# My Loki is Gone :(



## JessyGene (Feb 27, 2012)

View attachment 4541
(Loki as a baby)

 My rat Loki died one week ago from pneumonia. I was too sad to even think about it before, but now I think I'll feel better if I write about it. She was only a year and 8 months, and she was so sweet. We tried several medications for her, but none of them seemed to work and she got so skinny. I finally decided to stop forcing her to take the medicine (it wasn't working, we tried it for a long time and she was only getting worse and worse) and to euthanize her. For 4 days after we stopped the medicine she seemed really good. She was using her litter box and getting up to eat out of the food dish, and every time I opened the cage door she would peek out of her hammock, with her ears all perked up. How could I put her to sleep when she had such life left in her eyes? So I kept waiting to put her down. Then late in the afternoon of the 5th day after we stopped her meds she didn't seem well at all. I held her for a couple hours, unsure if it would pass or not (she had had similar episodes that passed before). Then she died in my hands. It was heartbreaking but I was extremely grateful that I was home that day and able to be with her as she passed. 
I feel guilty that I should have put her to sleep earlier, but she seemed so good those last few days, I didn't want to rob her of any last good days. At least she didn't have to go through the stress of being taken to the vet. Her death was very calm, with both me and my boyfriends petting her as she died. 

The day she died was feb. 20th which is "Love Your Pet Day." I was planning on baking banana bread for her and Koko, but she never got to have any. I guess it was Lose Your Pet Day for me instead. I still made the banana bread for Koko, but it was the saddest baking I've ever done. 

Another awful thing is that there is still snow where I live so I can't bury her yet. She is wrapped up in pink fleece and tucked into a nice box...but in my freezer. I absolutely hate the thought of that. I haven't been able to open the freezer since. It could be several weeks before we can bury her, and I don't think I'll be able to start to move on until then. 

I'm also very sad for Koko. The day after her sister died, she ran around the whole cage, even in the places she doesn't often go. It really seemed like she was looking for Loki. I've been giving Koko a lot of attention and she seems to be quite happy, but I am still going to look into getting her a new friend. 

Goodbye Loki, I miss you so much


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## CShadz6661 (Feb 12, 2012)

That is so terrible... My best friends like to leave me during the winter too, and I live in Michigan where there are two seasons, Construction and Cold. I was lucky enough to have three freezers, but it was still so sad to go in the garage and know some of my best friends are in there... It was even worse though, because I couldn't bury them before we moved. I ended up saving my two favorite rats ever and taking them with me to the new house, but my mom's ex boyfriend took the rest of them and the freezer away before I could bury them properly. I still feel terrible about that. 

I always put a lot of thought into burial. Abi and Lily were best friends, so I put them together in the same box. And Lily was very odd, she always loved bath time, so I put them in a box and let them drift out in the lake viking style. And when Adella passed away, I buried her outside, just in some paper towel. She loved the out doors and playing in the flowers, so I bought a pink lily and planted it right on top of her, so when she started to decompose, she would become part of the flower. That flower went from an ugly bud to a fully bloomed lily practically over night and it was the most beautiful lily I had ever seen. 

Sure, you can't bury Loki yet, but think about how she would want to be buried. Did she have a favorite toy you can bury her with? Write her a poem. Do something special. That always made me feel better.


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## 1a1a (May 6, 2011)

Very sad, I've lost a few to pneumonia, it can be nasty nasty, sounds like your girl didn't suffer too much at all. RIP Loki.


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## Arashi (Feb 4, 2012)

I'm sorry to hear that, and I know how you feel. I've also lost a pet very close to me once.

I once found a baby bird that fell from its nest. I kept it and fed it by hand every day. It followed me everywhere, and was always on my shoulder. It saw me as a parent, and I took care of it like my own. I felt that it would be happier if it was free, but I was told that it would not survive in the wild since it had been cared for by humans. One day it got sick and passed away without warning. I lost my friend, and felt guilty and sad. I loved that bird.

But I think the important thing is that we continue to learn so we can take better care of lives that depend on us in the future. We should look at the bright side of things and move on to a better future. Your rats are lucky to have a great owner


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## JessyGene (Feb 27, 2012)

Thanks for your kind words everyone


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