Once everything was sorted I had a good look at all my pictures, thats the great thing about photos. They freeze a moment in time and when you have lost rats its lovely if a little sad to look back at pictures of them.
Like my multicoloured Atari banner , i used GIMP...I am actually getting pretty good if I do say so myself lol. I can crop and resize pics and on my new sig they actually are the same size and neat..I'm ever so proud
It has a mix of rats , alive and dead. The ones I have lost all left their mark so were added. I miss all the rats I have lost but some had that SOMETHING.
The second pic is Joker as a baby...he died just before his first birthday after haing a brain issue. I tried for a couple of weeks with him to get him back to normal and at first he struggled on , but having three legs that didnt want to work as well as he needed them too took its toll and I had him put to sleep when he stopped trying. He was Trouble and cos brother. out of Trouble, Harley and Quinn he was the quieter more sensitive brother to their rowdyness but they were never horrible to him. He won a few fans with his lovely coat which is shared by his sisters, that lovely blue agouti shade.
The last pic on the bottom on the right is Mogwai. Moggy was from an accidental litter a friend had due to the cage she bought not having doe proof bars. I had originally chosen the pink eyed fuzzy female from the litter but moggy climbed on my hand. I was instantly taken with this little runt who had no hair except a smattering of whiskers. She was tiny and took ages to grow to what was still small as an adult. She was a cheeky rat which as much character as she had spare skin. Then one day there was a nasty accident in the cage and she passed away. I still feel dreadfully guilty and hope she can forgive me.
4th pic bottom row is Lily. Even though she came to me with a wheeze and one of her first memories will of been haing baytril administered she never took it to heart and remained one of the most friendly rats I have ever met. Lily loved having raspberries blown on her stomach and would lick my nose or eyebrow furiously while I did this. She also had a knack for climbing in my top, shoving her top half into my bra , leaving her back half dangling out of my top. And she would of bruxed and boggled for England. Lily also was the naughty girl that resulting in me having a pregnant rat and the need for a new cage. Her babies were her joy and I used to take them out for handling and she would wonder about picking them up and putting them back, not in a nasty way , I think she thought they had got lost and I had found them for her. Lily left my life suddenly, I went to clean the cage out and she was laid very floppy and unresponsive in the igloo. She was taken to be put to sleep that evening and she is still greatly missed.
Second to last picture on the bottom is Muse. Muse was one of Lilys babies and sadly i only got 5 weeks and 2 days with her before she had to go to the bridge. She developed a lump that we found out too late was a hernia. The lump ruptured and fecal matter was found showing the intestine was damaged. The only options were an invasive operation which gave her 2% chance of survival or to put her to sleep. She was put to sleep and i often wonder "what if" the hernia had been found sooner. I'm sure she would be a lot like Jinx rather than Eden who is a bit grumpy.
The last pic on the top row and the second pic on the bottom is Siouxie. I have saved her until last for the main reason that she was my number one heart rat. She was one of four rats I got from awful conditions in a shed. Her and her brother Diablo were tiny babies when they came with me , riddled with lice. Even with this horrible start Siouxie was always a sweetheart. She would hide her head in my hand and brux like a maniac. Ill health plauged her , at just 8 months old she developed her first lumps and after the surgery she had abcesses which took ages too clear (The other three rats from the same place were prone to abcesses so it was a line thing) Even with all the flushing and the baytril she kept bruxing and licking. A few months later she developed another abcess above her eye which was another month of flushing and antibiotics. I would have to fuss her before she had her medicine as I have an allergy to septrin, she always looked disapointed to be put back. She developed another lump under her front leg and due to her bad reaction to the surgery she had before , i tried other things recomended for lump supression. I also noticed one of her eyes bulging and my worst fears were confirmed when one of the other rats from the same person developed pus from the ear along with one bigger eye and when Asher went downhill quickly and got ill from the pirituary tumour i knew it was likely that Siouxie would show signs of the eye pus too. So everyday i checked her ears , dreading the day I found it. And that day came one friday. I made an appointment that same day to have her put to sleep. It does appear hasty but I knew that within a couple of days she would be horribly ill , like Asher was , and antibiotics hadnt touched Ashers infection. There was no point putting off the inevitable and I didnt want her to suffer even for a minute. I wanted her to go without feeling pain and while she was the rat I remember. The happy silly bruxing licky girl. As I do with all my rats , when they are pts, I have the vet bring them back to me and i sit from a while , remembering happy times. Its my last chance to see them, plus I have to rely on buses and bursting into tears on a bus isn't my idea of fun. When Siouxie was pts I got a taxi home. There was no way I would of been able to hold it together to walk to the bus stop. I was numb all weekend, I couldnt een post a RIP to her on my facebook. It took me a long time to come to terms with and I still miss her. I think she slipped Atari some pointers on being a heart rat as he does some of the things she did.
Well that ended up being stupidly longer than me just writing a bit about my new sig banner lol.
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