My Sweet Faced Missy Lou
I had to put little Missy Lou to sleep Wednesday morning.
As I've mentioned in other pet posts, she had cancerous tumors. Because she was older and had upper respiratory infection, we decided a couple of weeks ago that putting her under anesthesia wasn't a good idea as her health was so compromised she might not make it out. The vet was more optimistic than I was and thought she'd last a few weeks. I thought no more than two and assumed a day-to-day watch. She'd been losing weight and sometimes the tumor would bleed, so I was giving her an anti-inflammatory pain reliever (meloxicam) and antibiotics (zithromax). When I went to sleep on Tuesday night, she was still pretty active (though sleeping more than usual) and still quite competitive with regard to food treats.
However, when I went down to visit the rats on Wednesday morning, Missy was at the bottom of the cage on her side. Rats sleep on their side all the time, but this was one of those times where it just doesn't look right. I saw that she was still breathing, so I reached in the cage to pick her up, immediately distressed because this is the picture of a ratty in severe pain. This was dumb of me to do because she was obviously in serious pain so she clamped her teeth into my thumb and wouldn't let go (as I was the most recent source of her pain). I pried her mouth open, put her back in the cage, and dashed to the bathroom to do what I could to stop the bleeding. After about 30 seconds, it didn't look like it was stopping, so I wrapped it in a washcloth and dashed upstairs so Ron could help me. Impatient me saw that it had stopped bleeding enough so as I burst into tears explaining what happened, Ron helped me with Neosporin and a bandaid. He helped me transfer her to the travel cage. It was so upsetting because she was so limp and everything about her was quite pale, even the tumor, which before had always been a purply red.
She'd thrash about some too, which I had not experienced before with my other rats that were deathbed. I knew it was because she was in intense pain and trying to escape/hide. At the vet, since she was still quite feisty for being so weak, we put her in a plastic container that would fill with the anesthesia gas rather than how we usually do it with a mask. She fell asleep quickly and I'm pretty sure had we left her like that for a few moments she would have gone on her own. However, we went ahead with the shot to the heart that gives the OD of a barbituate and she was gone.
She bit me good too. Her top teeth went in between the first knuckle and where the nail starts to grow. That part doesn't hurt. Her bottom teeth went in to the fleshy part of my thumb and since I use my thumb for many, many things, it hurts like crazy. It's swollen but otherwise looks OK.
I nearly didn't adopt Missy and Molly when I was looking for two female companions for my then newly neutered hurricane boy, Felix. There were two smaller females (Mindy and Mandy) that had been at the shelter longer and were not nearly as well socialized so I knew they'd have a harder time finding a home. Missy and Molly, the newer bigger girls, were always at the front of the cage eager for interaction with any human that went by. However, when I went to adopt Mindy and Mandy, it was gently conveyed that whichever two I didn't take probably wouldn't fare well since most of the caretakers don't like rats. There was no way I was going to let two such personable little girls get put to sleep and I wanted to give the more difficult girls a fighting chance as well. I went home four rats the richer.
Missy, like Molly, just loved Ron to no end. She'd always hop on him to give him attention and loved trying to drag him by the thumb to hoard him for later (or put him in the common snuggle area, I'm not sure). She'd do this with him over and over again, even marching off his other hand that was held a half foot or so above the bed! Like Molly, she was very quick to brux and boggle for me. She would reach her little arms out of the cage to grab for treats (trying to get an edge over the other girls) and frequently would use both paws to madly scoop whatever she could into her mouth, sometimes not even letting go of my thumb in the process. Despite her painful bite near her life's end, she was always VERY aware of the difference between me and the treats and never used her teeth on me except to emphatically rip off bandaids or to gently groom whatever part of my skin she thought needed grooming.
Along with the other girls, she kept Felix between a contented state and a "WTF these girls make me addled" state. Female rats are very different from male rats. My males are lazy and hugely affectionate with a high desire to please and look for approval (much like dogs). My females are always exploring, curious, slightly more independent. They were affectionate but not in the cuddle bug way the males are. They would scamper up, get a quick scritch, give a quick groom, then be on their way to some other exploration. Missy toward her end though, would snuggle up on my neck for a few minutes, expressing her contentment by bruxing and boggling against my skin. Like a cat purring, this calms me and makes me all warm and fuzzy.
