Rat can't walk, just laying on his side -Rest well my Jasper

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I don't think he is going to make it to the medication....i'm holding him now in my hand against me and he's just all curled up and constantly making a slight squeaking/whistle when he breathes.
His right eye, which is the side that he is leaning on looks really weird. It has a reddish/purple tint over the entire eye and a cloudy look to it.

He definitely seems a whole lot weaker than he did only a few hours ago :(
 
shhtephanie said:
I don't think he is going to make it to the medication....i'm holding him now in my hand against me and he's just all curled up and constantly making a slight squeaking/whistle when he breathes.
His right eye, which is the side that he is leaning on looks really weird. It has a reddish/purple tint over the entire eye and a cloudy look to it.

He definitely seems a whole lot weaker than he did only a few hours ago :(

Sounds like a stroke or a seizure, and he's bleeding into his eyeball...I am sorry, keep him comfy :(
 
Perhaps if you can get it into him pain meds would be a good idea now. Some infants ibuprofen or Advil should be available at any grocery store...
 
nothing is open today...

and it seems like it's just a matter of time now.

so i'm just cuddling him and keeping him warm

The cloudy eye is wide open even though the other is closed...and the same side hand is clenched and when he tries to clean his face or do anything he uses the other hand and that one does nothing...he is just lying on my stomach in my hand and under the blankets...the only way he doesn't seem uncomfortable is when hes laying on his back....so I guess this was more than an ear infection :(

Is there anything more I can do for him at this point to make him more comfortable?
 
It sounds exactly like what happened with Lola. I found her on her side originally and she was having trouble walking but throughout the day she became paralyzed and developed a host of other neuro issues I've never seen with stroke or PT. In the hours before she passed her front paws were clubbed and clasped together as she was laying on her side. She eventually lost consciousness, had several seizures and passed away. Her eye at one point flooded with porphyrin and I thought she may have been bleeding out but it was only porph. Poor boy, it sucks when these things happen on the weekend.
 
I know...on a long weekend, that's my luck.

When it does happen...what do i do....should i put him back in the cage for the other boys to see/do i not want them to/does it not make a difference??

now both front paws are clenched and he's breathing much harder :(
 
Up to you on showing the body, I don't, some rats get more depressed afterwards and others don't seem to care. I believe rats know when another rat is dying, as they are very empathetic creatures.
 
well as of this morning he is still holding on, but barely....his one eye is just completely one cloudy red spot that he can't close.
I have a vet appointment at 11:40 to have him pts...but Im just hoping he passes before that...he seems like he's in so much pain and it is absolutely heartbreaking to watch ...and at least he would die in my arms instead of without me at the vet :sad3:
 
Jasper was pts about 40 mins ago and I am absolutely heartbroken :sad3:

I know it was the best thing for him because as of last night he wasn't eating anything, so even if I put him on meds by the time they even kicked in it would have been too late I'm sure.
The vet said she thinks it was either inner ear or more likely a tumor, because half his head was swollen and that's why his eye was like that. But she agreed putting him to sleep was the best idea, otherwise it would just be making him suffer.

I forgot how terrible this feeling was and now all I can think about is my other 3 and how I'm going to have to feel like this all over again each time...I think this is my last group...it's so hard going through this after such a short time with them...how do you do this over and over and get through it? :(
 
shhtephanie said:
Jasper was pts about 40 mins ago and I am absolutely heartbroken :sad3:

I know it was the best thing for him because as of last night he wasn't eating anything, so even if I put him on meds by the time they even kicked in it would have been too late I'm sure.
The vet said she thinks it was either inner ear or more likely a tumor, because half his head was swollen and that's why his eye was like that. But she agreed putting him to sleep was the best idea, otherwise it would just be making him suffer.

I forgot how terrible this feeling was and now all I can think about is my other 3 and how I'm going to have to feel like this all over again each time...I think this is my last group...it's so hard going through this after such a short time with them...how do you do this over and over and get through it? :(


oh I am so very sorry!! rest in peace Jasper

I know exactly what you mean about realizing you're going to have to go thru this terrible loss again, that happened to me, with my last group. Each time I lost one, it just made me more aware that my time with the remaining ones was limited as well.
I decided I had to take a break. I don't know if I will have rats again in the future. A lot of people decide that they need a break from rats to recover from the sadness of their too short lives.

whatever you decide, try to focus on the time you DO have with your ratties and let them and their happiness and silliness soothe your pain.

