After 2.5 months, multiple vet visits and various antibiotics, renting an O2 bottle/setting up an oxygen tank, A/D food, echinacea.........Scabbers died this morning. We owned him just over 2 years (which made him about 2.5 or so).

Baytril didn't work, the doxycycline worked, while he was on it for awhile. Then after ending the treatments, he got bad, belly breathing again, so the vet had him on doxy and prednisone. That was good, until the end of THAT treatment. Scabbers' latest visit, Dr. F had me start the doxy/pred in the Nutri-Cal again with O2 as needed, but yesterday he had a really rough time of it. He'd been losing weight the last three months, from 600g to 484g.

I had him in the O2 tank, but it wasn't helping this time. He started jumping up and climbing and it turned into staggering convulsions. When I picked him up to hold him, he gasped a couple times and died.

Since Stewie is having breathing problems too, and is being treated (fairly) similarly < Dr. thought it might be asthma/allergies > I went ahead and took Scabbers to OSU's vet diagnotic lab for a necropsy. Got the call this afternoon........Scabbers had an abcess in the chest cavity compressing his lungs and heart. I was afraid I had asphyxiated him on too much oxygen, but Dr. Heidilin(sp) said the abcess was 2" across & was just too much for Scabbers Rat. Dr H will try to get a bacteria swabbing for culture, to see what sort of drugs might have worked.... and for Stewie maybe. Dr F, my vet will be getting a copy of the report, and I'll discuss the possibility of x-rays on Stewie for the same thing (especially since Stewie is Scabbers' son----Stewie is "Scabbers Two"). Stewie and Scabbers were quarantined together, since they were "suffering" the same breathing issues.

Robin is w/her dad, and I've called to let her know of S's passing, and she wants to say good-bye w/a funeral, but with the necrosy, she wouldn't be able to SEE him. I've told Dr. H to keep Scabbers for training, but I may just bring him home and inter him in the back yard before Robin gets home. I don't know. I have to decide by biz hours at 8 a.m.

All I know is, I've been bawling like a baby off and on all day long and feel like crap here at work.

Part of having pets, I know, but I HATE IT when they die this way....he was a loved pet and it hurts my heart that he died in such a stressful/painful way. The first treatments, he improved, but then he declined again, until yesterday morning.

I don't want to be second-guessing Dr F. but I'm wondering if there wasn't something MORE to be done. I don't have a warm fuzzy feeling about the treatment applied here but I'm not sure if it's b/c of his dying or b/c of it being a abcess that wasn't detected. I'm not made of money, but when asked, Dr. didn't feel x-rays were indicated.

D*** I HATE this!!