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I lost my rescue rat, Gus. I don't know what happened.
The vet said heart attack or clot to the lung because he was lying on his side, opening and closing his mouth. What happened is that I had Ollie out, and our cat was in the room (they've been playing with each other for a year now, supervised, no issues). I was cleaning Gus' part of the cage. He lives in the top of the ferret nation. I left one door open by accident but had brought it to, I didn't leave it wide open. I left the room for 5 minutes. Just as I was returning to the room, I heard 2 or 3 thumps. I came in and saw Gus lying on the floor, his mouth wide open. I quickly covered him and put him in the carrier. He flinched a little bit. I rushed him to the vet and he died on route.
My boyfriend had went to grab Ollie but Ollie was freaked out. He had been eating under the cage and you can't touch him when he's eating or he'll get angry. When I got back from the vet, he was still puffed up and freaked out so I wonder if he knows what happened.
When I got back, I tried to piece together what happened. Sometimes Gus jumps on top of the cage, but the way the door was positioned, it wasn't possible. He has gotten up there before and fallen before I can retrieve him but always on his feet. There was also a box on top of the cage that made it more difficult. He's not a climber so he wouldn't have climbed the door and fell when the door swung open. Maybe the cat tried to get into his cage and he freaked out and jumped... but Maddie was just sitting there, watching the 2 rats when I came in. She has jumped in the cage before with rats in it. She immediately jumps out and dashes away.
I'll never know what happened but I wish I knew whether his death was caused by the fall or something beyond my control. I felt him when we got home. No obvious broken bones, no wounds and no bite marks. I want to know why he was lying there, his mouth moving.
I should have remembered to close the cage because sometimes I forget. I shouldn't have left the room until I made sure everything was okay and I shouldn't have left Ollie and Maddie alone, even though Ollie was doing his thing under the cage and Maddie was more interested in the fact I was leaving than Ollie eating. So much can happen in 5 minutes.
The vet said heart attack or clot to the lung because he was lying on his side, opening and closing his mouth. What happened is that I had Ollie out, and our cat was in the room (they've been playing with each other for a year now, supervised, no issues). I was cleaning Gus' part of the cage. He lives in the top of the ferret nation. I left one door open by accident but had brought it to, I didn't leave it wide open. I left the room for 5 minutes. Just as I was returning to the room, I heard 2 or 3 thumps. I came in and saw Gus lying on the floor, his mouth wide open. I quickly covered him and put him in the carrier. He flinched a little bit. I rushed him to the vet and he died on route.
My boyfriend had went to grab Ollie but Ollie was freaked out. He had been eating under the cage and you can't touch him when he's eating or he'll get angry. When I got back from the vet, he was still puffed up and freaked out so I wonder if he knows what happened.
When I got back, I tried to piece together what happened. Sometimes Gus jumps on top of the cage, but the way the door was positioned, it wasn't possible. He has gotten up there before and fallen before I can retrieve him but always on his feet. There was also a box on top of the cage that made it more difficult. He's not a climber so he wouldn't have climbed the door and fell when the door swung open. Maybe the cat tried to get into his cage and he freaked out and jumped... but Maddie was just sitting there, watching the 2 rats when I came in. She has jumped in the cage before with rats in it. She immediately jumps out and dashes away.
I'll never know what happened but I wish I knew whether his death was caused by the fall or something beyond my control. I felt him when we got home. No obvious broken bones, no wounds and no bite marks. I want to know why he was lying there, his mouth moving.
I should have remembered to close the cage because sometimes I forget. I shouldn't have left the room until I made sure everything was okay and I shouldn't have left Ollie and Maddie alone, even though Ollie was doing his thing under the cage and Maddie was more interested in the fact I was leaving than Ollie eating. So much can happen in 5 minutes.
