Mourning a dead friend

109 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by RatPappy, 5 d ago

OllieNotOlive

Discussion Starter · 6 d ago

I'm a first time rat owner and have only had my rats for about a week. I bought three baby girls from a trusted local breeder, Angelica, Eliza and Peggy. I had them all picked out and named before I got them, and unfortunately, the original Peggy died before I got her, but the breeder allowed me to pick out another baby who I have now.

I noticed two nights ago I noticed Angie was a bit lethargic and wobbly. I contacted the breeder who said it was probably an ear infection, and asked my mom to set up a vet appointment (I'm a minor), we had a vet appointment for today.

To my absolute horror, Angie was dead yesterday around noon, she went downhill so quickly and I feel horribly guilty. I'm still debating taking Eliza and Peggy back to the breeder but I think I'm gonna make it work as I'm already attached.

!!! This part is kind of graphic description but nothing too bad. !!!

When I found Angie, her sisters had eaten the majority of her face, so I'm sure they saw her. Peggy is eating normally, while Eliza has been fairly reclusive and not eating anything other than her beloved nanners and meal worms.

I haven't seen Eliza drink but she's gotten moisture from her nanners. I'm still taking Peggy and Liza (and poor Angie's body) to the vet later today to make sure nothing was contagious and get some answers. I guess I'm just kind of trying to decide what to do and how to help my babies through their grief as well as mine. It's been a horrible roller coaster and such a traumatic learning experience, I don't even know if I feel responsible enough to keep them anymore. I genuinely thought Angie's skull was an apple or something it was so horrible.

I'm so sorry for the negative post I'm just so confused.

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Andytheratqueen

· #2 · 6 d ago

Im not incredibly educated in this subject but I just want to let you know you did everything correctly and what happened to your baby is not your fault. With the rats doing what they did to her I can think of two things, sometimes animals under extreme stress will eat things they shouldn‘t, like dogs or cats when their owner passes. It doesn’t take very long, sometimes within a day they will start eating them. It could also be the rats grieving process. Sometimes when cage mates die it is important to Leave the body with the rats and monitor them. Typically when a rat passes rats will do all sorts of things to the body to process they aren’t alive anymore. For example when one of my rats passed away my other rat started stomping on his brothers body and biting at it like crazy.
Im very sorry you have had such a traumatic experience so early on.

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ratbusters

· #3 · 6 d ago

Hi and welcome to the forum.
That is quite a difficult experience to go through as a first time rat owner.
I just wanted to reassure you that many people here on the forum have posted about this experience - a beloved rat dies and a cagemate has unfortunately eaten part of the body. It does seem to be a common thing that rats do, possibly an instinct to "hide the evidence" in the wild to avoid predators.
I wouldn't hold onto the idea that you did something wrong to cause your rat's death, especially since her sister passed mysteriously as well, and she wasn't even in your care.
All the best with finding answers at the vet, and may you go on to have a wonderful experience with rats in the future.💕

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OllieNotOlive

Discussion Starter · #4 · 5 d ago

Andytheratqueen said:
Im not incredibly educated in this subject but I just want to let you know you did everything correctly and what happened to your baby is not your fault. With the rats doing what they did to her I can think of two things, sometimes animals under extreme stress will eat things they shouldn‘t, like dogs or cats when their owner passes. It doesn’t take very long, sometimes within a day they will start eating them. It could also be the rats grieving process. Sometimes when cage mates die it is important to Leave the body with the rats and monitor them. Typically when a rat passes rats will do all sorts of things to the body to process they aren’t alive anymore. For example when one of my rats passed away my other rat started stomping on his brothers body and biting at it like crazy.
Im very sorry you have had such a traumatic experience so early on.

Thank you, the vet said Eliza and Pegs should be okay, so I'm just monitoring them a bit extra. He looked at the body and said she probably wouldn't have made it either war and she just wasn't cut out for life (kind of confused on that).
<3

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OllieNotOlive

Discussion Starter · #5 · 5 d ago

ratbusters said:
Hi and welcome to the forum.
That is quite a difficult experience to go through as a first time rat owner.
I just wanted to reassure you that many people here on the forum have posted about this experience - a beloved rat dies and a cagemate has unfortunately eaten part of the body. It does seem to be a common thing that rats do, possibly an instinct to "hide the evidence" in the wild to avoid predators.
I wouldn't hold onto the idea that you did something wrong to cause your rat's death, especially since her sister passed mysteriously as well, and she wasn't even in your care.
All the best with finding answers at the vet, and may you go on to have a wonderful experience with rats in the future.💕

Thank you, the other two are fine and the vet isn't too sure what happened to Angie. I feel a lot better now that I know my survivors are okay.

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RatPappy

· #6 · 5 d ago

I am agonizingly sorry for you. Some Rats do this sort of thing with dead comrades, although I'm happy to say none of my boyos had the habit. I wish this hadn't happened at the beginning of your journey on the Way of the Rat, it must be horrible. Please believe me when I say life is much better with Rats than without, and while there is joy and sorrow there are hundreds of happy days for each sad one. Again, sending you comfort and consolation. It gets much, much better.💖🐀✨

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