AmandaTrexica
Well-Known Member
This past week I tried getting an appointment at my usual Vet nearby, and they didn't have any openings available. I then called a few nearby vet's offices to see if they had openings. I found Thorpe on a list of vet's with rat experience, so made an appointment with them. Hippo, our little agouti baby from the recent rescue litter we had, had developed a head tilt and wasn't eating much aside from formula fed to her through a syringe. Because of this, or so I thought, she was very thin and lethargic when compared to her siblings, with a noticeably bloated belly. Dr. Thorpe gave her an exam and said her belly was really full of poop. The first thing I thought of was megacolon, and mentioned it, and she said she'd do a bit of research and be right back. After she came back with a positive diagnosis, she advised us that we could either take her home, separate her from her siblings, and monitor whether or not anything really was coming out after she was fed, but that we would probably end up bringing her back in the next day. We decided to euthanize her there, since she was obviously in pain and with no chance of recovery in both my and the Vet's opinion. My fiance and I held her as they injected her and sat with her under the window until she stopped breathing. Dr. Thorpe and her clinic where all so supportive, and we never once felt silly or looked down upon for caring so much for these tiny, short lived animals. I'm taking the time to write this because they cared so much they sent us a sympathy card yesterday with all their signed names on it. It was an unbelievably saddening experience, but they all made us feel as though Hippo was loved and respected as a pet by all of them, and for that we will always be grateful. They have a lifelong client because of that one, half hour long visit.
