# To My Sweet Lily, R.I.P. Young One



## KennaBoo (Sep 22, 2015)

Yesterday was an extremely emotional and depressing day, to say the least. It was exactly the 2 week mark of me adopting my two amazing fancy rat girls. 

I woke up yesterday morning, and was getting their breakfast ready. When I went to say good morning to my sweethearts and give them their food, Lily was laying motionless at the bottom of their cage. I immediately got a bad stomach drop feeling and felt nauseous at the site of that. I called her name a few times, she didn't move or open her eyes. I hurried out to the hallway and told my boyfriend I thought my poor Lily was dead, I ran back inside the room and opened up the cage door. Her sister Luna ran to the back of the cage (which is very unusual of her, usually she'd be trying to escape through the open door already to explore), she had a sad and fearful look on her face, as she cowered in the corner.

I picked Lily up, and felt my finger go into a what felt like a dent on the other side of her body. I turned her body over with an even sicker feeling in my stomach. The other side of her body was torn open, and eaten clean out. Her sister ate her dead body.. At this point I was already crying my eyes out, and when I realized this had happened to my baby to I was absolutely hysterical. I couldn't stop crying and I just held her in my hands, shocked. 

My boyfriend was next to me and when he saw what happened to Lily he was very upset as well and took her away from me to wrap her up. Not too long after this horrid discovery we went out back to the huge open field behind my back yard and buried her under a beautiful tree. We set up two pieces of wood as a sort of gravestone, and placed flowers from my garden along her site. It was really quite beautiful, and fitting for such an amazing friend, but still absolutely devastating. 
I cried throughout the whole day. 

The night before she passed I had constructed a play pen out of cardboard so the girls and I could play and bond. I sat in there with them for hours. Both of them were running around, exploring, jumping, eating treats, and just having fun. At one point Lily seemed a bit tired and cuddled up next to me. I held her for a long time and petted her. Telling her how much I loved her and her sister. After a while I started getting tired myself, and put them back in their cage. Luna started running around and chewing on her toys and Lily started running on their exercise wheel as usual (it was her favorite thing), and I went to bed, completely unaware of what the morning had to bring.

Although her life was short lived, passing away at only 4 or 5 months old, and only 2 weeks after I adopted them, I felt like I tried really hard to make them both happy. The last few hours I spent with her were so amazing, and Luna and I miss her so much (I'm crying again, as I write this). She will be forever missed, and forever remembered. Her and Luna were my first rats ever, and Lily was spectacular.

Luna has a vet appointment tomorrow to make sure she's healthy, and to determine if Lily had an diseases or illnesses so that we can make sure Luna isn't carrying any of them (or get her medicine, if she is), since she ate her.. I hope the vet visit goes well tomorrow and she's safe.

As for Lily, she's in a better place now. Running on exercise wheels like she loved so incredibly much, and eating all the treats and yummies that Heaven has to offer, over the Rainbow Bridge. Mommy & Sissy miss you dearly! Rest in Peace my Love :rainbow::rat:


----------



## Mojojuju (Nov 15, 2014)

Oh, I know that feeling so well, having just experienced it myself this week with my own sweet little girl. You described it perfectly, the nauseated downward stomach spiral.

Remember your day at play together. That is who she was to you, and you to her.

I'm so sorry for your loss.


----------



## KennaBoo (Sep 22, 2015)

Thank you, I appreciate your condolences. It really means a lot to me! At this point I'm still devastated, and I can tell her poor sister is to.. 

I'm very sorry for your loss as well, it's definitely an extremely tough thing to go through and to get past, for both us and their siblings. But the pictures you posted of her were great. She looked very happy with the wonderful life you gave her.


----------



## gin (Sep 11, 2015)

I'm so sorry for your loss  That's a terrible thing to find, I've experienced it previously with some of my hamsters. Not something I'll really forget, I hope Luna is fine and she didn't pick up any sickness from her sister. May Lily RIP


----------



## KennaBoo (Sep 22, 2015)

Thank you, I appreciate it a lot! It really is a sad and gruesome sight, but that's life I suppose.. I'm sorry about your hamsters, by the way! &thank you very much for wishing Luna good health! I hope she's perfectly healthy and okay as well. Fingers crossed!!


