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Elegy

It is so hard to write this, but our most beloved rat, Sznurówka (Shoelace), is no longer with us.

She was barely alive when we got her. Rescued at the age of about eleven months from a pet shop where she was used as a reproductive female, kept in terrible conditions. She was undernourished, had a bad case of pneumonia, heart issues, abscesses – you name it. We knew that she will need to take medicines for the rest of her life, but we wanted her to have a good, safe home.

Right after she came to us, still in very poor shape


She was a tidy one, cleaning herself very often and later even becoming a “full-time cleaner” for the other, lazier girls. They used to come to her just so she could groom them with all her vigor and energy.

Starting to acclimatize

As if her health condition wasn’t enough, she’s got an uterine hemorrhage one day. We thought that it’s the end – such hemorrhage required a sterilization surgery and in her state she could easily not make it. But she did make it. That was the day we started calling her a Terminator.

She always liked coming to us...

Of course that was not the last of her ordeals. One night she was almost bitten to death by Szaszłyk (Shishkebab), a male lab rat we thought was already a good member of the group. And he was, for three weeks he showed no bad behavior and was coexisting perfectly with the others. We have no idea what happened, but Sznurówka had a few bad wounds. It was the middle of the night, our vet clinic was closed, we couldn’t stop the bleeding easily… But it stopped finally and we rushed to the clinic as early as possible. She recovered, of course. Recovered very fast in fact. She never stopped fighting.

Feeling good, man

She lived on borrowed time for a few months already. Even just before Christmas she felt pretty bad and we feared it might be over. But no, not her. She didn’t give up easily. Got new medicines, more care from us, and lived on.

Always curious

She finally started to grew weaker and needed some more radical treatment. But even then she was happy to see us every time. Preparing medications and special meals for her few times a day has become a ritual of sorts. A ritual we will sorely miss.

Going for a little walk

She seemed a bit weak for a few days already. Today in the evening we caught that she started to have troubles breathing. We hurried to the clinic. It was full of people, but our doc took her immediately – she was well known there. She went under an oxygen tent and we waited while the doctors tried their best. After three hours she appeared seemingly victorious – or at least more lively. She never stopped fighting, not even then. But her body couldn’t take it any more. She wouldn’t live outside the oxygen tent.

We knew that day would come, but it didn’t make things any better. We cried, whispered our goodbyes and took her one last time. She passed away laying in our hands, sleeping.

You will be remembered.

Happy with the other girls

~ by omeg on May 12, 2012.

personal, rats

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