Goosemoose Pet Portal

I've never had to make this decision before, and since yesterday it has been weighing heavily on my mind.  I may be having to make this decision for 2, maybe 3 rats.  2 of them (If confirmed at the vet tomorrow.. but it's unlikely I'll be proven wrong) I will lose tomorrow, but I am waiting on the 3rd to find out if he has the same condition as the other two.

Please, if you want to ask me about specifics or whatever, contact me in private via PM or email, because this situation is already making me feel awful, and I don't really feel up to talking about it.

I'm basically looking for affirmation that I'm doing the right thing.  The rats in question will not be able to be cured, and will be very uncomfortable even with treatment.  I don't really want to have to force them to suffer for however many weeks they have left, and so I'm thinking that now- when they are more or less comfortable- should be the time for them to go.  Is it wrong to think that it would be better to do it now and spare them, then to draw it out?   This is quite possibly one of the most heartbreaking things to happen to me since I lost a very special dog suddenly many years ago...

This is one of the hardest decisions we ever have to make as pet owners. In my opinion, it's never wrong to end an animal's suffering - it's a final gift we can give them. But it is very difficult to know when they are suffering. There was an episode of Animal Planet's "Emergency Vets" that gave me a hand in deciding when it was time. Pick 3 things that mean a good quality of life to your pet. When two of those aren't happening anymore, it's time to let them go. For me, those 3 things were: grooming, wanting to explore and eating/drinking. I've always opted to err on the early side rather than wait too long and risk having my rat suffer because I couldn't tell whether it was or not.

My thoughts are with you as you make this difficult decision.

You are doing the right thing.  You don't want them to suffer.  There is no way for them to live life comfortably if they are sick.

Right now, they're able to do things.  I've noticed that in the one that has progressed the fastest, he's been having trouble with some of them.  Mostly, just not playing around as much as before, and he's been having trouble climbing around.  As quickly as this has come on, I really don't think they'll be able to do much of anything in another week, as far as grooming and playing and everything goes.  The third is showing some signs, and there's a high probability that what is affecting the other two he has as well, so I tentatively have decided that I should bring him along as well for the vet to look at.  (and most likely, we will have to put him to sleep as well, as I fear how quickly he could decline as well.)

I just know that even with treatment, it's unlikely they'll live beyond another month.  (And even if they do, it's not going to be the most comfortable for them.) 

Thank you both.  I know it's the best option for them, but it still doesn't make it hurt any less. 

I am so sorry that you have to be going through such a difficult time and facing such a hard decision. My heart truly goes out to you.  :'(

Only you can know in your heart when it's time to let them go. The fact that you posted to ask advice probably means that you suspect that it's time. If keeping them alive would mean that they are uncomfortable or suffering in any way, then letting them go together in peace and dignity is probably the greatest gift you could give them.  They can't make the decision for themselves, so we have to make it for them as loving owners. I know how much that hurts, I've had to have a few pets PTS and it's awful. But, in the end, you're freeing them from pain and illness and showing them that you love them enough to not allow them to suffer for one moment longer. 

Please keep us posted and let us know what happens. In the meantime, I will be thinking of you and your little ones and hoping that you can be at peace with whatever decision you make. 

What are you dealing with?  an illness? Pituitary Tumours?  This also plays into my decision.  I often treat a PT rat and if they don't respond to the abs/steroids and don't have any quality of life left I have them pts (Kizzy this morning).  But you can get some interesting "miracles" with steroids and stroke/PT so I always try it first.

A sick rat that is only going to worsen, is harder, you have to know when they have had enough...its all in their eyes and their change in normal behaviours. I have chronic resp. rats at home who are on maintenance baytril, with another ab added in when they flare up, and sometimes a dose or 2 of steroid to reduce lung inflammation so they can breathe better until the 2nd ab kicks in.

