WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

[Hana-chan]

Paint, the male of our pair of darling ratties is dead :cry: he came home monday night, and was neutered tuesday morning. he seemed fine except that he wasnt eating much, but was still pretty chipper, so we took him back to the vet and she gave him some pain meds and fed him a bit of stuff, and he seemed to be doing so much better, at 7 this morning we had him out and he was running about and playing with us as per his usual and seemed to be eating a bit more, but at 8:15 when my little boy went to check on him before school, he was acting strangely,moving very jerkily and acting distressed and then he seemed like he was having convulsions or choking and had blood at his nose, a few seconds later he went limp, we rushed him to the emergency vet, but it was too late. they say he had pulmonary oedema(sp?) but they dont know what happened (seizure,blood clot, choking, numerous possibilities) now i have a little boy who is bawling (paint was his rat) and i'm not too far from it myself cause he's so upset. and i dont know what to do, we were going to bring kuro home next friday after paint had healed from his surgery, but ....now i dont know whether to do it sooner or hold off a bit. and should i see if one of their litter mates would be acceptable to my son for keeping kuro company or just keep her as an only rat? we only brought him home monday, but my son picked him when he was only a week or so old, before he even had his eyes open, and we've been going to play with them a few times a week since then,even the vet remarked on how well socialized he was. he was such a good friendly rat and he was very clean and well taken care of and my son loved Paint a lot and is heartbroken now. *BAWLS* he was just gonna be two months old tomorrow! it's not fair. and even though the vet said we did everything we could and he was well taken care of and it had to have been something that happened very suddenly it doesnt make us FEEL any better

Paint - Gone too Soon
4/01/07 - 5/31/07

[DonnaK]

I'm so sorry for your loss!  It must be harder with having a child involved, and losing him suddenly, too.  RIP Paint.

I don't understand when you say "bring Kuro home"... you don't have the girl, yet, or she is staying somewhere else?

Either way, I would most definitely get another girl if you have a solitary girl.  You'll need to allow 2-3 weeks for quarantine (to ensure the new rat doesn't have anything wrong with it before you put it with your current girl).  Rats really do do better in groups of 2 or more.

[Hana-chan]

we were waiting for paint to heal from his neuter surgery before bringing kuro home from her birth home...i think if we get a second rat we're going to see if one of their female littermates can make friends with my son. we're a bit wary about neutering now....

[kkdepp]

I think you should get a cage mate for Kuro.... that way when they are very playful at night she will have company!

I'm very sorry for your loss :cry:

[DonnaK]

we were waiting for paint to heal from his neuter surgery before bringing kuro home from her birth home...i think if we get a second rat we're going to see if one of their female littermates can make friends with my son. we're a bit wary about neutering now....

Yes, that's understandable.  With Kuro still being at her birth home, it could work out well for you.  If you get both rats at the same time, you won't have to go through quarantine and introductions, which is a huge plus.

[fallinstar]

sorry 4 ur loss

[Holly]

I'm so sorry to hear about little Paint!