womzilla | R.I.P. Hyperion, 2003-2004

We lost another rat last night.

Early this month, we noticed that Hyperion's breathing was a bit noisy. We preemptively put him on Baytril, which is our general treatment for rat respiratory infections.

On Friday,

nellorat noticed that Hyperion's breathing was somewhat more ragged and gaspy. I took him to the vet, who diagnosed him with borderline pneumonia. He received a vibromycin injection and switched to oral zithromax, a treatment which has worked reasonably well for more advanced lung infections in the past.

As of yesterday morning, he was clearly improving--he was active and eagerly taking treats, and his breathing was more regular, with less abdominal involvement. But when I went to give him his antibiotic last night, he'd clearly turned a corner for the worse. His breathing was very labored, his sides heaving with effort; he practically fell down the ladder in his cage; and, most tellingly, he had no interest in yogurt drops. I woke nellorat, who agreed with me that he was in bad shape. His generally high level of activity gave us hope that advanced treatment similar to what we had given Isabella last year would work. So we dressed, put him in the travelling cage, and headed to the Animal Medical Center in Manhattan.

I was literally in the process of signing him in as a new patient when nellorat said, "I think he's dying. He's dying right now." This got the doctor's attention, and about fifteen seconds later, we were in an examination room. Unfortunately, she was right. Hyperion was dead within a couple of minutes. It was relatively fast and, overall, seemed relatively painless. We never did finish checking him in.

The doctor (who we had not met before, and who was very nice) pointed out that his lungs were very stiff, which she attributed to an undiagnosed lung tumor. Our regular doctor, who I called today to bring her the bad news, said that was possible; also, pneumonia can cause severe scarring, and that might be what the other doctor was feeling. Serious lung infections also bring the possibility of clotting and embolisms, so it's quite possible he threw a clot and died of that. (That would explain the terrible speed of his decline between yesterday morning and evening.)

nellorat wrote about him for her "Rat of the Day" series on

ratties some weeks ago. (As she notes, Hyperion played Santa in our Christmas Pageant last December.) I don't have much to add to her profile of him. He was very sweet and cuddlesome, well-tempered and patient, like his father Rufus.

Because the weather has finally improved, we had already scheduled today to bury the rats who had died over the winter. A family grave covered with new flowers now holds Missy, her daughter Sookie, her grandson Hyperion, and Hyperion's adoptive brother Apollo.