I am sorry you will be losing 2 at the same time, and possibly 3. :(

I've been very lucky in never having to make this decision before.  But it seems so cruel to me to try treating them, and drawing this out for several weeks when I know that the outlook is so bleak.  I really know nothing about the process/cost/etc.  All I know is my vet office just called to say the small animal vet won't be in today, and the vet I spoke to hadn't done it on rats before.  That, and they're not going to give us the option of taking the babies home to be buried, it's either pay for a cremation (In which they charge a ridiculous amount PER baby rat) or we have to pay a 'disposal fee'.  (What a cold way of putting it...)   All in all, we're looking at a cost so high, my husband is freaking out and stomping around the house like a 2 year old, while I'm left taking care of a 2 year old (NOT the husband, a real one) and dealing with all this pain.  Even if we wait until tomorrow to do this, it's going to cost quite a bit.  The cost isn't an issue to me, but I'm not the one working all the time, and hence, according to some in my house I don't get to 'spend all the money on my pets'.  (Sorry, I don't mean to rant, I'm just really hurting and frustrated right now.)

lilspaz68-  It's early onset megacolon in rats that aren't even 5 weeks old yet.  The diet hasn't had any effect on them, neither has massaging their bellies to try and help things pass, nor forcing them to sit in warm water (Heard that could help the tummies.).  I don't have a little tube-type thing small enough to use a syringe that will work with them.  Treatment will be quite uncomfortable, and is extremely unlikely to lengthen their lives.  This has come on SO fast, and the 2 that I know have it seemed perfectly healthy and normal just a matter of days ago. 

I wish steroids would help with this. But it's genetic, and they're way too young/small for there to be much hope of miracles.  :/  Right now they're still acting relatively normal, but one is starting to have trouble jumping/climbing and so he hasn't been playing as much as the others.  It's horrible no matter what the number, I really don't know if it'll be easier losing all 3 at once, or 2 and then later, the third.  (As he most likely has it as well.. I want to wait on him, but if it comes on fast enough like it has the others, it will be awful.)

Ohhh Nevada...MC is evil!!  I am so sorry, no please do get them euthanized right away.  Your vet should let you take them home...the disposal is a mass cremation, and not being thrown out in the trash if that makes you feel any better. 

Make sure your vet gases the babies first until they are asleep then gives them either a injection into the abdomen or the heart.

Is there no other vet who will help you with this sad task? 

If they were older, I'd be more optimistic on treatments working, but they're just too young.  :/ It is awful.  I wish the vet would let us take them home, because as silly as it is, I'd rather bury them and help myself grieve that way, then go in to a vet office and then have to leave them there.

The vet was only going to use gas for them, but as I said, he'd never done it on rats so he didn't know much.  I'll have to call around, but I think there's only one other vet in town that will even see rats.   I mean, it's not an emergency situation, but I really need to have this done sooner rather then later.  Every time I check on them, they've gotten a bit wider, and I've seen the pictures of babies in later stages of it, and I can't force these guys through that.  I really hope I can find another vet in town who will do it, and hopefully let us take them home, too.

((hugs))...

terrible to ask you this, but are you willing to take pics for me, so I can add it to my medical library?  :(
Anyone can view my medical section and as they say "a picture can be worth a thousand words".  Someone donated the link to her choking rat to me since my rats refused to oblige.

Gas isn't enough, overgassing from what I understand is illegal or unethical?  I heard about a case where an HS or shelter in the US did this and got charged.

I really hope you can find another vet that will help you.  Have you contacted a regular vet to ask if they coudl do it it?  As long as you tell them what you need some will consider it but of course won't treat rats.

I do have several pictures over the course of the last several days.  I'll try go through them and find the best ones and send them to you.  Breaks my heart to look at them, but I know that if I didnt' take pictures, someday I would end up regretting it. 

I really have no idea apart from what the vet told me.  I guess maybe they were thinking since they're so tiny?  They said they would charge us for the gas, office visit, vet examination (To confirm MC even though it's obvious.  Just gave the babies their morning baby food and they're even bigger then they were around midnight.  :/ ) , and then the disposal fee.  My vet office has regular vets and then a few 'specialists' (I use the term lightly) and sometimes they've been really good with treating our pets, and other times they've left me broke and wishing I had a different vet.  The husband is supposed to be downstairs calling every other office in town, but as I said- he's being a brat about the whole ordeal.  (And I really hate to badtalk him, but honestly, I feel heartbroken right now, and I can't even breach the issue of it with him without him yelling at me about the costs.)  I'm trying to sell a cage, and that should cover most of it so hopefully then he'll relax.  It's just.. ridiculous. 

Its a terrible situation and just post on here if you are upset or frustrated.  I wish you lived nearby, I would take over the phoning, etc.   :-\

Things I do is name the babies (if not already named) and put up a memorial on them.  You could be doing 2 things with this, 1) making yourself feel better if Memorials do that for you (does for me, doesn't for others) and 2) possibly teaching someone about MC that would never have known about it otherwise.

