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julietPoppy died yesterday.
She's been going downhill since Rowan died the other week - finding it harder to get about, and seeming less interested in food. We've been having her out with us a lot for company, and she definitely appreciated that, but by last weekend she was mostly eating only when we fed her, and she was having trouble with even the very shallow food and water dish.
Yesterday morning we found her on the floor of the cage, having obviously fallen over & not been able to get up again. She wasn't really interested in food even by hand, and she wasn't able to move for herself or even stand up properly. The vet agreed that it was time, so she was pts yesterday afternoon (with us there).
Poppy was mostly notorious for her enormous bottom, resulting from her dedication to putting as much food as possible into her mouth at all times :-) (She lost 1/4 body weight over the last month or so, and was still heavier than many other rats we've had!) She had a slight tendency to attack fingers if she thought either that they were in Her Space, or that they might be food - and she fundamentally hoped that everything might be food! - but she never meant it in an aggressive way - she was fundamentally friendly and Interested in People (at least if there wasn't food around...). She was also one of the only rats I've known who was able to locate a treat dropped under her nose. Like every rat we've had - she was fun, and much loved, and we will miss her enormously.
We don't have any more rats, now - we've decided the emotional stress from their short lives & tendency to spend their last year or so in & out of the vet is too much to keep coping with.
RIP Poppy.
She's been going downhill since Rowan died the other week - finding it harder to get about, and seeming less interested in food. We've been having her out with us a lot for company, and she definitely appreciated that, but by last weekend she was mostly eating only when we fed her, and she was having trouble with even the very shallow food and water dish.
Yesterday morning we found her on the floor of the cage, having obviously fallen over & not been able to get up again. She wasn't really interested in food even by hand, and she wasn't able to move for herself or even stand up properly. The vet agreed that it was time, so she was pts yesterday afternoon (with us there).
Poppy was mostly notorious for her enormous bottom, resulting from her dedication to putting as much food as possible into her mouth at all times :-) (She lost 1/4 body weight over the last month or so, and was still heavier than many other rats we've had!) She had a slight tendency to attack fingers if she thought either that they were in Her Space, or that they might be food - and she fundamentally hoped that everything might be food! - but she never meant it in an aggressive way - she was fundamentally friendly and Interested in People (at least if there wasn't food around...). She was also one of the only rats I've known who was able to locate a treat dropped under her nose. Like every rat we've had - she was fun, and much loved, and we will miss her enormously.
We don't have any more rats, now - we've decided the emotional stress from their short lives & tendency to spend their last year or so in & out of the vet is too much to keep coping with.
RIP Poppy.
