Curly

I looked at my last post and thought I was so cavalier about Curly's death. The reality is that the loss of Curly has been horrible. And, well, likely was part of the reason it's been so long since I've blogged. I just couldn't stomach writing about her death.

I came home one day and Curly was struggling to breathe. I drove her to the emergency vet, but she didn't survive the night despite antibiotics and oxygen. It was our introduction to how fast a rat can be lost. We were lucky and the other rats never even coughed.

Curly was one of our first, and she was such a strong personality, bossy and threw her naked butt around a lot. We now have 7 rats, not one of which is hairless. It may be a long while before we have another hairless. Curly's life though brief will be remembered.


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Back from hiatus

Lots have happened.

Here's the quick update:
7 rats
Patches, Gwynneth, Rose, Martha, Lily, and the two new boys, Doctor and Walter. Curly, sigh, died suddenly of a respiratory tract infection. We waited with great fear during the quarantine but no one else got sick.

Doctor and Walter are our newest additions, and they are living in our small cage until 3 weeks after their neuters, as the plan is for them to join the girls but we don't want babies. All of the girls are eager to meet the boys, so we expect the integration of all of them to go well.

And, what's the picture? That's Patches peeking her head out of a favorite toy: a shoe box filled with a whole bunch of tissue paper.


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