Lindsay
Well-Known Member
Today was definitely time to say goodbye to my hairless girlie, whom i've cared for since she was just a wee little one of about 4 weeks of age. She lived a very long life which surprised and shocked the hell out of me since I had heard that hairless rats tend to live shorter-than-average lives and she had been a sniffly rat ever since she was young.
Peaches had several tumors in her hind end that were starting to take over her body. It was becoming obvious, based on her weightloss, that the nutrients in her food were beginning to feed the tumors rather than her body. She was a bag of bones. Every bone in her little body was visible when she would walk around. She had a cataract in one eye and was starting to have trouble getting around... but she still ate and slept and seemed fairly happy. I have an appointment on Monday to take the kitten in for his needles and decided that I would take Peaches with me and have her PTS that night since she was in such rough shape.... but today was her day and she let me know that.
** WARNING! The rest of this story is not for the weak-stomached**
This morning around 11:30 I arrived home after a drs appointment. I went into the living room to sort out some stuff that I got on my way home when I noticed that Peaches was stumbling around in the cage and falling all over the place. I was worried that she might be in distress or possibly having a stroke so I went to the cage to investigate. What I found sent me into a complete state of shock and panic and disbelief. Peaches was eating her tail. There was a long string of.... I don't know what... hanging from the end of her tail and was stretched the length of her torso, wrapped up around her front leg, and she was eating it. There was no blood but there was a bit of oozing. It appeared as though she ate about 1/4 - 1/2 inch of the end of her tail completely off and there was a little nub of bone sticking out of the end. I freaked out. I didn't know what to do, who to call, where to go, and most importantly how to get her to stop. I called my boyfriend and told him I needed to get to the vet NOW to have her PTS. He immediately dropped his paintbrush and drove over to get me. I then called the vet clinic and told them what was happening and let them know I was coming in. I then grabbed her in a blanket, wrapped her, and held her in a way that she couldn't get at her tail. It was probably close to 20 minutes before I got to the vet clinic.
I told the vet the situation and she opened the blanket just to see her head and managed to get a peek at the tail in the process. She said, "yes, she's got quite the mess there... and she's trying to get at it again and i'm not going to let her!" She then took her out back to get the gas on her and then she came back in to see if I wanted to stay with her while she passed. I declined. Not only did I not want to hold her bag of bones but she was in too much of a mess for me to want to touch her. The vet agreed and said, "As soon as I took the blanket off of her and her head was free she immediately went back to trying to chew on her tail. I've been a vet for a long time and I've seen a lot of things and that really made me nauseous." I said I wasn't surprised to hear that.
So, I left the vet to finish with the euth and I headed home.
I have never been so grossed out. I didn't puke or gag or anything... which surprised me... but I still, 5 hours later, have the vision in my head and I don't see it going away any time soon. I was extremely lucky that I didn't go to work today because who knows what kind of mess I would have come home too... and i'm sure the other 2 rats would probably have joined in.
I very much enjoyed having Peaches around for the 3 years of her long life. She was a pleasure to watch, and she had a personality like no other. I'm going to miss her, but I am not sad to see her go... after what I saw today I am a little more relieved that it's all over. She was very much ready and to have her now at peace is a blessing.
RIP Peaches. Mommy loves you.
Peaches had several tumors in her hind end that were starting to take over her body. It was becoming obvious, based on her weightloss, that the nutrients in her food were beginning to feed the tumors rather than her body. She was a bag of bones. Every bone in her little body was visible when she would walk around. She had a cataract in one eye and was starting to have trouble getting around... but she still ate and slept and seemed fairly happy. I have an appointment on Monday to take the kitten in for his needles and decided that I would take Peaches with me and have her PTS that night since she was in such rough shape.... but today was her day and she let me know that.
** WARNING! The rest of this story is not for the weak-stomached**
This morning around 11:30 I arrived home after a drs appointment. I went into the living room to sort out some stuff that I got on my way home when I noticed that Peaches was stumbling around in the cage and falling all over the place. I was worried that she might be in distress or possibly having a stroke so I went to the cage to investigate. What I found sent me into a complete state of shock and panic and disbelief. Peaches was eating her tail. There was a long string of.... I don't know what... hanging from the end of her tail and was stretched the length of her torso, wrapped up around her front leg, and she was eating it. There was no blood but there was a bit of oozing. It appeared as though she ate about 1/4 - 1/2 inch of the end of her tail completely off and there was a little nub of bone sticking out of the end. I freaked out. I didn't know what to do, who to call, where to go, and most importantly how to get her to stop. I called my boyfriend and told him I needed to get to the vet NOW to have her PTS. He immediately dropped his paintbrush and drove over to get me. I then called the vet clinic and told them what was happening and let them know I was coming in. I then grabbed her in a blanket, wrapped her, and held her in a way that she couldn't get at her tail. It was probably close to 20 minutes before I got to the vet clinic.
I told the vet the situation and she opened the blanket just to see her head and managed to get a peek at the tail in the process. She said, "yes, she's got quite the mess there... and she's trying to get at it again and i'm not going to let her!" She then took her out back to get the gas on her and then she came back in to see if I wanted to stay with her while she passed. I declined. Not only did I not want to hold her bag of bones but she was in too much of a mess for me to want to touch her. The vet agreed and said, "As soon as I took the blanket off of her and her head was free she immediately went back to trying to chew on her tail. I've been a vet for a long time and I've seen a lot of things and that really made me nauseous." I said I wasn't surprised to hear that.
So, I left the vet to finish with the euth and I headed home.
I have never been so grossed out. I didn't puke or gag or anything... which surprised me... but I still, 5 hours later, have the vision in my head and I don't see it going away any time soon. I was extremely lucky that I didn't go to work today because who knows what kind of mess I would have come home too... and i'm sure the other 2 rats would probably have joined in.
I very much enjoyed having Peaches around for the 3 years of her long life. She was a pleasure to watch, and she had a personality like no other. I'm going to miss her, but I am not sad to see her go... after what I saw today I am a little more relieved that it's all over. She was very much ready and to have her now at peace is a blessing.
RIP Peaches. Mommy loves you.
