R.I.P. Jasper

Around 8:30pm today (Saturday, June 18th 2016) we lost one of our degus.

The degu in question was Jasper... My food loving, storm sensative little degu buddy.

I'm not entirely sure what happened. He was fine this morning. Yesterday he even gave me his customary advanced warning of the coming storm. Then, like I said, he was fine this morning... I fed him Cheerios at breakfast time. In fact, he was fine this afternoon too. But this evening we found him lying in the degus' nesting box, ignoring our attempts to offer him nibbles. On closer inspection, we realized he was struggling to breathe. We couldn't find any reason for this... His airways were clear, etc. He was just not breathing properly, and all I could do was hold him in my arms while he gasped out his last breaths.

Rest in peace little degu buddy, and know you will be missed; I'll think of you every time there's a storm.

R.I.P. Jasper
March 9th 2013 - June 18th 2016.