in memory of Emil...

[ratcreature]

Emil
8.3.2007 - 11.9.2009

I had Emil put down this afternoon. The vet said that with this rapid a decline it was most likely a tumor inside, and that there was no sense to try antibiotics further in the bad condition he was in. And he had been suffering the last few days. (I even thought for a moment earlier today that he had died on his own because his body was so cold when I checked on him and he didn't react anymore, but after a moment I saw and heard that he was still breathing.)

Anyway, I cuddled with him for a while at home to say goodbye, hoping that even though he didn't seem very aware anymore he maybe still enjoyed being with me and lying on a warm body when his own wasn't even maintaining body temperature anymore, and then I brought him to vet to end his misery.

I hope I helped make the two and a half years he had a good life for him. He was only sick for a short time, barely two weeks, and he had never any health problems before, so he was luckier than many of my other rats. Though of course today it doesn't feel lucky.


I actually have baby pictures of him the breeder sent me, here he is with his siblings when his eyes were still closed (I think he's the one in the middle of the pile):


And a baby picture with his eyes open (he's the second from the left at the bottom, looking at the camera):


Once he was five weeks he and his brother Ignatz moved in with me, and as a young rat he was of course very hyper, so I have lots of blurry pictures:


Anyway he was an curious young rat, exploring things:




He also liked really uncomfortable looking sleep positions (notice how he disdained the comfy basket behind him, and instead chose to sleep squeezed into some contortionist pose).


He got more sensible about that as he got older, eventually his favorite spots were soft hammocks and baskets.

He loved yogurt:


and of course scrambled eggs (I have yet to meet a rat who doesn't):


In general bribery with food helped to get a picture taken:


Otherwise there was half a rat in it more often than not (though in this one only Ignatz moves out of the picture):







For the first time in years I am without rats. It feels very lonely.

Comments

[ratcreature]

Thanks.

I am planning to get new rats eventually, but it most likely won't be for several months at the earliest, even for only practical reasons. I try not to buy rats from pet stores if at all possible (as I dislike the view of animals as simple merchandise), so I will have to look for a new hobby breeder (because the ones I got my previus rats from have since given up their hobby), and then there is the waiting period until there are enough people who want babies and conception happens, then the pregnancy and the time until they are old enough to leave their mother. So getting rats isn't exactly a fast process, and hobby breeders for rats in a distance I can easily get to without a car aren't that numerous either.