Recently, as most are already aware of, one of my rats, sadly passed away in late march. She was really skittish, but still friendly. We actually didn’t plan on having her, but our other rat (mochi) was sick and our breeder had to take her back to treat her, because our other rats were picking on her as well :,) We still wanted four rats, and at the time we had only had them a week, so our breeder recommended a different rat to us, one that would be stronger. And that rat was plushie, and she fit in really well B) She was adorable and very smart, she didn’t care as much for humans as the others, but we loved her. In recent months, shortly after she turned a year old, she had become sick, with a disease called megacolon. It is genetic, and impossible to predict. It also has no cure, and usually must be put down. This disease is most common in rats with specific markings; in plushies case, a marking called “split capped.” Rats affected are not able to process solid foods, which causes blockages. The only way to treat them, is by not giving them any solid food, and hope they can pass the blockage. We started feeding her soft foods, giving her medications to help pass the blockage and boost her immune system, but unfortunately, within a few days, she was showing signs of death, and passed away a day or two later, while we held her. Rest in peace plushie
TW: heavy mention of animal death click for some pictures of her <3 she was the only rat to ever figure out how to use our simple foraging toy- maybe she was just averagely smart /j The reason the first picture says the baby on it, is because that was her nickname HAHA- we called her “the baby” because she was the youngest and was very small, and even after we named her plushie, we still called her the baby more
