@abraxas 26 October 2022

It's been a difficult few days for me. My old rat Sus got really sick Sunday night - at first I thought it was just him and his buds scrapping but when I went to check, I saw that the other two weren't near him and he looked lost and distraught in his cage. I'm 90% sure he had a pituitary tumour which caused a seizure. He went from being a tough and tumbly rat who hated affection to being lost, lonely, and a total suck-up. His decline was slow, and a bit of a rollercoaster. He kinda got worse in waves, with occasional signs of improvement in between. I knew we were close to the end, though. He was quickly unable to eat and drink on his own, so me and my partner had to take turns feeding him and hydrating him with a syringe. He still showed signs of happiness throughout so I didn't want to put him down. Despite being basically unable to move, he was still enjoying the affection and frequently bruxing and boggling (a thing rats do when they're happy). He started getting congested, so we had to aspirate his nose with another syringe. We started giving him small doses of Kids' Tylenol syrup to ease his pain, and we made a small bed for him out of a shoebox and some blankets. We kept it warm with a heating pad. I spent Sunday night with him until like 5am and had to call in sick for my work shift on Monday, but I had no idea how much longer he was gonna last. I cuddled with him Monday night until 2am or so and put him in his bed. By about 6PM last night, he was pretty much just a blob, but he was still somewhat living and still enjoying what he could. He was still bruxing when I pet him and still seemed to be appreciating company. He perked up a bit when I got home from work and he heard my voice. I had him on me pretty much since I got home, but had to put him in his bed for a bit while I took care of some things around the house. I kept him near me the whole time, though. By about 12:30 I took him back in my arm and said we could hang out until 2am, but then I'd have to put him to bed and go to bed myself, but I'd see him the next morning. By about 1:30 I could tell he was getting ready to go. His lips were turning blue and his breaths were getting shallow. He took his last breath and went at about 1:59-2:00 right on the dot. I had bonded so much with him in those three days. It was so hard to see him go. Sus and his brother, Link, were some of the sweetest, coolest rats we've ever had. Somebody had abandoned them in a field and my partner saved them. Her friend had messaged her and said she saw them and wondered if they were former pets, which they were. Pet rats are a different breed than wild rats, so generally you can tell just by looking at them. Link was always really playful and an attention seeker - he loved people and being held. Sus was more the opposite - he was very suspicious and cautious of everything (hence the name lol). He hated being held, but once you had him he loved being pet for short periods of time. Link passed away in July, he'd had a few rounds with a respiratory illness - recovered the first time, but when it hit him the second time the medicine wasn't helping much.