We tried all the other 4 vet places, and only one sees rats.  We're waiting on that vet to call us back, as he's in surgery right now.  But hopefully we can figure something out.  They're still acting friendly and fairly normal, but they're getting so big, and the fact I can't do anything about it is killing me.  Even the runt, that I thought would be spared is showing a widening in his abdomen, and given his colors I'm sure he probably has it too.

They all have names.  I gave them all nicknames that I'd call them (Horribly enough, the 2 that have it the worst are the 2 that weren't staying here.) and so those are going to be their names.  I don't really want them to die without having names, as they're already missing so much.  At the very least, I can hopefully help educate people on it in the future, but I don't know how helpful I could be.  Until a few days ago, they were normal healthy babies, and not being able to do something.. just doesn't give on a very good lesson.

I'm going to have to charge my camera batteries to take more pictures, but I'll send some from last night and this morning to you shortly.

Hopefully you got the emails and my computer didn't eat them.   :doh:

We have an appointment this afternoon to say goodbye.  There's really no use even doubting it at this point.

I just pm'd you

As hard as it is, it sounds like you are doing the right thing by your ratties.  I am sorry it hurts so much, but glad that these babies have someone so brave to take care of them.  I wish you strength and peace for your afternoon appointment.

it hurts so much to make this decision.  we keep hoping that there will be a miracle and everything will be all better, but there never is a miracle.  so we show them how much we love them by helping them go, by showing them that we love them enough to release them.  to let their souls escape their weakened bodies and fly free, bright, and proud soaring above their own mortality.  yet knowing that we always have them in our hearts.  always, forever, and a day.

MC is evil, you are doing the best thing you can for these little sweeties, you're saving them from a life of pain.. the truest way you can show them you love and care for them *hugs*  i have never heard of a vet not letting you take your pet home for burial after a PTS.

I'm so sorry.
I think you're on rattie on LJ, right?
I saw the photos there and am so sad about your beautiful bubs.

You are definitely doing the right thing.
*hugs*

And your hubby sounds like my ex-husband.
He still bad mouths how much I spent on the rats (I hear, we aren't speaking).  Even worse is that we never combined income so all the money I "wasted" was mine and mine alone.  Sigh.

I'm so sorry that he's not being more supportive. It's hard enough letting kiddos go without dealing with the stress of an unsupportive partner.

Melissa

Yes, Leona, that's me.

My husband is still stomping around acting like a child and screaming at.. well, I'm not sure what he's screaming at, no one's downstairs with him.  The vet only charged us $33 for one euthanasia, since all 3 were so little.  I guess I made him angry by saying I didn't appreciate him acting like a jerk at a time in which I needed some emotional support. ::)  It just kind of sucks.  To my family, they're 'just rats', and I don't really know many people in this area either.  So my support circle is pretty low.  I'm exhausted, it's been over 24 hours since I slept, but I don't think I could sleep if I laid down.  will have to stay up until my son goes to bed, anyway, and then hopefully I can crash.


I still feel so uncertain about whether or not I did the right thing.  I know there was no hope for a miracle, and I'm glad that they're gone now, as opposed to waiting another few days or a week, when they would have been so much more uncomfortable, but it doesn't really hurt any less losing them.

I'm so sorry :heart: :'(  Poor Columbus too :'(  Well, they are all playing together and happy.  At least they will not suffer any pain!

 :heart:  Nothing I can say or do except offer {{{HUGS}}} :heart:

I'm so sorry for your loss.  *hugs*  It's easy for us to say that you did the right thing, as we're watching from the outside, but I know it's harder from the inside.  MC is a nasty disease, and you know with your mind that there was no hope, but your heart feels differently.  It's especially hard, because they're just babies, and you think that they should have had more time.  My heart is with you. 

Give your hubby a smack upside the head for me.  That last thing you need at this point is the one person who's supposed to be supportive of you giving you a hard time.

*hugs* I'm sorry that you are going through this.  The first time I took my rats to the vet, I had to deal with my BF telling me off.  But then, as he helped me adminster meds, etc. he fell in love with them and completely agreed it was worth it. 

Your husband is being a jerk.  Being a stay at home mom doesn't mean the you have to live off of an allowance.  Look at it this way, how much would you two be spending on childcare if you worked instead of staying home?  A penny saved is a penny earned.  While I don't agree with all the articles that try to make staying at home sound like it's worth "millions"  it IS a full-time job without benefits.  dour husband should respect that, and you should NEVER let anyone tell you otherwise. 

You're welcome to PM me if you just need someone to talk to. 

I asked this somewhere else too but what is LJ?