lived to be over 3 years old.

The best bet is to NOT buy feeder rats or pet store rats and instead, find a breeder that has a good reputation.  These breeders use rats that they know their health history and all about genetics etc...

As for females, no matter where you get them from, if they remain intact and are not spayed, chances are that they will develop pituitary tumors and mammary tumors after menopause, around 18 to 24 months of age.  Estrogen levels soar and fuel the growth of these tumors and obviously I do not need to tell you, you already know about them and what they can do to our girls (and boys too, although not as common, and they usually dont grow back like they do with females.)

Spaying the girls YOUNG, around 3 to 5 months old is the key to keeping these tumors from manifesting.  Also, good old mycoplasmosis, which usually can be less likely a huge problem with a well bred rat, and same for aggression too.  Proper diet that is low in protein and fats can keep kidney and heart disease in check too.  These things along with a well bred rat, can possibly be the key to our rats living a bit longer than 2 years old. Right now I have four males. All special needs rats.  One boy is blind in both eyes (since January) but that doesnt stop him...he is happy and well adjusted but he does live along in a single story smaller cage.  I have another male that has just one eye (lost it due to infection) and he has the rule of a huge ferret nation. His brothers have since died and he hates the other two males that I saved from the dog pound. The two boys I mentioned above are 2 years old.  I have two more males that I rescued from the dog pound and they are both old, grumpy men. They are both over 3 years old. When I got them from the pound they were alredy 18 months old whch is why nobody wanted them.  They were black rats and now they are salt and pepper color rats...they are just a bit over 3 years old now and still going.   I am not going to bring any young rats in till my old men are gone so I can devote my time to caring for them while they are senior citizen rats.

Rats lives are short because of their fast metabolic rate. This makes things accelerate, incuding aging, and also helps diesease progress fast which is why they decline so fast when they get sick. Knowing when your rat is not well is key to their recovery.  I think you have that all down pat too .

If you want to find names of breeders, you can try this site below. You may even need to drive a few hours to get them but if they are well bred and healthy rats, it would be worth it!

Sorry this is so long.  I just felt bad for you losing your Colby and you seem so distraught and you seem like you want to keep on having rats but, as you know, it is heart breaking.  We have to accept the fact that this IS their life and all they know of it, short life or long.      We just need to accept it and make the best of it.