Her son tragically passed away after visiting a pet store. Now, mom has a grave warning for parents going to the pet store and seeing all the amazing animals on offer is an exciting experience for any child and ten-year-old Aiden Panka. He was no exception. However, just two weeks after his visit, he would suddenly become sick. And then in a matter of hours, the little boy was dead.
But Aidan’s tragic passing left many unanswered questions. So what exactly had happened to him?
Aiden lived in San Diego
California, and he absolutely loved his pets. He also knew exactly what animal he wanted to get next, and soon the little boy would make his way to the pet store to pick up a new best friend. When the day came around, Aidan and his grandma, Sherritt headed to a branch of Petco to purchase the new pet. And while there was nothing remarkable about their visit, it would soon have terrible consequences. At the Petco outlet, Aidan picked out a small Gray rat, which he named Alex.
It was a special day. Aiden instantly fell in love with his little friend and all seemed well as the three of them returned home. The animal was actually bought in order to be the male partner fadin’s female rat. He wanted them to get married and besotted with his new pal.
Aidan insisted on taking Alex with him everywhere
They even shared bath time together. Yes, Aiden and Alex were inseparable, and the boy would often kiss and cuddle his rats. What’s more, Aidan and his pets frequently posed for pictures together at home and outside whatever they were doing. But two weeks after his visit to the pet store, Aiden’s parents noticed that he was becoming ill.
He was gripped by fever and had an upset stomach, so they rushed the boy to get medical help. The doctor, who then saw Aidan believed that he had the flu and advised his parents to keep him at home for rest and to ensure that he was kept hydrated. But he never recovered from the fever. After seeing the doctor, Aiden spent another night in agony. He complained of pain and stomach upsets, and his parents remained deeply concerned.
The happy young boy had become a shadow of his former self, pale and even unable to walk. Just a day later, Aiden was sent to hospital in an ambulance. However, it was too late to save him. In the early hours of the morning, he passed away. His parents naturally were devastated.
An autopsy then took place to try and make sense of the tragedy for the boy’s family
And the results revealed something shocking. Aiden’s death had been caused by ratbite fever. Handling his new pet had led to his sudden death, officially known as a streptobacillus monolith or disinfection. Ratbite fever causes vomiting, headaches, rashes, and fever in people who have come into contact with rodents. If antibiotics are not provided in time, the fever can be fatal, but it’s not just rats that may spread this infection.
Mice and gerbils can also cause the onset of the disease in humans
In some cases, the affected person will have been bitten before becoming symptomatic, but in other cases, just touching or being scratched by a rodent has been enough to cause infection. Ultimately, Aiden’s closeness to his rat, Alex, was the cause of his death. While the rat seemed healthy, it was in fact, host to a killer disease. However, the pet shop where Aiden bond Alex had actually provided warnings about the infection, among other dangers, in their guidelines about caring for animals.
Despite the risks, though, Aiden had had his heart set on the rat and his parents reported that he’d never been bitten by the animal, so we can only guess that their close contact must have exposed him to the rat’s saliva or some other vector of contagion. In any event, devastated, Hayden’s father, Andrew Panki, launched a lawsuit against Petco, the pet Shop chain, which had sold the rat. I’m fighting this case to protect some children because I don’t want this to happen to another family. The British newspaper, The Sun quoted him as saying, I still talk to him, tell him I love him that Daddy’s not going to give up.
The civil case was, however, ultimately unsuccessful
Furthermore, a previous suit brought by Eden’s mother, Vanessa Sour, had been settled before reaching trial. Speaking to the San Diego Union-Tribune, John Gomez, representing Aidan’s father at the latest court hearing, explained that the family wanted to raise awareness of the dangers of rats and the fact that of all the rats that Petco had randomly tested for the potentially infectious bacteria, half were carriers. Petco released a statement in response to the sad story it read. We remain deeply saddened by the Penguin family’s tragic loss and are committed to continuing to provide the highest level of safety to our customers in the future.
The safety of people and pets is always Petco’s top priority.
Meanwhile, despite losing the case, the family will continue to fight to raise awareness. Both Mom, Vanessa, and dad Andrew want other families to know the risks surrounding rats. And speaking after the end of the civil case, their attorney told the San Diego Union tribute, I’m quite confident there’s going to be changed, and then we’re going to come back and try this case again and we’re going to win. It precisely how Aiden contracted the disease remains a mystery, though his grandmother issued a warning that when shopping for pets, it’s a case of buyer beware.
Don’t assume something that you buy from a big Corporation is safe, she told the San Diego Union tribute
She also noted that shoppers can ask Petco to test animals for disease and infection, a step that could show an apparently healthy animal to actually be possibly deadly. We’re pushing the four-year Mark and you never really move on. You kind of create a new reality for yourself. I guess it’s what you have to do and live with what it is. This sad case highlights the potentially lethal risks that rats can pose to humans.