----------



## gin (Sep 11, 2015)

It's okay, I was really young when it happened I just remember it really vividly so I understand the horror of discovering something like that. You're very welcome, I'll keep my fingers crossed for her too


----------



## Mojojuju (Nov 15, 2014)

In some parts of Papua New Guinea, relatives consume parts of the bodies of deceased loved ones as a way of taking their wisdom and spirits into their own selves. When viewed in this lens, it is not really a horrifying practice. Rats are obviously just creatures of instinct, and their instincts tell them that they need to remove possibly dangerous scents of prey from their home. But I like to think, based just on my own feelings, really, that it is something that they would do for each other to keep their families safe. In that way, it isn't horrifying, the way we humans tend to view cannabalism--it is a pact. You consume my remains that your family may live, and I would do the same for you. I would have it no other way.

*hugs*

I hope I didn't make you feel worse with that, but that is the context I give that situation. And for me, at least, it lessens the feelings of shock at what appears to be a scary scene on first impression.


----------



## KennaBoo (Sep 22, 2015)

That's a really good way of thinking about it actually, when you see it like that it doesn't seem so bizarre. I know some animals will eat each other (sometimes dead or alive), but seeing something you loved so much like that was devastating. It was probably what Lily would have done to if it was the other way around though, and in the sense of protecting others it does make me feel better. Thank you for putting that thought in my perspective, I appreciate it


----------



## MousE190 (Oct 7, 2014)

Please; do not think that Luna may have eaten Lily,, Lily may have had an abcess that took her,( the abcess just explodes from inside, and is hard to detect) that would cause an open wound,( my vet says it can happen very quickly) it happened with 1 of my 3 boys, luckily I spotted it , he is on his road to recovery, it looked real nasty,,I thought he got bit,, was not the cause, rats lives are speeded up to almost 3 times a human is, so as my vet told me, with rats things, medical/health wise can go very , very quick,,,with recent health scare I now take a moment each day an just run my fingers and hands over them, flip them over , looking and checking them out, take care, you gave Lily a home and love,


----------



## KennaBoo (Sep 22, 2015)

Are the accesses painful for them before they burst? I never thought of that before, I hope she wasn't in pain or anything during her final hours.. I'm glad you got your boy the help he needed though in time, that's always good to hear!  Thank you though for your condolences, it means a lot to me. I miss her so incredibly much.. I just hope she was happy


----------



## raqathta (Sep 16, 2015)

I'm so sorry for your shock and loss. It's not expected for such a young one, and especially hurtful because they are your first ratties. Get another little companion for Luna while she's still young, and keep your memories of sweet little Lily. You had a great time with her and she with you!
Johanna


----------



## KennaBoo (Sep 22, 2015)

Thank you very much! I appreciate your condolences immensely!  I'm in the process of finding a new friend or two for my Luna so she has company while I'm gone or asleep, but boy is it HARD to find female rats up for adoption in my area! All I can find is males who aren't neutered, I've called many vets in my area to for cost estimates on neutering so I could just adopt a boy or two and get them altered, but they're all about $300 per male neuter.. I'm really stuck at this point


----------



## MousE190 (Oct 7, 2014)

I still miss, my "Mouse", even after 5 months, you gave her a great home, love and companionship, to help. as to the abscess, Helix, (had the abscess) he was curled up sleeping next to Garrus, did not seem to be in any pain or distress, the other side he was not pleased to have the vet give him a check and clean the wound area, he nipped one of the staff, been 1 month now, wound has healed, and he is back with his 2 cage mates. give your self some time,,and get a cage mate for Luna, and for you,,that is what I did after I lost Mouse,, he now has Garrus and Mulder, they are re-homed little fur balls. best wishes.


----------



## KennaBoo (Sep 22, 2015)

Oops, regarding my response comment to you, I meant to spell abscess, not access! Lol.

Thank you though for the kind words & great wishes  I really hope she wasn't in pain, and I'm gonna say she probably wasn't since she acted completely fine, and the thought of her hurting makes me even sadder over the situation.. It's been a few weeks now but it still feels like I lost her just a few days ago. 

I'm in the process now of trying to find Luna and I a new family member (she's very lonely without her sister here anymore, I can tell she wants the companionship of another rat again). I actually found 3 female rats up for adoption a few towns over (they're literally the only females I could find in my state that aren't half a days worth of driving just to get to the place, that's not even counting the drive back home!), so I don't know if I'll adopt 1 of them or 2 of them, but then the 3rd one will be left all alone! So I'll either come home with 1 or 3 ratties. I'm just wondering if 4 ratties will be a TON more work over only 2 ratties. 

Do you by chance have an opinion on that? I'm a first time rat owner so I've never had more than two rats, and Lily died pretty fast after I adopted her, so I've basically only ever had one rat before, besides the 2 weeks Lily lived for..

Thankfully Helix is okay though and you got it taken care of! I'm glad to hear you didn't lose him to that and he's still happy & healthy


----------

