Clara: Sept ??? 2007 - June 3, 2008

[KristyR]

I just went in to feed the girls, and Clara was curled up like she was sleeping, but she had gone to the rainbow bridge.

She has always been a tiny girl, but had lost some weight recently that had me and the vet concerned about her. Her top weight was 250 grams, but she was down to 200 grams about 4 weeks ago. We had her back up to 225 grams when I weighed her a few days ago. She was eating with great enthusiasm and was as active as all the other girls right up until the end. She had no lumps, no respiratory problems. I'd noticed that the water bottle in the cage she was in was getting emptied twice as fast as usual - for about the last two weeks, but she was eating well, gaining some weight, and with all that was going on with the boys, I didn't even give it a second thought.

She started out so timid and frightened. She hated to be held, but I finally got her to snuggle inside my shirt, and I'd look down and these giant, sweet black eyes would be staring back at me. From then on, she was sweet as could be. She wasn't afraid anymore, and she would run to be held when I opened the cage.

If I hadn't had food, I'd have just thought she was asleep. Her little face looked very peaceful, like Jake's did when he died, so I imagine her passing was easy. Thank God for that. They weren't from the same litter, but I'm fairly certain that Clara and Jake had the same parents. They could have been twins.

That's three now in three weeks. I'd really like to stop burying rats now. Please?

 

[jorats]

OMG... Kristy, I can't imagine what you are going through right now, especially with these rats being so young.
How are all the other girls? Do the boys share the same play area? Something has to be happening. :sad3:

 

[rat.charmer]

*hug* I'm really sorry to hear about this.

 

[KristyR]

Thanks. Jo, I honestly think that what was going on with her isn't the same thing that's been going on with the boys. It was just so different. No respiratory symptoms whatsoever.

The boys and the girls don't share a play area since they both have their own rooms. They don't even share toys. They each have a separate dry food container and clean litter container that stays in their rooms. Since the respiratory stuff with the boys cropped up, I feed and play with the girls first, and make sure I have all their stuff done before I even go to the boys room. The rooms are down the hall from each other, and are on the same air system, so things could travel through the vents, but when someone is sick, I don't want to make it easier by carrying it back and forth myself.

None of the girls have had any symptoms of anything that has been going on with the boys. Not a sneeze or rattle in one of them. I haven't even found a scab on a single one of them. Lola had an abscess on her left side that drained easily and is healing.

And the boys are all recovering well. Even Roger is almost back to normal.

Clara and Kelly, Jake and Elwood - all were Petsmart rats, and I'm pretty were from the same line. If I look back at old pics, Clara and Jake look like the same rat... so do old pics of Elwood and Kelly. Jake was my boy that developed a head tilt just two nights after I brought him home - this was about the time I first joined the board. We treated him for ear infection/PT, but he died a week later. I had spent three days hand feeding and watering him. He would only take water from the tip of my finger, and would only eat from my hand. In the last two days, he kept his right front paw drawn up to his chest.

About the only thing that's kept me from just falling apart this morning is that I'm 99% positive this was an isolated thing with Clara... not the same thing that went around with the boys.

 

[jorats]

That must be a bit reassuring at least.
All this heartache must take a toll on you. Big hugs!!

 

[mamarat]

I'm so sorry, Kristy.

 

[twitch]

i'm very sorry for your loss. i myself just recently lost 2 rats exactly 10 days from each other. one was very unexpected. the unexpected hurts the worse.

but from what you said about clara i would suspect diabetes. my mother had a dog with it that suddenly progressed to where she was drinking A LOT and her urine smelled extra bad. she also seemed to just have a sudden drop in weight that careful feeding remedied. insullion injections were available for the dog but at nearly $100 a shot and needing 2 shots a day for the rest of her life, it was just too expensive. the vet said that she probably wouldn't ;ive much longer without injections though and so my mother had the dog put down. but the symptoms match. to my understanding of diabetes it is either a genetic thing or a dietary thing later in life, but there still has to be a genetic predispostion to it and so susceptiablity.

i hope your other rats turn around soon and this can be the end of goodbyes for a long time. take care of yourself.

 

[morats]

I'm so sorry.

 

[Godmother]

I am so sorry, Kristy. It is hard to lose so many so close together. Dear little Clara was a lovely girl.

 

[Dahlas]

I am very sorry....she was a very beautiful girl.

 

[lavieboheme73]

Wow...it's so hard to believe that when I come back to visit, so many little faces won't be there to greet me. Clara was so precious and sweet...I'm going to miss her!

 

[KristyR]

Wow...it's so hard to believe that when I come back to visit, so many little faces won't be there to greet me. Clara was so precious and sweet...I'm going to miss her!

She certainly was, Erin. I so miss the little one that have left me recently. I miss their little faces pressed up against the cage bars when I walk in their rooms.

But you will get to meet some sweet little faces that you've only seen in pictures since you moved!

 

[Melissa's ZOO]

Gosh, I would be terrified if I lost so many young ones this close to one another.

I am so sorry, your little ones were way to young to pass on. RIP Clara.