Ratless

Looking at this I needed to make a post.

For the first time in several years we are ratless, the room that had the cages in seems very empty and no-one greets us as we walk through. No-one is looking and sniffing for treats, or hanging off the bars, or sleeping in hammocks. It's a pretty lonely room. Time to take a break, while I loved each and every one, and each and every one left a print on my heart, it is time to take a breather, time to look ahead a bit without worrying about which little furry creature will be the next to cross the big Rainbow Bridge. Goodbye all my precious little ones, you will be with me forever and I know that when my time comes I will see you all again.

You cannot measure the greatness of an animal by it's size, for all animals are equal of spirit, and it true that the smallest of all may have the biggest wings.

Hi! My Name is Otis -- I'm a RAT!
~by Dave
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---
Something happened to me one night. It felt funny, and
when I went to stand up, it didn't work very well. And
I couldn't see very good either. Plus, dopey Rupert
wouldn't stop pestering me and trying to lie on me so
he could be comfy.

In the morning, my Mum took me outside, away from our
home for a while. It smelled interesting, and she
walked a long way with me. Then we went into a place
where someone who smelled strange looked at me. Mum
and Dr. Strange-Smell talked for a while after that.
Then she brought me back home, and I got a big piece
of nice stuff to EAT!

But after a while I started to feel worse. Mum and the
funny-smelling guy that lives with us kept grooming me
and trying to feed me, but I just kept feeling bad.

And Rupert kept licking me and being a bother, asking
why I was acting funny. I wanted to poke him but I
couldn't, and kept falling asleep. I'd wake up and try
to walk but nothing was working right. Then somebody
was grooming me, and talking to me, but I fell asleep
again. I don't really remember much after that.

After a very strange dream, I woke up.

I felt different though, better.

And something smelled really good. I stood right up,
without even thinking about it. Right next to me was a
really big piece of very tasty-smelling STUFF!

I ate a lot of it, and felt good and full. But after a
while I thought, "Where is that Rupert?"

I called out, "Roo-purrt! It's Otis -- where are you?"

No Rupert.

But then I smelled something else, and heard
something.

It was another RAT!

"Welcome to the place that's over the bridge, Otis,"
said the rat. "My name is Milla."

Milla looked up. Over our heads was the biggest thing
I had ever seen. It was very bright, especially for a
ratty. And above it were so many flickering colors
that it was hard to stop looking. And all sorts of
animals and people and cats and dogs and birds and
rats and fish were floating down and flowing away from
this beautiful shimmery bridge that was way up in the
air.

Milla looked back at me. I couldn't tell if it was a
girl rat or boy rat, but Milla smelled really
ratty-nice, with soft, deep black fur and black-bright
eyes.

I said, "Do you know where Rupert is? And my Mum? Or
that funny-smelling guy?"

I guess I should've been scared, cuz this wasn't my
home, but Milla made me feel happy.

"They're not here right now, but that's okay -- you'll
see them again."

All of a sudden, my brother JB came out of the
darkness that was behind Milla.

"JB! It's me -- OTIS!" I was so happy to see him, it
had been a long time since he'd gone away. JB laughed
and came over to lick me, and then we ran and ran and
ran. Then I jumped on him and we rolled and rolled
until we were tired. We had so much fun (even though
he still nipped me too hard).

JB and me eventually got to a really soft place that
smelled ever so comfortable and warm. And there were
so many rats and so many animals and people and other
strange things. Everyone was relaxing and eating and
talking -- just having a good time.

JB looked at me and said, "This is our new home --
you'll like it here, it's really nice."

Everyone looked at me and said, "Hello! Welcome home!"

"Hello," I said. "My name is Otis, and I'M A RAT!"

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Bless you and fare well little Otis.

Poor JB

We have a problem wih JB, he has lost the use of his back legs. It's puzzling, I've been to the vet who thinks he has spinal cord damage from a fall or something, but I'm not convinced. For some reason I think it's more infection related. At the moment he's on Novotrimel and Metacam, one of his back legs was starting to swell, but has gone down some since I put him back on the Metacam. He's bright and perky, and has become a real mummy's boy, letting me wash him and stretch his legs and massage him. We will see how he goes, he's only young so it's particularly troubling and mysterious.

Otis is Mr. Social, he even ran up to Raffi the cat one day as much as to say 'Hi! I'm Otis! I'm here! Look at me!', he's hysterically funny with such an outgoing personality. Rupert is my shy boy, he's coming round slowly but he's very timid which is a shame because I'd love to tickle his tummy!

Everyone else is doing fine and our latest boy Little Stuart has been intro'd to the big boys and is settling down nicely with Finn, Fearghal and cagemates - it's nice when THAT happens!

Lilly and the pinky girls! 

JB 

Rupert 

This is sweet little Otis! 

Boys enjoying themselves 

pinkies enjoying corn 

July Ratties

Our rattie family has grown over the last few months. I found two little naked girls in a petstore that no-one would buy because they 'were ugly'. I knew I shouldn't have been looking - I never do, but something pulled me back there that particular day. Since Luna had passed away after getting sick poor Lilly was on her own and I thought she could do with some company. They are my little pinky girls and soooo cute!

Then when my daughter Jess took of to Europe for a long vaction I got to babysit her two boys, Eddie and Badger. A terrible thing happened just after they came to stay, I'd only had them a couple of days and had them both out on the table. Badger must have suffered some kind of stroke or heart attack and died very quickly. I was beside myself, he was a gorgeous blazed boy with odd eyes. I know in my head I did nothing wrong, but my heart was not so forgiving. So Eddie has stayed on with us and is on his own at the minute as he does not want to go in with the other boys.

Most recently we have had three almost 'hairless' boys come to live, their names are Otis, Rupert and JB. Rupert and JB are still a little nervous, but Otis, the smallest and strangest looking of the three has one a big spot in my heart. He's a very friendly little guy, and quite comical to watch. These boys were rescues, and at the minute I have one more I am also trying to rescue, a white male who I hope to get sometime this week. He's supposed to be very friendly so I'm hoping that maybe he and Eddie can be friends.

Here are pics of some of the boys and girls I've mentioned! We've got 12 ratties right now with one more hopefully on the way. Hey that will mean we have 13, I'm not sure thats a good number. . .

Old things, New things, Gone things

Where to start?

Old things... this blog I guess, so much for keeping it up to date!
David's car - we drove 15 mins to Burritts Rapids at the weekend and I felt like I was in a Stagecoach.
Raffi and Pickles, they are old, for cats - going on 18. Raffi spends a lot of time sleeping except at bedtime when he decides to bother us because he knows that he's supposed to sleep on his blanket and not wander all over the bed. Pickles is a strange one, she takes wild fits of running from one end of the house to the other, in pursuit of some unseen quarry, sometimes she throws herself at the wall as if she's trying to scale it, only to realise that it's vertical and beyond her abilities. A little red squirrel is spending part of it's winter in our back shed.

New things, well since last year I started a new job doing real estate photography. That's pretty interesting, especially as I often have to go shoot houses on the river or lakes around here. I've also been doing more web work, little by little, sure beats working at an Office Supply Store!

Gone things...
Some gone things are good, my job at the Office Store, no love lost there, the place had decended into chaos with an owner who blindly ignores the fact that the place is loosing money hand over fist month after month after year..
Some gone things are not so good, last year we lost Barli, brother to Smeagol, Jimi my first naked rat, Bo who had to be over 2 1/2 - he was such a sweet big boy, Merlin my beautiful Merle, he succumbed to a huge tumour, and last but not least my special boy Smeagol - my avatar. That was especially hard as he was special since the day he arrived.

I thought our rat numbers were going down and was consoling myself to not getting more because loosing them is so hard. Then came Luna and Lilly from the local shelter, two little wild girls, and Finn and Fearghal some company for Feldman followed by Furby and baby Oliver.

Furby is a rex, his fur is as soft as milkweed fluff and dark as charcoal, Oliver is a rex as well but much lighter a real sweet little boy. I had to separate him from Furby as there were too many fights. Furbs seems to think that he owns everything so he's now got a cage to himself. He's very loving otherwise and really likes to come out and be a real lap rat. I'll have to post some pictures of them all ;o)

Sad days are coming

Merlin has a lump, I can't believe I didn't spot it before, it's right in his chest area and quite obvious when he stands up. I hate the thought of watching it grow until it brings the end of his life. He's far to beautiful for the indignity. Bo is now two and a half, he's slowed down a lot and having troubles with his back legs, he always looks so happy to see me and is doing remarkably well for his age, but probably won't be with us for much longer, also his brother Jimi who is now over two as well. I hate that their little lives are so short.

Feldman is settling in and giving us lot of laughs, his favourite time of the day is when he comes out to play and he's found it's great fun to go hiding down under the bedclothes or in between the pillows. As soon as we try to catch him he darts away and actually screamed at David yesterday when he tried to pick him up. He's discovered how delicious pasta with pesto is and we've been giving him some peanuts in the shell as he's so young and in need of more protein than the older guys.

Looking forward to Friday when his two week quarantine will be up and he can come downstairs and meet the clan!

The weather feels like its on the turn, it's actually warm enough to sit out in our front porch when the sun's out, I can't wait for the snow to go and to be able to get out into the garden!

Tracks in the snow 

Looks like feathers 

It's so delicate and pretty 

March ice on the window 

Yes, it looks like Spring is right around the corner! 

Spring is just around the corner. . .

We're expecting up to 25cm of snow today and through until tomorrow. It's pretty windy out there with a nasty little chill. Typical March weather I guess, hopefully this will be the last big snowfall of the season, the thaw has to come soon.