Dallas was hairless/naked rat. She was the only rat we didn't get from Petco or Petsmart, but instead a small family owned petstore. They sold their rats as either pets or snake food, sadly. Anyway, we found her in late 2014. She was probably about 10 weeks old at the time.
Dallas had personality. The only person she really liked was my sister. She did not like me. When I'd feed the girls, she would always come up and nip me. Never hurt but was like, why? Why do you hate me? I was intimidated by her really. But she was quirky, She was kind of a bully with the other rats at first but she settled in after a couple months.
She too was always healthy. Thank goodness I never had to try to give her meds.
She was our last girl rat. In late August I found her completely unresponsive in her cage. She was alive but she didn't seem able to move. Her fists were clenched. I frantically asked for help online and the consensus was Pituitary Tumor. I couldn't get her in over the weekend, so I gave her prednisolone. Her condition improved for two days - she started moving and mostly eating on her own. I still fed her every 4-6 hours to make sure she was eating enough.
But Sunday night it was clear the prednisolone was losing it's effect. I took her to a vet first thing Monday morning. It was not my first choice in vets but she actually ended up trying very hard to figure out a way to help Dallas. She called the veterinary school and talked to an instructor. He told her based on Dallas's symptoms she probably would not recover much from PT treatment (which can add a few months to their lives). Had she had earlier symptoms perhaps her fate would have been different.
I took her to the vet hoping to get meds and see improvement, but made the tough decision to have her euthanized. And I found a vet that let me be with her. They gave her anesthesia through a mask until she was unaware, and then the shot. She did not flinch.
I don't have a car so I had to ride the bus home with her remains. I covered her up. By then I guess I've become a bit immune to how I used to be when rats would die (panicked about handling the body). When I got her home I gave her a bath because she was covered in orange something. Then I laid her in her hammock for a half hour before putting her remains away.
For some reason losing Dallas hit me really hard. Mostly I guess that she lost her dignity. She literally hated me but she had to depend on me completely during her last few days. I can't imagine what she was thinking but I suppose the tumor changed her personality some. Or she just didn't have the energy to bite.