Gone But Not Forgotten - Clementine

Our poor Clemmie. We took her into the vet's on June 18 to have her pts as she was not doing so well. On my usual check a while back, I saw she was growing a hard lump near her "bits" and from what we saw from Nibble, this wasn't a good thing. Also, she was an incessant barberer. Whether this was something she took to before she got her, I am not sure but it sure took hold after we had the injury to her mouth fixed. She seemed very compulsive about her grooming and wasn't happy with the slight deformity to her mouth (the equivalent of having a little bit of bottom lip taken away) after the injury. If a rat could have OCD, that would be our Clemmie.

Because of her OCD grooming, she had sores on her paws and a red mouth. We had tried three different antibiotics in case it was a rash/illness and also had her checked for mites (Ivermectin) twice. None of these took and it seemed that she just fussed herself into her situation.

After the lump was noticed we decided to let her go and keep an eye on her, as we had done with Nibble. Eventually, she became thinner and eventually started to bleed. On the second day, we knew that it was time to let her go. She was still able to eat but it seemed that the cancer had taken over. Because she was palliative, I never did a serious check on her as, with any rat, it was a big major ugly deal to check them over. We do it all the time but because we knew she was sick and didn't want to upset and stress her, we didn't bother. After she was gone, I checked her belly and it had spread pretty much through her belly and groin and there was a small lump on her spine.

Clemmie was a sweet girl. She wasn't overly friendly - as seems to be the case with the group of four ladies that we brought home from the same rescue group - but she was a curious and energetic girl. She did enjoy her cashews. She was the typical girl rat - not interested in staying still and visiting but wanting to run around and investigate. She came with Hilda and didn't seem to bond with the other girls but newcomer Moe seemed to take a shine to her and has been her companion since merging the boys and the girls.

Clemmie's passing feels a little sadder than the others. She was ill and had problems but was still insistent on being a typical girl rat. I honestly don't think there was a time she was with us when she was completely well. Between the mouth injury, barbering issues and the cancer she always had some kind of issue.

I feel like I've failed her somewhat - that there was something I could do about the barbering, about the sores, caught the mouth issue sooner, did something about her cancer but I guess with rats and their short life spans we do the best we could. She had food, companionship, a home and people who loved her.

She will be missed.