Activities: Still Awaiting Rats
Treats: Still Awaiting Rats
Currently: Still Awaiting Rats
---------------------------
I had a big dream about the rainbow bridge last night with the rats I lost, but I've been missing Barley the most since he was the last rat I lost. This led me to write this bio about Barley with everything I knew, treasured, and my last thoughts. I will be doing Mocha and Dorito as well in the future, but probably not soon, these are stressful for me to write.
Barley was my 6th rat. Although he wasn't the first, he was really special to me. He was never properly socialized, litter trained, or knew any tricks. But he was a wonderful friend.
I first met Barley a few years ago at my first fur meet for furries. It was mainly just a few friends into the same fandom as myself meeting at a cafe. We ended up at her house after and it was the first time I'd seen pet rats or even a pet ferret. I thought the rats were adorable. At the time she had two, Barley and another i can't remember the name of. I remember she could take her boys out and they would just sleep in her hood constantly, although they didn't seem very social than.
A few months later I ended up getting my first rats, Mocha and Dorito, but that's a totally different story. Later on I lost all rats and moved away. When I moved back, I missed the mischief and cuteness of my pet rats.
I scattered Kijiji for rats and found a cute yellow check rat that I loved, but it seemed familiar. It couldn't be!! Oh, but it was. It was Borris, my friend's old rat. She had gotten too many other pets (a few cats) and was given away her rats. For 40$ I got the rats, a large cage, and a small cage. I don't think it was a bad deal. Besides, Borris was a priceless cutie. Here's a pic of the cutie in his cage.
But when I found him, he was in horrible condition. She had been using thick pellet ferret bedding. This didn't absorb any pee and it all gathered at the bottom of the container. The whole thing smelt like horrible pee and took numerous cleanings in hot water to clean it. It also turned out that he barely got his vitamins. She fed him what she ate. Yes, this is fine in a financial emergency or with a steady diet, but he never got pellets or a food block or anything. When I got him he had some steamed veggies in his dish (steamed takes out tons of vitamins as well). It turns out he had killed and chewed up his room mate. She said this was because rats do it when cats are nearby to reduce population, but I doubted it. I think he didn't have enough protein. He was such a sweet rat, he wouldn't hurt anyone unless he had to.
BTW- After I got Borris, I changed his name to Barley.
I cleaned the cage out, got care fresh paper bedding, pellets to eat, and many treats. Trust training never went well, as she had forced him out constantly so i had to force it too. He would come out and be fine on my bed but never would adjust to being carried, not even in a hood. He would climb out and freak squealing. Pic of him sleeping in the cage in a make shift bed he made out of a washcloth and plain toilet paper. No matter what cage toy he got he loved a wash cloth the most.
But there were a few times where he was as sweet as could be. I remember a few times when I would have him out on my bed. I was just giving him scritchens as I fed him some veggies. He started rubbing against my hand and even purring (that clicking noise they make when they're happy). He would jump against the bars whenever I got in the room and I'd open it and let him climb on top of the cage and watch me. He was so smart, he'd never jump off. Also, cute picture attached to go with the memories. He liked to sit on my shoulder and pillow on my bed sometimes, maybe because it smelt like me. :)
But he was too smart. He figured out how to open the cage on his own. Cute, huh? Exhausting! I had to take the clips off the side of the cage that attached it to the tub at the bottom and put it on the door. Yes, he could get past the clip. He'd push it and chew a certain bar until it moved enough and opened. There was a few times he'd gotten out and I'd found him under my bed. But he was just my little genius. The smartest rat I'd ever had, and the first rat I'd heard of doing that. I was proud. When I told my family, they were pretty impressed too! I was never mad, just worried.
Now, by the time I had him he was around 2, maybe older. I had him around 2 and a half to 3 years old. He was old and had a weak immune system. I did everything I did to help him including closing off my window with plastic to keep cold Winter air away and having a heater right next to his cage. But one day I got there and he didn't come to the bars. I couldn't afford a vet, but I did the best I did. He was so weak he couldn't even move. I cleaned as much dirty bedding in the cage as I could, but I didn't want to disturb him. I moved the water and food to the bottom and gave him a crushed up prenatal vitamin. It was the best I had medicine wise. And he recovered, but he was old and couldn't fight it off long. A few weeks later it got bad again. This time he could move, but I repeated my actions. It was a check by every half hour basis. He started to get better, but the next time I checked he was passed away in the corner. It was a sad night.
He's in a box in the freezing cold on the front porch still, as the frozen ground is too hard to bury him in. But when the Spring comes and the icy ground melts, there will be a whole new wave of sadness and missing him as a I bury him.
I'd just like to say that every time I walk into my room, seeing the empty cage makes me teary. I miss you dearly. My biggest regret is that they were too worried you'd kill a new room mate and had to live alone.
You never know how much you'll miss something until its gone. Love you so Much. Rest in Peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment