My Beautiful Blue...

Today I took my beautiful Blue in for surgery. He had developed a fast growing tumor inside his left cheek. I had taken him in for debulking on two occasions, but it was growing so fast, that it would need debulking every 7-10 days. Since this wasn't a viable option, I decided to have the vet remove the entire tumor from both the inside and outside of his mouth. He did well through the surgery and woke up fine. Unfortunately, about an hour later he stopped breathing and the vet couldn't resuscitate him...

He was an extremely special rat, and his death was terribly hard on not only me, but also on Benny who was completely bonded to him...

And so, in tribute to my beautiful boy, Blue - RIP - you will be greatly missed...

Miss Corazon

Ever since I was little, I have been easygoing and interested in being around people, though I love my independence. I know that my mommy is the big alpha, that's why I am so submissive when my mommy picks me up or takes me out of the cage, but inside the cage I am the alpha!

My best friend is my sister Cashew. We love hanging out in pocket hammies and snuggling together. You can often see just our heads close together and peeking out over the edge. Mommy thinks that this is the cutest thing she has ever seen.

Besides my sister, there are two other ratties in our cage - Pip-Squeak and Tipper. Although I act like I'm not super interested in either of them, if they weren't here I would be very sad. One time Pip-Squeak hurt her paw and she had to spend the night in the carrier next to Mommy's bed and I missed her a lot. I was very happy when she was able to come back and stay in our cage.

When we get to come out for free-time, I love checking out the whole apartment to make sure that everything is where it should be and I especially love checking out all of the new stuff that Mommy brings home! I love to climb and like to spend most of my free-time hanging out on top of the cage - the higher the better!!

I'm a super picky eater and will dig through my food dish to find the most tasty pieces to eat first. If anyone gets in my way, I push them aside until I have what I want. I used to fight with my sister over treats, but now I know that Mommy always has treats for everyone, so I wait my turn (though I must admit, I'm not very patient ;))

I've never been one to run on our wheel, so I've gotten a little chubby over the past year - so Mommy measures out our food now. I used to get yogies everyday, but now I only get them once or twice a week. Luckily, Mommy found some other yummy dog treats that taste like berries and others that taste like apples and are low protein and low fat, so I can have one of those everyday. But my favorite food is definitely baby oatmeal!

Well, I gotta' go - it's nap-time and I'm tired! Talk to you later!


Corazon

Personality, Personality

I just realized that I haven't properly intoduced my ratties and talked about each of them and their personalities, so starting today I will create a spearate post for each of my ratties talking all about them!

Another sad, sad, day...

I lost my darling Frankie today. His body could no longer fight the good fight and although he fought to the very end, his body just would hold out any longer. He had several heart attacks and several seizures. His hind end was paralyzed for more than two hours before he passed. Finally, his whole body would no longer respond to his brain's commands - and even then he still tried to hang on - But, just before he passed, he managed to give me five or six kisses on my arm...

It was a sad and difficult passing, but Frankie and I got to share many happy days with many loving moments over the past two months. Every morning and every night Mr. Frankie got "Momma Time". This is where I would take Frank out of the cage and give him his meds. Then he would get his special food (Merrick Kitten food); his favorite was Turducken. After that we had cuddle time, where I would encircle my arms and he would poke his nose into one elbow and then the other before he settled down at one side and waited for me to breathe on him and make him nice and toasty. While we were cuddling, he would brux and brux and give me lots of kisses on my arms and hands. In the evening, he got to sit next to me on the couch in his cozy, warm wicker pet bed and eat as many treats as he could (which, unfortunately wasn't many due to his breathing). He was the only rattie that got to come out every day, twice a day. I miss him terribly and always will...

Frankie will find a permanent home with his brother Freddie in my mom's lily garden...

In Memoriam...

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More Video!

I took this video to show the wonderful woman, from whom I adopt all of my ratties, how Mr. Tipper manages to get around the cage. Tipper came to me with a sever head tilt, but has learned how to compensate for it and has no problems climbing up or down and, in fact, has become the Alpha of his house!

Without further ado...Here's Tipper!

Yay! Videos!

As I promised - video of my babies! Well one baby for now...

Enjoy Frankie's Bath!

Good News!

Well, I decided that perhaps my darling Frankie might flourish if he was on some heart meds, so we took a trip to the vet and got him some furosemide... and lo and behold, the very next morning he was up on the second level of the cage - something he hasn't done since he got sick! Today he was up on the third level, but he was looking a little on the sick side... I stopped his antibiotics two days ago, since he'd been on them for about 4 weeks - but if he still looks sick tonight, he's going back on them immediately! I hope that this med will give him back some more of his strength and muscle tone... Wish us lucks!

Fighting the Losing Battle

My darling Frankie has been sick for over amonth now... Though he is eating well and his breathing has improved, this illness has taken a toll on his poor little heart... I can tell because he has stopped using his back toes and his back legs are really weak... In fact, he was trying to clean himself yesterday and he had to lean on his front "elbows" while he scrubbed with one paw and then with the other...

Fortunately, I have gotten some cute pics of him and we get to spend lots of quality snuggle time together everyday... Here're the latest pics of Frankie Frank:

EEEEWWWWW!

It has been a pretty busy, crazy, strange, sad, and gross week. To start off, Mica, one of my ten little mousie friends passed away on Monday. I knew she was going to pass because she had been very weak and rough looking for about a week. Then on Tuesday, her arch rival, Onyx, passed away. This was very unexpected because she hadn't looked ill until Monday. Then on Wednesday I heard a scream from the ratties in the bedroom. I didn't go in and check right away, because occasionally one of the ratties will get a bit rough and the other will let out a scream. Besides, Sophie was in her cage - the only ones out were Cashew, Cora, Pip and Tipper. When I went in to get everybody ready for bed about an hour later, I couldn't find Sophie in the cage and she wouldn't come when called. Then I saw blood - EVERYWHERE! I opened Sophie's cage and found her hiding under some bedding and pulled her out... She was favoring her front, right paw and when I looked at it, it was completely bloody. I took her into the bathroom, cleaned her up and found that half of one toe was missing! Apparently, one of the girls decided that they were going the get Sophie whether she was in the cage or not and bit half her toe off! I was soooo mad! Then on Thursday I lost Punkin' - another one of my mousies! Of course my apartment is completely torn apart (because I am totally rearranging everything) and I was going to be helping my friend sell her handcrafted jewelry at the Body, Mind, Spirit Festival on Friday and Saturday. So, needless to say, I am EXHAUSTED!! So unfortuantely, video will have to wait about a week, but it is coming - SOON...

Video to come...

I finally have a way to transfer video from my camcorder to my computer, so watch for some interesting video coming in the near future!

Somebody's Got a New Friend!

I have been letting Miss Sophie out to play with the big boys, because my girlies are all mean little bratties. She is, of course, copying everything they do - so the other day, she learned how to get down off the sofa by following Blue (he's such a bad influence on her..). Now I don't normally mind ratties running on the floor, but I live in an apartment and she is quite little still, so I'm uncomfortable with the thought that she could squeeze into some little nook and I'd never be able to get her out. But, interestingly enough, yesterday she wouldn't leave Benny's side. He camped out in the carrier, so she camped out in the carrier. Benny pretty much just ignored her, but she was just glued to him! In fact, I got a great pic to share!