Zombie - depression?

[ScoutGotBig]

Zombie was VERY attached to Abercrombie who died suddenly yesterday.  Zombie is deaf/blind/tilty head - he's got some problems moving, but does ok.  But now, he's not doing good.

He does live with two other rats who want to cuddle with him and bring him food - INCLUDING the "good" stuff from the Suebee's and leave it for him.  He won't eat anything, even chocolate syrup or baby food.  He doesn't want to lay in his cube (which I can understand as that's where Abers had passed away - it's the other cube) or in/on his hammock.  He's hunkered down in the bottom in a corner.  If the Smeezies go to lay with him, he goes to another corner.  He is VERY timid outside of his cage, but loves attention in the cage normally - now he wants to be left alone entirely.

He was "fluffy" when I got home yesterday, but he'd smoothed his coat down over night.  Now my sister called and said he's all puffed up again and he's doing the breathing problem head hold (the prop up thing). 

What can we do to help him thru this?  I'll take him to the vet if it's needed, tho' I'm worried about the stress from the trip there and everything.

[hairless_love]

Poor baby.  I would take him to the vet because of what you said about the fluffy fur and the breathing issues. He may have ironically gotten sick, or the stress of losing his friend could be making him sick.

I've also heard of rat antidepressants....but I don't know anything about that. 

[ScoutGotBig]

Well, his lungs sound clear, but he's sucking his sides in bad.  On Baytril, doxy, got a dose of Lasix to be sure, will try nebulizing tonight.  He will NOT eat anything for anyone, had to syringe water in him.  We've decided to leave him with the Smeezies, they've already been exposed if he is sick, and maybe he'll decide to be friends with them like they want.

I just don't think right now, he's got the will to go on without his best friend, even with two other rats who want to be his friend.  Guess we'll keep fighting with this over the weekend, but I think he may not be up for the fight.

[OldsGal]

Poor Zombie...This just makes my heart ache.  You are doing what you can for him.  We wil keep our fingers crossed that the meds perk him up and he gets his appetite back.  Since you were syringing water to him you might want to consider syringing Ensure or Boost as well.  At least he will get some nutrients if he won't eat.  And you can force the ensure down with the syringe at least.  Did you take the cube down that Aber died in?  Maybe a total cage cleaning would help?  But then again removing Abers smells could make him more depressed.  Or it could help him to forget.  It is so hard to know what to do.

Just lots of love and scritches in the cage since he doesn't like to come out and talk to him alot...

OOOOHHH just thought of something else.  Not sure if you are into this or not.  Maybe see if Arlene can help.  She is an animal communicator.  She can maybe find out how he is doing and convince him to keep fighting. 

Staci

[Saydrah]

Hey everyone. I just heard from ScoutGotBig and poor Zombie is not going to make it.  He got worse this afternoon and was taken the the vet, who x-rayed and found metastatized cancer in his lungs-- so it has been there a while but the depression might have made him give up fighting it. Another young Petco rat with fatal malignant cancer. Scoutgotbig is going to say goodbye and then Zombie will be euthanized. She asked that I pop in and update everyone.

Zombie and Abercrombie will be together again soon.

[OldsGal]

Ya SGB called me too right before he was to be assisted across the bridge.  Poor guy.  So much for them to go through....Maybe we should link this thread over to the Feeder vs rescue debate and maybe just maybe they will open their eyes to see what feeder breeder mills do to these poor rats.  Aber and Zombie never deserved what they were dealt in life.  Thank god someone as amazing as SGB and her amazing Fiance came along when they did. 

Thank you to you two for what you did for these two boys.  And I am sending you huge huge hugs.  You have had a lot to deal with this week girl!

Staci

[ScoutGotBig]

Yes, the vet (not our normal vet, normally won't even treat exotics) did an x-ray and found met cancer on his lungs, but no signs of tumors.  She said we could fight very aggressively to try and have him improve, but his quality of life would likely be poor, she didn't think it'd be successful, and we'd only gain likely a few weeks.  She also said it may have been lung scarring from prior bad conditions, but she believes that we'd have seen breathing difficulities earlier and something would have shown up on the KSU scans and prior x-rays.  Her final opinion was that she honestly couldn't be sure what was wrong as she doesn't treat exotics, but she felt it was his time and we agreed.  We didn't do a necropsy, just not up for it now. 

I've sent letters to Petco and Rainbow Pets as follows

To Whom It May Concern -

We aquired two rats out of Petco Store xxx's adoption/rescue tank.  The pink eyed white (PEW - named Zombie) was from Rainbow shipment xxx, and was stated as "too ugly" to sell as a feeder, and so was placed in that tank with an agouti (named Abercrombie) from a local breeder per Petco.  Both were sick and horribly infested with parasites when adopted.

Abercrombie passed due to unknown causes on May 8th, and his necropsy did not show anything.  No, this is not at fault of Rainbow or Petco.

Zombie was extremely sick.  At one point, we had to remove a cyst from his neck that was paralyzing him.  With the passing of Abercrombie, his cagemate and friend, Zombie became very depressed, then progressed into difficulty breathing.  On 5/9, via x-rays, it was shown that he, a young rat, under 1 year old, had lung cancer that was killing him.  It would have killed him within 72 hours had we not humanely euthanized him.

This is Rainbow's fault.  This is Petco's fault.  Rainbow's decision that rats are worth less than dirt, so they will breed sick and unhealthy rats, just to make a profit, is what put Zombie in this situation.  Rats may be prone to cancer, but they are never deserving of life to be used as nothing and cancer is abnormal in youngsters.  Petco made the decision to first, not treat a sick rat, which is against corporate policy, but most importantly, Petco is making the decision daily to kill rats and harm snakes by selling poorly bred, sick rats as feeders.  Evidence has shown time and time again that live feeding of rodents to reptiles is hazardous and should not be done.

These rats, Abercrombie and Zombie, deserved so much more life.  They both deserved better starts and they suffered because of your poor business decisions. 

Rats are pets and companions.  They should not now, nor ever be, viewed simply as a commodity for a store. 

Sincerely,

Amanda H. & Hersh D.

[tonivan]

WAy to go Amanda!!

I am so sorry to hear about zombie...and my heart breaks for you and for what they had to endure in their lives.  I am so glad that they had a loving home with you!!

[CarmenPants]

Kudos!  We should all be writing letters like this, that let these people know that they can't get away with how they treat rats and other animals.