Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / September 2005

aaron was one of the boys i got from the animal shelter in maine,
transported down to me in PA by some wonderful rat people in new
england. i lost his brother, andrew, last year, but aaron was a
delightful two-hander boy.

he had been showing signs of getting old. he didn't have a whole lot
of use of his hind legs and was starting to show some respiratory
signs. i took him in to work with me last friday and we started him on
antibiotics. he was doing ok but not significantly better.

when i went up to feed the rats and give him his meds on thursday
night he was open-mouth breathing. i scooped him out and cuddled him
and he calmed down and seemed to breathe easier but he was
open-mouthed breathing and clingy on friday morning.

i took him back into work with me, we gave him a shot of lasix to try
to clear his lungs and a shot of steroids to try to reduce
inflammation and put him on oxygen but he never improved.

i gave him a couple hours but he just looked miserable. he was working
so very hard to breathe, so i made the decision to send him to the
bridge.

i hate feeling so helpless. i loved that little rat so much and he
depended on me to make him feel better. friday morning he flung
himself out of the cage into my hands so fast i almost dropped him
because i wasn't expecting it. he just looked at me with "help me" in
his eyes and i couldn't.

i hate respiratory disease.

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