I just found Daisy dead in her cage. How did she die?

This is an absolutely horrible thing to wake up to.. but my oldest and sweetest little girl Daisy is gone..

But unlike Pepper, I didn't actually see her die so I haven't the slightest clue about what happened to her. I can provide photos of the body if anyone here can stomach it, but I don't want to look at it right now until I fully process what just happened.

I found her on her back, for starters.. which worries me in and of itself. Secondly, one of her eyes is pale, but the other one isn't. From the looks of it she peed and pooped herself as she died because I can see it.. and finally, there's blood near her mouth.. like, sort of between her mouth and nose.. near her whiskers..... it's really upsetting to look at so I didn't get a good look at it. She also has blood stains on her teeth, paws and chest. I'm starting to wounder if she was injured by one of her cagemates and due to her old age she couldn't handle it and she bled out...

Pepper died because her respiratory infection took it's toll too quickly for me to get her euthanized and she subsequently choked to death when she lost the ability to breath through her nose. She died on her back too.... but she was lethargic and had difficulty breathing before it came to that... Daisy was just fine yesterday. Does anyone have any idea what could have done this?

To me it sounds like a heart attack or a stroke. My brother's hamster died in the same way, blood and all, and a quick Google seems to suggest the same thing. I'm so sorry for your loss, it sounds like there was nothing you could have done to prevent it. These things just happen sometimes. Take care.

Tanaya said:

To me it sounds like a heart attack or a stroke. My brother's hamster died in the same way, blood and all, and a quick Google seems to suggest the same thing. I'm so sorry for your loss, it sounds like there was nothing you could have done to prevent it. These things just happen sometimes. Take care.

Click to expand...

That makes me feel a little better.. I didn't want to believe one of her cagemates did it.. they loved Daisy.

There's blood all over the inside of her litterbox too.

This can't just be a simple heart attack or stroke. I'm finding blood all over the cage. Oh god.... my poor baby!! >< Why can't just ONE of my rats have an easy passing!?

It sounds like maybe she had a ruptured aneurysm. Perhaps she had a seizure at the same time too. I don't think you could have done a single thing for her, and it just would have been traumatic for you to see her pass. Try and focus on the fact that she WAS fine yesterday, and she had a great life and passed quickly.
I'm so sorry you are going through your second passing in such a short time.
:hugs:

So sorry to hear of your losses, so close together. I hope you can find comfort that your rats surely knew they were loved, and that you were doing the best you could for them.

Thanks everyone, you're really sweet. >< This community has helped me so much in dealing with my grief and I can't thank you enough for it.

I just finished burying Daisy and giving everything with blood on it a nice scrub-down... all that's left is to grieve and mourn. I still wish I could have done something to save her, but this seems like one of those rare, unavoidable cases that make you feel completely powerless. At least I didn't have to see her die. That's the one thing that makes this less horrible than what I went through with Pepper.

I am so very sorry for your loss.
I recently found one of my girls (Serenity) dead in the cage when I had no indication that anything was wrong .... I share your struggle and your pain

{{hugs}}

SQ said:

I am so very sorry for your loss.
I recently found one of my girls (Serenity) dead in the cage when I had no indication that anything was wrong .... I share your struggle and your pain

{{hugs}}

Click to expand...

Thanks a bunch. I'm sorry you had to go through that too. It's definitely like waking up in a cruel nightmare. At least when a rat gets terminally sick you can prepare yourself.. when it's abrupt like this, it's like nature's playing a cruel joke on you. I would have held and hugged Daisy all day if I knew it was her last.