Fair Sailing, Sherman Troublerat Shafer (aka ScurvyRat)

He fought it tooth and nail, but we had to put ScurvyRat down today. The last four or five days were pretty terrible, as we had to force feed him by syringe and give him evil meds three times a day, and sit there and hold him as he gasped for breath. I'm not sure he even slept that much, as we'd put him in his house (where he'd normally snooze 2/3rds of the day) and he'd freak out, until you took him out and held him, but even then he'd never sit still and constantly squirm and readjust and try to find a position where he could actually breathe.

Which sounds terrible (and it was) but he still had that spark and somehow still had energy, so just when it seemed he was down and out, he'd perk up and spaz out some, just like he used to. So we'd basically decide the best thing would be to put him down, he'd recover some, we'd get our hopes up, he'd take two steps back. And on and on and on.

The real pisser is that he actually managed to fight off the pneumonia and infection from the abcess surgery, but was did in finally by a tumor in his nasal cavity. The vet said that it's fairly common, and that the abcesses could actually have been caused by tumors as well. So not only was he weak and tired after all that fighting, but his right eye was clouded over and actually being forced out of his socket by the tumor, so it was more than time to put him down.

Many thanks to everyone for the kind comments and emails.

Buried him in the rose bed out in front of our house, along with a bunch of peanuts and other snacks he liked for the trip to wherever he was off to. Fair sailing, little dude. May you always have lots to eat, as you were a champion eater and the best little rat friend I could ever imagine having.