I don't think I'd have been able to do this a few years ago. But I felt ready now. To me, the body has never been my rat, its just a shell.

Wow i am amazed you could do that i couldnt bring myself to do it on my pet even though i want to be a vet tech one day.
Sorry about your loss hun hope your ok.

I think that in the past, I wouldn't have been able to do it. Its something you can only do when you feel ready. Some people never want to do it. And to be honest, unless you have loads of rats like me and take in sickly rescues, there probably isn't any real need to know the intricate workings of a rat's body.
But for me, it really does help me understand their bodies better, and how things go wrong.

I think what really pushed me into being ok with it was finding rats that had died while I was out and had been partially eaten by their cage mates. The sight of rats with organs on show was, after that, not shocking any more.
It only happened 4 or 5 times, but it was kinda a big de-sensitisation to the idea of seeing my rats like that, and really hit home to me how the body really is just a shell. The other rats seem to accept this too.
I don't think I could do it right after the rat dies, I have to give it 24 hours or so to kinda get over it.

oh yeah that does make sense when I owned mice and they had babies I had a mama eat her babies cause she was confused by what to do as well as another who ate some of them cause she was overwhelmed.
I wouldn't mind having to cut open a rat or animal for a class so you can learn but i never could do it to a pet I am just to soft inside heh.
Its good you can do that do it does teach you alot about the body and what goes wrong and why as you said.

I'd actually like to see them. I feel the same way you do, once the rat has passed away just a shell is left. The spirit has moved on.

Ah, that sucks. I'm always sad to hear when one of your rats has passed on.