Honey is now at the Rainbow Bridge. I lost her today :(
What a horrible Easter. I am so sad right now. I woke up this morning and started getting ready for Easter. I started cleaning the living room, cooking the eggs and doing the dishes. Then I go into the bedroom and say hello to my girls and I noticed that Honey looked ill. I thought she was dead at first. I opened the cage door and took her out. Her abdomen was so swollen, and this happened overnight. She has been fighting a pyometra for awhile now but the vet didn't feel comfortable spaying her yet. She broke her back a couple months ago and it's been an ongoing battle with her ever since. She has been to and from the vet the past couple months and on and off antibiotics.
I had to empty her bladder and her butt but somehow she made it through and started to walk again, and started going to the bathroom on her own. She wasn't 100% but she was doing quite well. Then she developed a pyometra. It was an open pyometra but last night it must have closed because she blew up to the size of a balloon. She was covered in pus and blood this morning and I had to give her a bath. She was still eating and drinking these past few days and was totally normal until I saw her this morning. Last night she seemed fine. She was on Baytril AND Sulfa to try to get the infection under control so she could be spayed, but the soonest appointment available was in MAY!!!! So this whole time I was just hoping the meds would keep it at bay until surgery and it did. She also has been suffering from this hideous wound on the side of her back, and she scratches constantly. So bad it was just a huge scab, then the scab would fall off and it would start all over again. This is the only place on her body she would scratch. The scar tissue there is very evident. Just a week ago I started with Chlorhexyderm scrubs and it started to clear up. I put Aloe on the wound and that seemed to relieve the itching.
I am extremely pissed off and upset that they did not want to spay her. If they would have just spayed her I would still have her with me right now. I cried and cried all day, and then my boyfriend got pissed off at me because I ruined our Easter and had to take Honey to the ER. To top it off my father just ended up in the hospital again last Wednesday and they are thinking of taking off both of his legs tomorrow. Which means there is a chance I won't have my father around. His heart is not good and a leg amputation is very risky. So I have both this and Honey to think about and then someone yelling at me for ruining their day.
I got on the phone and called a friend to come get me and take me to the ER. I knew what had to be done. Emergency surgery wouldn't do anything. It was just too bad too quickly. The doctor said she wouldn't even attempt it. Honey was very dehydrated. I have seen her drinking the past few days but I guess not enough. She was leaving me on the way there. She just bruxed at me and kept giving me kisses. I couldn't stop crying. She is my FAVORITE ratty here, was anyway. She is so special. So we get there and go into the room. They euthanized her while I held her and talked to her. She went very quickly and I eased her pain. I am glad I did but I feel horrible I couldn't have done anything sooner. In fact this next Monday I was going to drive to Portland just to have another vet perform the surgery that could have saved her life.
Honey was an amazing rat. She didn't mind her steroid injections every week, didn't even flinch. She took her meds like a pro, never complaining. She broke her back and worked through that. I have none of her children here. They were all adopted out and I have discontinued this line all together so I am very sad to see her go. I cannot stop crying. I took her body home and burried her at our house in the backyard, that way she will always be with me. She was burried in the garden by the daffadils and I know she would have liked it there. God I miss her so much. This is so horrible. I gave everything for this rat. Everyone said to just kill her when she got hurt, that she was "only a rat". She was so much more than that. She was my best friend. I miss her so much.
