Ratablog

Deaths in the Family

Neither Calle nor Schwartz made it to their 30th monthday. They were brother and sister, born on 20 September 2002. Calle died Saturday past in his sleep, and Schwartz was PTS today, just a few hours ago.

Calle had been slowing down (no doubt because of hind leg paralysis) and getting even fatter (or so it seemed), but his appetite was still good and he seemed to be aware of his surroundings. I found him Saturday afternoon, in the little house in the cage, seemingly awake, but not moving. He looked as if he had laid down to rest and just slipped away. His eyes were open and he was still warm when I found him.

Schwartz had been losing weight for several weeks along with use of her rear legs. We noticed blood in her private area; unlike Olie, this was coming from either her urethra or her vagina, and it was pretty irregular. Also, she wasn't eating solid food. We would give her yogurt, egg, cereal soaked in soymilk, and other soft foods regularly. Abita also noticed when she was out of the cage she would get very agitated.

This morning, I noticed her private parts were bloody again, and there was also blood spotting in the bedding in the cage she shared with Leather, Oliver, and (until recently), Calle. Abita and I talked about it, and we made the decision to take her to Dr. G for her final nap.

Leather and squishy boy Calle at Leather's 30th monthday party.

Schwartz enjoying a grape during Leather's 30th monthday party.

How Schwartz (way in the back) spent most of her last day--cuddled with Leather and Oliver.

Our last picture of Schwartzy.

UPDATE: I found these two old pictures of Calle:

Our first picture of Calle. We hadn't even adopted him by this time...and how did this cute little baby turn into a 1300+ gram squish?

Oh. He *ate* his way to 1300 grams!

Posted by Publius at March 14, 2005 08:08 PM