I lost my crazy wheelie rat yesterday.
She went from being fine one day to being floppy and not herself the next. At first we thought it was just a stroke. She seemed much more responsive and mobile only a few hours after I found her in the ball asleep with her roomies. She had been letting her wheelie tail drag but as she got more steady on her feet, it started curling up like normal again. She got a shot of Dex at the vets and I thought we were in the clear.
The only real concern was how harsh her breathing was. She refused all food and water and seemed like she was working so hard to breath. As the night went on, I got more worried about her.
The next morning I drove her to vet before work so they could give her sub q fluids, more meds, and keep her in oxygen and warm while Mandy and I were at work. I didn't want her to be alone. Even with all the treatment, she wasn't improving. Still, she was spunky and strong willed and I wasn't giving up on her. I visited her after work, we took an x-ray and found her chest was full of liquid, a tumor, or a tumor and liquid. She was started on lasix earlier that day and they continued the treatment.
She stayed overnight with the vet and all day with them again.
I got a call yesterday morning saying she still wasn't looking good. The treatment wasn't working like it would have if the mass we saw was fluid. It was probably a tumor.
After a righteously awful shift at work, my boyfriend and I went to go say goodbye and let her go. They brought my darling girl in the room so I could sit with her a bit. She was a bit frantic, gasping, with blue extremities. She scurried around and I wish she hadn't had that moment of fear. Then, she calmed down, lay on my arm and let me pet her. Shortly after the doctor came in, she lay down on her side in my hands and let go. She was with me literally five minutes before she decided to leave. The techs said she was waiting for me. Doc Stueve said it was her way of making the decision to put her to sleep easy on me. She wasn't completely gone, she had a very slow heartbeat, but she was dying. I kissed her goodbye, told her I loved her, and the doctor went and made sure she was gone.
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Bev was a rescue. She was part of Luna's kids that were surrendered to Whipstaff Ranch and Rescue when Stacey had to stop breeding. I still remember looking into the sea of little baby rat faces and having her look up at me and just stop my heart. She was so cute and fluffy. My beautiful girl!
She was a bit jumpy at first and I thought she'd never come around and like me. She actually used to scream when I'd pick her up. Thanks to some help from Lilspaz, we worked through it. She never was snuggly and never got to enjoy being picked up, but she loved to sit on my shoulder, buried in my hair. She sit there and burrow, then groom groom groom and brux brux brux.
If I put my hand near her while she was cleaning, she'd grab it, give me a couple good licks, then shove me away like "there, you're clean! I'm busy here!" She wasn't big on being pet in the cage. She'd back out under your hand most days, but the rare time she'd lie down, tilt her head, and let you rub her cheeks and love on her were special because of it. She loved me in her way and I never tried to push her to be like the other rats. She was Bev.
She was forever in her wheel. She'd sleep in it (on her back! I'll have to post that pic soon), eat in it, and run run run. I used to joke she'd run miles each day humming "Eye of the Tiger" to herself and bide her time to be alpha. When my sweet Mattie passed, she got her chance. She was a bit of a bully (she pestered poor Jonesy to bits) as the boss, but she loved it. My dominant sassypants.
I'm going to miss hearing her trucking away in that wheel. I don't think Mandy will miss waking up at 3 am to pull kibble out of the wheel that tumbled while Bev ran, though.
Bev liked the rattly noise and no amount of arguing could convince her to stop stashing food in her wheel.
I'm going to miss her, my "fuzzy hamster face". She always made me laugh because whenever she looked directly at me, it always looked like she had these poofy cheeks with her bright white unmarked lower face.
Goodbye my beautiful girl.
Flaunt that sparkling clean, perfectly curled tail at the bridge.
Say hi to your sisters for me.
Melissa
