After all his breathing problems he's had over the last week and treating him the poor guy was suffering so much and making no noticable recovery that we took the heartbreaking decision to let him go.

After studying how vets euthanise ratties we couldn't just let the vet inject him straight away so asked her to anaethetise him first so he wouldn't feel it.

The night before we held him and stroked him and gave him his favourite food (prawn crackers) and tried to give him the best night we could and on Saturday morning took him to the vets.

I won't go into all the details but the vets were very good and accomodating, although they did, at first, say they were too busy to anaethetise, but at our insistance they did.

It was a very painful decision to make and my other half doesn't want to get another rat as it is too hard to let them go. In the meantime we still have Tuppe who is going to get all of our attention and love.

Rest in peace Cornelius, the best rattie in the world.

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/3933/dsc01391hp6.th.jpg (http://img266.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc01391hp6.jpg)

Also if anyone else is in the same situation and has a single rat have you got any tips.

I'm really sorry for your loss. :(

Please keep an eye on Tuppe. It's likely he's going to get very lonesome.. have you thought about rescuing another rat to keep Tuppe company? You don't have to get a baby.

i'm so sorry for your loss :(