I am really worried right now.  I was gone all day so I hadn't seen my rat since last night, and I went and checked on them and my Stanford was dead, has been for hours.  He was only about four months and healthy, I have no idea what has happened.  I have never had a young rat just die on me.  He has had no symptoms of illness (no sniffing, porphyrin, etc.).  The only thing was that last night when I was in the room with them while they were out, I thought it was odd that he came to me and just directly went to sleep in my shirt.  Other then that nothing has been out of ordinary.  All my rats have been properly quarantined before coming into the house.  Other then the four I just adopted and brought in friday, the last rat was brought in three weeks ago and there has been no symptoms of illness.  I haven't handled other rats either, the only other contact with rats has been at Any Rat Rescue (briefly) and that I have walked through petsmart to drop off my foster dog for adoption. 

I have no idea what to do.  I am devastated right now that my Stanford is gone, I have no idea what is going on and I am really freaked out for my other rats.  Please help me, what do I do?  Is this something that just sometimes happens?  I mean he was a very healthy boy before today....is it possible and recommended to get an autopsy?  If so can any vet do it...and should I freeze the body or just refrigerate it?  I have heard about SDA and Sendai, although never experienced it....how it can cause a lot of deaths...do those diseases also not have symptoms?

Put the body in the refridgerator and call your vet first thing in the morning.  The vet can do a gross necropsy and possibly find the cause of death.  If it isn't apparent, tissue samples can be cultured to determine if there was an infection.  Don't freeze the body.  I'm so sorry. 

I am so sorry for your loss.  

Whether or not to autopsy is really a personal decision.  It is probably the only way to find out why your rat died.  If you are going to lie awake at nights worrying about why Stanford died, then you should get it done.  However, if it goes against your religious sensibilities or some-such, then there is nothing that says you must get an autopsy.  

Almost any veterinarian that treats rats will do an autopsy for you.  Put your rat's body in the refrigerator (not the freezer) and call your local rat-vet first thing in the morning.  If your vet can not do the autopsy, he/she should be able to at least give you the contact information for someone in your area that can perform the autopsy.  They are usually relatively cheap.  Although I've had vets quote me everything from $20 to $150, the higher prices were usually associated with a need to do a culture.  Cultures are expensive, at least in this area.  I typically reserve them for when a rat gets sick and dies, and we do a culture to help treat the surviving rats.  You should discuss the option of a culture with your vet, just so that you are both clear on the expectations.

It should be noted that autopsies are not fool-proof.  I have had a vet botch an autopsy.  Still, I, personally, prefer to get an autopsy when one of my rats dies suddenly.  It helps to give me a sense of closure.  Even in the case of the botched autopsy, I was able to look at the autopsy report and surmise some of the things involved in her death.

It should also be noted that you should tell your vet if you want your rat's ashes (or body, although some vets are hesitant to return an autopsied body prior to cremation) back after the autopsy.  Be sure to do this before taking the body to the vet.  Otherwise, it is possible that your rat's ashes will end up in a community lot, and you will never be able to get them back.

*HUGS* I'm so sorry for your loss.  If it were me, I'd have the vet do a necropsy.  When it's so sudden and no symptom, and so young, that would definitely have me worried.  In terms of quarantine, Therese is VERY careful to do no LESS than a 3 week quarantine on all of the ARR rats.  However, naturally, since you've adopted 7 rats from us recently, I'm very concerned for your rats health and safety.  Please keep us posted and good luck with any decision you make.

I just saw this, I will call you after work. I would DEFINITLY have a necropst done!

After talking to Ckhs I tried to see if my vet would be willing to do a preliminary autopsy, but they said he could tell if the organs are not normal but wouldnt' be able to identify the cause of death.  I tried another vet and they said they do not do on-site autopsies.  So I don't know if I should just go with the lab and wait 2 weeks, keep calling vets, or see if my vet can identify any internal problems....any suggestions?  As you can imagine I am very stressed out right now and am so glad I have people with experience to turn to.

If you can't find a vet to give you faster results, just go with the two weeks, and keep an eye on your other rats for the time-being.  As for the cage, I would "garage" it until you have the results, just in case.

Two weeks is a long time to wait.  But, if they are having you wait that long, it probably means that they are going to take cultures and do the best job possible.  I do understand how you feel, but it is better to get accurate results than to get results quickly.

For example, one of my rats had a "tumour" removed, and we sent it off to get necropsied.  It took over two weeks, but when the results finally came back, we were relieved to find out that it was scar tissue.  I would much rather have that result than the preliminary report (which indicated that it might be a malignant form of cancer!).

Okay so I called Langhofer's office and he does do it on site, for $65...which is good so I can have results and then also hopefully not pay an additional $100 for cremation service that I don't want just to get my son's body...but unfortunately he said I need to drop the body off by tomorrow so it is still 'fresh' and of course he is only there tell 2.  *aargh* so I shall be skipping a class and a half to get there in time from tucson....but I guess it is a small price to pay to find out what the problem is.  I'll let everyone know when I find out tomorrow..

So apparently he had pneumonia...and I guess they can just die without symptoms if is acute.  Now everyone needs to go on two diff meds and I have to decide if I want to get one blood tested for about 200 dollars to see if they need to be on meds their whole life or put them on for three weeks then take them off and then just see if someone dies or not to see if they need to be on meds for the rest of their life.  Unfortunately he thinks it is suspicious that the new adopted boys came in on friday and then my son died, so he thinks that they probably brought in some kind of immunosupresant thing that just hit my guy hard.  I am so upset right now, he shouldn't have died from pneumonia.  I can't stop sobbing....

I've lost one to a sudden, intense pneumonia, too, with nearly no symptoms.  I'm so sorry.     It doesn't necessarily have to be something the other rats brought in, though.  We hadn't brought in any new rats in months.  It sounds like you are doing well for the rest of them.  Good luck.

My sweet Carmen died of the same thing.She was fine and then all of a sudden she was doing flat rat on the bottom of her cage. I had her to the vet within two hours of her doing flat rat. She could not be saved. Like you i was devastated and had a necropsy done, then had the ELISA run on one of my remaining girls. The ELISA came back positive for PVM and the remaining girls were put on lifetime meds.Both those girls lived to be over three without any other illnesses. It was because of the PVM no other rats were ever introduced to the girls. It is my understanding the rats can carry this without showing any symptoms and pass it on to other rats for their life time. Hugs Elaken, I'm so sorry.
It really is up to you about the testing. If you can afford it i would have the testing done, that way you will know if it is safe to bring in any new rats.
On the other hand they may not be carriers and your boy may have just died from the pneumonia, testing is the only sure answer.
Hugs again, it just SUCKS!

Yah, I am hoping that Stanford just had a weaker immune system and then on top of being hairless and that it was an isolated incident.  Even if something was brought in with the new boys, it would have just been a fluke and no one could have predicted it...it was just really hard for me to hear that he died from pneumonia, since I felt like that should have been treatable and not enough to just suddenly kill him...but after hearing from other people and the vet, I guess sometimes even with medical treatment they still just die from pnemonia.  Well at least Standford will have alot of new friends where he is, he can meet all his brother and sisters that went before him.  I have a few past rats that I know will especially take care of him.

Aww.. I'm so sorry that Stanford died. My Gossamer died last night but he was 4 years old. Its so sad.