:hugs:
 
I am so sorry that you had to let Jasper go. It sounded like the poor fellow was in great distress and there's nothing worse than seeing our babies suffer, especially if the meds won't work. I know too well how it feels to lose them; have lost over 50 rats, as well as other pets, especially over the last ten years since I got into rats back in 2001 when my then young daughter wanted one (and we got two) and we kept on getting more.

I know where you are in wondering how you can stand the pain of losing them. It's the hard part about loving tiny animals like rats whose life-spans are so short compared to other animal companions and who, unfortunately, can have so many various medical issues within that short life-span that have us worrying and often feeling anticipatory grief when we fear losing them.

I only have two older girls right now, 22 months, and with all the grief I've felt over the last ten years, especially in some instances where I'd lose three or four in a month (when I once had 23 rats at one time), I have also wondered about taking a hiatus when my current two go, just because it really is very hard on the heart. That said, I've not been without rats for ten years now. I know it would feel like a big empty hole without them. So I don't know what my decision will be when I get down to one; whether to let the last one go on by themselves and then take a break for a few years, or whether I'll be impulsive and go get two more babies again to keep the remaining one company.

I guess that I always weigh how happy they are to have good, loved lives (and how happy them make me) against the hard part of losing them (although my belief is that we never lose them; they just change form, but their love is always with us and they always feel our love). I had one lady tell me to approach my grief proactively, focusing on how loved my rats are and the difference I can make for rat lives in making their lives good/happy/secure. But that's easier said than done, I know. I can see and understand both sides of that particular fence.

Perhaps you may take a hiatus for a while when your others do eventually go. Or you may decide that you find it too hard to care for tiny animals with short life spans, and if that's your decision, that's fine too. Or, you may decide that, as much as it hurts, that you can't stand being without them. I guess it's a balance between all the joy against the hard times; but love of any kind always comes with grief - we can't have one without the other. I am trying to teach myself to deal with the grief differently; yes, there will always be grief when they need to transition, but to make myself focus on all the fun times and the difference I made for their lives by loving them, and them me. They were pet store rats who, sadly, sell rats as feeders, the only place I could find two baby rats when one of my last older girls passed away, leaving her middle-aged sister behind. I always remind myself that if I hadn't adopted my two, who knows where they would have ended up? Given how much I spoil my rats (bike rides in a cage mounted behind my bicycle seat so that we can take summer jaunts together, trips to the ice cream store, car rides in the car-car cage, etc.), I don't know if anyone else would have adopted them who would have treated them as well.

So, I will cry when each one goes; one has PT right now and I'm doing my best to treat it with bromo (vet gave me another 2 weeks worth today), and I'll cry when her sister goes. But I will also be able to say through my tears 'I'm so glad to have known you, loved you, been loved by you, and to know that you had a safe, happy life while you were with me'. That will give me the strength to deal with the grief. I'm a big suck; maybe I'll take a hiatus, but knowing me, I'll go into rat withdrawal and go get two more babies again.

You need to do what you feel is best for you too. Do you have a good support network at home? You have good people here who can help with these sad feelings. We've all been there. I know how much your heart hurts over Jasper, but if you can reflect on how happy his life was with you - you wouldn't have had it any other way - does that somehow lessen the grief at least a little bit to know that you made big difference in his life and that he was so loved and cared for in a world that is often far too indifferent to little ratties? I hope your heart can find solace in knowing how good a rattie parent you were to him, and how he'll always love you for that. Please heal soon.
 
Thank you to everyone :hugs:
It is hard and at this point I definitely can't imagine doing this to myself yet again after this group is gone. But I guess I have said that after each rat I've had, and then I end up "just browsing" at the humane society or on kijiji and forget this terrible feeling inside that they leave you with and only seem to remember how fun and sweet they were...then the cycle repeats.
It's just so unfair that they are so loving and easily get you so attached and then before you know it they are gone.
I've been crying nonstop since last night, but at the same time I know I made a difference in his life because he was a feeder rat and when I got him I had him on meds for an inner ear infection and I'm sure that living to be over 1 year old wasn't going to be the plan for him if I didn't find him. So that part makes me smile and he was definitely the sweetest rat I ever had, constant kisses and never any shyness with anyone. He will definitely be missed, but at least I know he lived a great life and as much as I wanted to try him on meds for my own selfish reasons, I know I did the right thing and he is better off now. :heart:
 
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