R.I.P Travis
Hello again, readers,
This is going to be an upsetting post about the passing of one of our resident rats - Travis. We mentioned this on Trevor's post, but we will say it again on this post; when we took on Travis and his cage mate - Trevor - we knew the rats wouldn't be around for an overly long period of time. Sadly, like with most small furries, they don't live a very long life. However, that still doesn't ease the pain when the day comes for one of our residents to leave us.
Travis' death came as a complete shock to us all. At the time, the residents were all going through a pretty stressful period - one of the Bacchus humans was in hospital. Normally, we devote the majority of our spare time to being with the residents. So, when one of us had to go away (though it was completely unavoidable), the residents were wondering where one of us had gone - we wish we could speak rodent and tell them what was happening - but we can't.
Unfortunately, the mischief of bucks (Rowan, Alfie, Arthur, and Travis) were going through double the stress - they'd recently lost Trevor too. Naturally, they were grieving.
Travis was hit by a major respiratory infection one evening, and had began to lose a lot of weight. He was taken straight to the vet.
Given all the symptoms; minimal porphyrin, weight-loss, labored breathing, increased respiration rate etc. the vet diagnosed Travis with pneumonia.
Tragically, whilst Travis was with the veterinary nurses, he passed away. We suspect all the stress and heartbreak had a detrimental impact on his ability to fight this already severe, and often fatal, infection - people often significantly underestimate what stress can do to both us, and animals.
We simply couldn't believe it. We had hoped Travis would've at least been given the chance to get better with some medication - but it wasn't meant to be. Though the situation was unavoidable, we often can't help but wonder if things would've played out different had the incident involving one of the Bacchus humans hadn't happened - would Travis still be here? Am I to blame?
We have to try our hardest not to think like that, otherwise we couldn't do what we do. On the other hand, I do carry some guilt. I wish I had been there.
As heartbroken as we were, we did take comfort in knowing that he would be with Trevor now. Travis had a heart of gold and an extremely playful nature. I personally had a huge soft spot for his cheeky, lovable, personality. It still doesn't seem real.
Travis crossed the rainbow bridge on 23rd July 2018.
This is going to be an upsetting post about the passing of one of our resident rats - Travis. We mentioned this on Trevor's post, but we will say it again on this post; when we took on Travis and his cage mate - Trevor - we knew the rats wouldn't be around for an overly long period of time. Sadly, like with most small furries, they don't live a very long life. However, that still doesn't ease the pain when the day comes for one of our residents to leave us.
Travis' death came as a complete shock to us all. At the time, the residents were all going through a pretty stressful period - one of the Bacchus humans was in hospital. Normally, we devote the majority of our spare time to being with the residents. So, when one of us had to go away (though it was completely unavoidable), the residents were wondering where one of us had gone - we wish we could speak rodent and tell them what was happening - but we can't.
Unfortunately, the mischief of bucks (Rowan, Alfie, Arthur, and Travis) were going through double the stress - they'd recently lost Trevor too. Naturally, they were grieving.
Travis was hit by a major respiratory infection one evening, and had began to lose a lot of weight. He was taken straight to the vet.
Given all the symptoms; minimal porphyrin, weight-loss, labored breathing, increased respiration rate etc. the vet diagnosed Travis with pneumonia.
Tragically, whilst Travis was with the veterinary nurses, he passed away. We suspect all the stress and heartbreak had a detrimental impact on his ability to fight this already severe, and often fatal, infection - people often significantly underestimate what stress can do to both us, and animals.
We simply couldn't believe it. We had hoped Travis would've at least been given the chance to get better with some medication - but it wasn't meant to be. Though the situation was unavoidable, we often can't help but wonder if things would've played out different had the incident involving one of the Bacchus humans hadn't happened - would Travis still be here? Am I to blame?
We have to try our hardest not to think like that, otherwise we couldn't do what we do. On the other hand, I do carry some guilt. I wish I had been there.
As heartbroken as we were, we did take comfort in knowing that he would be with Trevor now. Travis had a heart of gold and an extremely playful nature. I personally had a huge soft spot for his cheeky, lovable, personality. It still doesn't seem real.
Travis crossed the rainbow bridge on 23rd July 2018.
You can keep up with our residents on our Instagram.
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