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| Remus came to me from one of the area's Humane Societies. His owner didn't want him anymore, and was going to put him to sleep. Luckily, I had a friend working there at the time who called me to come and get him. Remus was a dipodomys stephensii, and has since become a member of the endangered species list. Kangaroo rats are unusual to come across, and illegal now that they are among the endangered. Remus died of perianal adenocarcinoma, which can be seen starting to show in this photograph. Because kangaroo rats are such unusual animals to have in captivity, I couldn't find much information about them and assumed (wrongly) that that thing on his butt was normal. |
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 Its that growth under the bit of poo under his tail.
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| The tumour grew outside his body, and eventually he stopped doing his usual routines, and ate less, slept more and just got miserable. In the end I had him humanely euthanized (gas first to put him to sleep then the injection--the injection is painful for small animals as it must be given in the heart rather than intravenously, so gas first is more merciful.) |
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 Remus in happier days. |
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