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Wednesday Chats: Pet Loss, Feral Cats, Cat Health, Multi-Pet, and more!

Posted by brenna on April 09, 2003 at 11:04:06:

Hi everyone. I've never posted here before...I've been to the rat forum frequently, though. I have a rat who has been battling pneumonia and lung damage since December. She's been strong and we've been making it through, with two rounds of antibiotics, me feeding her babyfood three times a day and her getting lots of love and lots of rest. Lately, she's been having more frequent and prolongued "panic" attacks (which I assume is because of her breathing). She's been running around and throwing herself onto things, trying to get to the highest point (ie my head, on top of a box, whatever). She HATES being in her cage now and spends all day on my desk, and last night I tried leaving her on my desk for the night but in the morning she had another attack and threw herself onto a box, knocked it over, and ended up on the floor. So I'll have to put her in her cage at night. She's eating a bit less because she's so keyed up, and I don't know what to do about her anymore. She obviously still has strength but she also has a lot of fear, and I'm wondering if it's time now to have her euthanised. Her lung damage is clearly permanent so I'm not going to go through yet another round of antibiotics, and I've just been trying to give her a few more months of reasonably good life before she dies. She still has some happiness now, it seems, but she's getting more and more scared and it's really upsetting me to watch her panic and sometimes not even be able to comfort her with pats.

Also, I will be going home from school for the summer in a couple of weeks and I will be working all day five days a week, and thus will have far less time to spend with her (I spend a huge chunk of my day with her now because I can afford the time). She'd also have to be in her cage a lot more because my parents won't allow her to be free, especially since she's now hurtling herself off of the desk. I don't want her to suffer alone in her cage for the last part of her life.

Soooo....

I'm thinking of bringing her in next Tuesday to get her put down. :( This thought kills me, but so does the thought of her suffering. Is it right to do this before she completely deteriorates into nothing? To let her go while she still has a bit of happiness?

Please, please, help me with this tough decision because I need all the help I can get.

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