# Pet rat died but cant find out why



## Madmax1973 (Nov 4, 2012)

Hi, This is my first post so please excuse me if its in the wrong place.

MY daughters 2yr old pet rat Nibbles died at the weekend but i cannot find out what happened. He has been ill on and off for some time (since getting a second rat from a pet shop that was constantly sneezing after a few days of getting him, we now believe he was the cause of initial infection) with a respiratory illness. he had been on antibiotics for the past month. Its only reading this forum that i realised he should have got better in a matter of days & not weeks if his meds were working  his illness was almost brushed away with "scarring of the lungs" from previous infections. .. His breathing has been really bad for the last 8 weeks but you think "the vet knows best" . He was due to go back to the vet today for a follow up 2 week appointment but he never made it. 

he ended up becoming very lethargic and didnt want any food (about 2-3 days before he passed away) She was still giving him his meds with water too. She went out for a few hours and when she came home he was dead in the bottom of the cage led on his front almost in his resting position as he does. Obviously she was devastated as he was her No 1 baby. The problem we have is, when i got him out it was like his heart had burst out from his chest. It was awful. His front feet were covered in blood & a bit on his nose but not coming from the mouth. There was blood round the cage like he had really suffered. The other rat was still in the cage with him but it didnt look as if he had been attacked or anything as there was no other signs of injury or blood on his fur (other than his front paws & chest area) 

Please, has anyone heard of this ? I cant find anything on the internet to remotely suggest what happened ?


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## JessyGene (Feb 27, 2012)

I'm very sorry for you and your daughter's loss  It is so hard to lose a rat, especially like that. It sounds a bit like how one of my rats died. She also had a really bad respiratory infection (probably pneumonia) with scarred lungs and one day she started heaving and had blood coming out her nose and died quickly in my hands. It sounds like your daughter's rat's lungs finally gave out, at least that's my guess. Maybe someone with more knowledgeable on here can give you more insight. 
I'm very, very sorry you all had to go through this.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

I have seen that type of blood bath when a PT (pituitary tumor) burst in one of my girls' head...there was blood everywhere. Did your boy just seem sick and died from pneumonia, or did he get very immobile and push his foreelgs stiffly in front of him and have a hunched posture.


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## Madmax1973 (Nov 4, 2012)

Thanks, it was awful. His front paws were stretched out led on his front like he was just chilling. There was no sign of hunching. I realise the blood had come from him moving around the cage as there was blood paw marks. The bedding he was lead on had quite a lot. The blood around the nose area was clearly because his paws had touched his nose/fir, not because it had came from his nose or mouth. He had absolutely no blood or injury anywhere else on his body.

If he did die from pneumonia, how did his heart end up outside his body ? (I looked up the anatomy of a rat & thats what it looked like) His skin did not look like it had been torn apart by the other rat in the cage.

BTW... I noticed his stomach was swollen ?


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

So you are saying, his actual heart had burst through his rib cage?


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## Madmax1973 (Nov 4, 2012)

Thats exactly what it looked like..


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Madmax1973 said:


> Thats exactly what it looked like..


There is no physical way that can happen, so we will have to look at your other rat to have done a ratty burial (instinctual clean up of dead) BUT they never start in the middle of the body, and wouldn't chew through the rib cage...I think you have a conundrum here.


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## Madmax1973 (Nov 4, 2012)

Thank you, this has opened up more questions then answers  The other rat is mostly white, if he had been anywhere near him then he would have had staining to his fir I should imagine? I've spent hours & hours looking for answers to this. I take it he couldn't have done this to himself..being in pain or anything? There was nothing visible to suggest this could have happened on anything in the cage. 

I guess we will never know..


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## Rinzy (Aug 29, 2012)

lilspaz68 said:


> There is no physical way that can happen, so we will have to look at your other rat to have done a ratty burial (instinctual clean up of dead) BUT they never start in the middle of the body, and wouldn't chew through the rib cage...I think you have a conundrum here.


With my last pair of rats I had - when the first one died - the other ate her whole chest area and it looked like she had exploded - I wouldn't rule out ratty burial just because of the location. 


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App


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## Rinzy (Aug 29, 2012)

Madmax1973 said:


> Thank you, this has opened up more questions then answers ...The other rat is mostly white, if he had been anywhere near him then he would have had staining to his fir I should imagine? I've spent hours & hours looking for answers to this. I take it he couldn't have done this to himself..being in pain or anything? There was nothing visible to suggest this could have happened on anything in the cage.
> 
> I guess we will never know..


My other rat had no trace of blood on her either - they clean themselves up good. 


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App


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## Madmax1973 (Nov 4, 2012)

Thank you, this is at least a possible answer..


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## 1a1a (May 6, 2011)

Also going with the ratty burial theory. Just chiming in to say sorry for your loss and don't beat yourself up (especially over whether or not he got enough vet treatment - at some point we simply Have to trust the vets or go insane second guessing everything).

Also food for thought, I had a very old rat who always sounded bad (scarred lungs). The day I had her pts her body had gone cold, like she couldn't generate body heat anymore. I had her necropsied and the vet found she had liver cancer. My point being outwardly she just appeared to have a respiratory infection but inwardly there was actually a lot more wrong with her, weakening her immune system and causing her to lose her fight.


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