I'll miss my Sweet Faced Missy Lou.
As I've mentioned in other pet posts, she had cancerous tumors. Because she was older and had upper respiratory infection, we decided a couple of weeks ago that putting her under anesthesia wasn't a good idea as her health was so compromised she might not make it out. The vet was more optimistic than I was and thought she'd last a few weeks. I thought no more than two and assumed a day-to-day watch. She'd been losing weight and sometimes the tumor would bleed, so I was giving her an anti-inflammatory pain reliever (meloxicam) and antibiotics (zithromax). When I went to sleep on Tuesday night, she was still pretty active (though sleeping more than usual) and still quite competitive with regard to food treats.
However, when I went down to visit the rats on Wednesday morning, Missy was at the bottom of the cage on her side. Rats sleep on their side all the time, but this was one of those times where it just doesn't look right. I saw that she was still breathing, so I reached in the cage to pick her up, immediately distressed because this is the picture of a ratty in severe pain. This was dumb of me to do because she was obviously in serious pain so she clamped her teeth into my thumb and wouldn't let go (as I was the most recent source of her pain). I pried her mouth open, put her back in the cage, and dashed to the bathroom to do what I could to stop the bleeding. After about 30 seconds, it didn't look like it was stopping, so I wrapped it in a washcloth and dashed upstairs so Ron could help me. Impatient me saw that it had stopped bleeding enough so as I burst into tears explaining what happened, Ron helped me with Neosporin and a bandaid. He helped me transfer her to the travel cage. It was so upsetting because she was so limp and everything about her was quite pale, even the tumor, which before had always been a purply red.
She'd thrash about some too, which I had not experienced before with my other rats that were deathbed. I knew it was because she was in intense pain and trying to escape/hide. At the vet, since she was still quite feisty for being so weak, we put her in a plastic container that would fill with the anesthesia gas rather than how we usually do it with a mask. She fell asleep quickly and I'm pretty sure had we left her like that for a few moments she would have gone on her own. However, we went ahead with the shot to the heart that gives the OD of a barbituate and she was gone.
She bit me good too. Her top teeth went in between the first knuckle and where the nail starts to grow. That part doesn't hurt. Her bottom teeth went in to the fleshy part of my thumb and since I use my thumb for many, many things, it hurts like crazy. It's swollen but otherwise looks OK.
I nearly didn't adopt Missy and Molly when I was looking for two female companions for my then newly neutered hurricane boy, Felix. There were two smaller females (Mindy and Mandy) that had been at the shelter longer and were not nearly as well socialized so I knew they'd have a harder time finding a home. Missy and Molly, the newer bigger girls, were always at the front of the cage eager for interaction with any human that went by. However, when I went to adopt Mindy and Mandy, it was gently conveyed that whichever two I didn't take probably wouldn't fare well since most of the caretakers don't like rats. There was no way I was going to let two such personable little girls get put to sleep and I wanted to give the more difficult girls a fighting chance as well. I went home four rats the richer.
Missy, like Molly, just loved Ron to no end. She'd always hop on him to give him attention and loved trying to drag him by the thumb to hoard him for later (or put him in the common snuggle area, I'm not sure). She'd do this with him over and over again, even marching off his other hand that was held a half foot or so above the bed! Like Molly, she was very quick to brux and boggle for me. She would reach her little arms out of the cage to grab for treats (trying to get an edge over the other girls) and frequently would use both paws to madly scoop whatever she could into her mouth, sometimes not even letting go of my thumb in the process. Despite her painful bite near her life's end, she was always VERY aware of the difference between me and the treats and never used her teeth on me except to emphatically rip off bandaids or to gently groom whatever part of my skin she thought needed grooming.
Along with the other girls, she kept Felix between a contented state and a "WTF these girls make me addled" state. Female rats are very different from male rats. My males are lazy and hugely affectionate with a high desire to please and look for approval (much like dogs). My females are always exploring, curious, slightly more independent. They were affectionate but not in the cuddle bug way the males are. They would scamper up, get a quick scritch, give a quick groom, then be on their way to some other exploration. Missy toward her end though, would snuggle up on my neck for a few minutes, expressing her contentment by bruxing and boggling against my skin. Like a cat purring, this calms me and makes me all warm and fuzzy.
I'll miss my Sweet Faced Missy Lou.