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Our six month old hooded rat, Peter, died suddenly yesterday, sometime in the early morning. His two cagemates are perfectly healthy (they visited the vet today for a confirmation), and prior to his death he was showing no symptoms. He had been out playing happily on our bed (where he usually plays), and could not have been exposed to any toxins. We were absolutely devastated to find him on his back when we woke up in the morning.
We did not have a necropsy performed because we were too distressed at the time to imagine his poor little body all dismantled (irrational, I know), but we also didn't suspect any infection. The vet suggested complications from mycoplasmosis as the cause of death, but Peter had never showed any signs of respiratory infection, and I just can't believe that a totally latent disease could kill a relatively healthy young rat.
Initially, we suspected that Peter may have had a congenital heart defect, and simply had a heart attack during the night. We noted that he was always smaller than the cagemate his age, and about the size of the cagemate two months younger. His coat had also remained soft and fluffy like a young rat's. He had a small hump in his spine, a hard little lump at the base of the tail, and one of his eyes protruded farther than the other.
Could this have been a pituatary tumor which didn't clearly effect motor-function, but caused hormonal disruption and sudden death?
If anything similar has happened to any of you, do you have any answers? Anything helps! Thank you!
We did not have a necropsy performed because we were too distressed at the time to imagine his poor little body all dismantled (irrational, I know), but we also didn't suspect any infection. The vet suggested complications from mycoplasmosis as the cause of death, but Peter had never showed any signs of respiratory infection, and I just can't believe that a totally latent disease could kill a relatively healthy young rat.
Initially, we suspected that Peter may have had a congenital heart defect, and simply had a heart attack during the night. We noted that he was always smaller than the cagemate his age, and about the size of the cagemate two months younger. His coat had also remained soft and fluffy like a young rat's. He had a small hump in his spine, a hard little lump at the base of the tail, and one of his eyes protruded farther than the other.
Could this have been a pituatary tumor which didn't clearly effect motor-function, but caused hormonal disruption and sudden death?
If anything similar has happened to any of you, do you have any answers? Anything helps! Thank you!