My pretty little Molly girl passed Thursday morning. She had all the symptoms of a pituitary tumor. She would have good days, and bad days, but pituitary tumors are inoperable so eventually her health declined. :( She eventually couldn't eat with her hands because of the paralysis from the pituitary tumor, so we would have to feed her soft foods, baby food, ensure, yogurt.

We brought Molly home in August 2013. She was the sweetest little rat ever. Molly loved to give kisses constantly, she was very affectionate, and curious. I loved her white blaze marking. Her left ear was missing the tip when we brought her home, but it gave her a cute quirky look. Molly even got her time in the spotlight on my friend Kirby's, blog; The Mercurial Magpie: Fairy Dust All The Things. RIP Molly...

The past 24 hours have not been so great... we lost Pumpkin, Tuesday morning. She had passed away in her sleep. She had been ill for awhile with a respiratory infection which she got over, but because she was over 2 years, she was having a hard time bouncing back. She was very frail, still being fed by oral syringe, and was having balance issues this past week.


Buttercup has been energetic, even yesterday she was excited to get a yogurt peanut. She would have been 3 years old around Nov/Dec. She had a golf ball, and a tennis ball sized tumor. She could still get around pretty okay, though we had her in a 1 level cage. This morning she was having some breathing issues, and didn't want to take any food. Which is unusual for Buttercup... she eats everything/anything. She did have some water by herself, and I decided to put her back in the cage to rest because her breathing was better. Not even 10-15 minutes had passed, when my husband checked on her and we found she passed away... was not expecting that at all...


This post is going to be a bit picture heavy so after the jump....

Emile passed away late Tuesday night, while I was asleep. He had been struck with a lot of health ailments in his old age. In January he either had a respiratory infection or pneumonia. He also had seizures during that illness. He was so ill we had to feed him with an oral syringe every few hours, but he ended up recovering fully.

Then he recently lost the use of his back legs, which happens with a lot of older male rats. (Degenerative osteoarthritis). We had moved him to a smaller "hospital" cage, where he could pull himself up to drink & eat from the bowls easier. He was so frail before he passed away and he had stopped wanting to eat or drink the day before he passed away, so I knew he was going to pass away soon...

We brought Emile home with Remy in December of 2012. Emile was a really laid back boy, and always happy. He loved to be pet and scratched and would occasionally cuddle up next to me. He developed an obsession for carrots in his old age, he loved eating raw carrots. (Most of my other pet rats hate carrots, lol). Last summer he ended up losing a finger during a fight with Teddy. His nicknames were "Emilio", and "Stinky Nacho".



And he was silly... like this time he got his head stuck in the M&M's wrapper. :-p

This morning we had to take Violet, "Baby Rat" to the vet to be put to sleep. She had a tumor growing near her bladder/rectum area for quite a few months already. It was an inoperable tumor. It was getting larger and ended up getting a scab on it last week- which got infected and turned into an abscess that ruptured this weekend. I feel so bad for waiting, I should have had it done last week... Baby Rat went peacefully at the vet, she was a fighter and her heart kept beating for awhile... I pet her until she passed away.

When we brought her home at the beginning of August 2011 she was just a tiny thing. She was so small she still had an umbilical scab... which ended up getting infected but healed eventually. We named her Violet, but we always called her Baby Rat. She was very spunky and adventurous. And even up to her last days never acted like she was in any pain, though she was slowing down. She would have been 3 years old this coming July. ♥

The past several days have not been very good... I lost both Teddy and Templeton to pneumonia less than 2 days apart...

It started really suddenly. I take the boys out every day and didn't notice any wheezing, etc. Tuesday evening Templeton's appetite was fine. He was wrestling with Emile on the bed like usual. Wednesday when I came home from work late afternoon Templeton has porphyrin all over his nose, and he had pee all over his belly. He was lethargic too. Teddy also had a bit of porphyrin around his nose, but not as much as Templeton. Thursday morning when I woke up Teddy was having a hard time breathing, he kept gasping. Templeton was also sucking in his sides and having a tough time breathing. I called my vet as soon as they opened.


We actually ended up taking them in a little earlier than their appointment because Templeton had seized up and panicked and his little nose and back feet turned blueish. The vet gave them both Baytril injections and Dexamethsone to help with the inflammation from pneumonia.... how in the world did they come down with pneumonia so fast? He also gave them Cipro antibiotics to take home.

We also picked up a nebulizer machine that my Mom lent us, with some Abuterol to try and ease their breathing. That evening after the vet though Teddy was still gasping a lot. He ended up passing away 5 hours after his vet visit... Templeton was upset. The other boys Emile & Remy lay down next to Teddy with their ears back, after he passed away. I always try to let them say goodbye.


Templeton didn't seem quite as bad. We were doing everything we could think of. He didn't want to eat or drink on his own. But he would lick water or pedilyte, ensure off our fingers. We kept pushing baby food and nutritional paste to see if he would eat it. He would only really take a full drink on his own twice a day...

Thursday night I kept Templeton in a carrier next to the bed. He hated to be in and would start to panic at first. So Friday when I had to go to work, we left him on the bed curled up in my comforter and my husband kept watch over him. Friday evening he cuddled with me on a heating pad and started chattering while I pet him. He drank a long drink of water, and he had some carrot cake icing that he actually got excited about and had two little spoonfuls of.



His breathing was still labored and he was very lethargic... but we were hoping as long as we were getting bits of food/water/meds down him that he would be okay. Late that evening (early Saturday morning) he started having issues with his back legs, they were slipping when he was walking. I was trying to wipe his nose off and he was trying to scoot off when his whole body seized up and went limp. He started gasping for air like Teddy had done... and then my Templeton was gone... my buddy was gone... ♥

You were the only male rat that ever gave me kisses all over my nose, the only rat that would ever use my arm as your pillow when I was reading in bed. The rat who loved to lay on his back a lot when he was younger...I always wanted to name one of my rats Templeton... you were my buddy... you were my heart rat... ♥





More videos of Templeton: