I had my penultimate wedding dress fitting today (not long now!!) Just about fit into it. Am having to have it adjusted though because over the next few weeks I’m expecting to get fatter. Cos… you know… having a baby 
And because I haven’t done a “Rat a Day” picture for a while – Alan!
We lost darling little Tesla last night, far too young at 1 year 7 months. We knew it was likely to happen – we have known he was probably dying for the last 10 days, but his death was still an incredibly sad shock.
Tesla was without a doubt the fittest, healthiest rat we’ve ever had. He was in his absolute prime – chunky, great fur, no skin problems or anything like that. Then 10 days ago we noticed he seemed sleepy. You’d pick him up and he was limp. He lost weight rapidly over the next few days and had to be hand fed. Some days it seemed like he was doing better. In fact, on Sunday we thought he was going to recover.
But he couldn’t. The thing is, it was a pituitary tumour and we knew in our hearts he wasn’t going to make it. He didn’t suffer. In fact, if I could choose a way for my boys to go this would be it.
Si told me when he met me from work yesterday that Tessles had gone down hill again. As soon as we got home we took him out of the cage and gave him cuddles. I scritched his favourite places and he managed a small purr and then slipped into a coma. He wasn’t responding to anything. His eyes were open, but we knew it was only a matter of time. For the next three hours we took turns cuddling him and telling him we loved him – then his breathing became laboured and raspy. We moistened his lips to make him more comfortable but he wasn’t there any more. We took him back to the cage so he could pass surrounded by his friends. I cuddled him one last time and put him in the bed of the cage, near Cosmo. For the first time in hours he tried to lift himself up, and he and Cosmo slowly brushed noses. Qixl came over and licked him forehead, and Digby came over to see him. Tesla stretched his back legs in a faint little spasm, then Digby started bruxing (bruxing can also mean sadness as well as happiness). Cosmo lowered his head and closed his eyes – never seen a rat look so sad before. Then Alan and Mungo came barrelling over to Tesla and tried to wake him up – shaking him and trying to turn him over and clean him. They were frantic – Alan in particular, who wouldn’t let anyone near him and actually stood over Tesla to fight anyone off. Tesla had passed 30 seconds after I’d put him back in the cage – I think he needed to say goodbye to his buddies.
Qixl was the only one who missed Tesla’s passing, so we showed him Tesla’s body so he would understand. He tugged his brother’s back feet a few times then, when there was no response, he accepted Tesla had crossed the bridge and went to comfort Cosmo.
Tesla was a lovely, cheky, confident little chap – a true Top Rat loved by all of his friends – and by us 
Alan and Mungo, as the title suggests, have a real love-hate relationship. When they first met, they didn’t hit it off very well, and Mungo bullied Alan for a few weeks. Alan is a bit of a jumpy rat, but mostly he’s calm and stable. He learned early on not to like Mungo though. We think Mungo was just jealous though, as he is a very placid, friendly chap.
Now Alan is getting bigger. Although he’s jumpy, he’s also very brave – a future top rat. And he’s never really forgiven Mungo. Mungo really wants to be friendly to him, but Alan doesn’t trust him. And it’s a shame because, really, Mungo is a little sweetie.
This morning Alan, crawled out of the rat pile and fell asleep in the middle of the cage (he does this quite frequently). Mungo came trotting out after him quite quickly and leaned over and bumped noses with him, as if to say “hey, what’s up buddy?”. Alan glared back at him and Mungo ran back to the rest of the rat pile, very subdued! But it was ok – 5 minutes later I found Alan using Mungo as a mattress, a little smile on his face.
Tesla wasn’t very well last night – I think he choked on something. I woke up at about 3am and found him spluttering and drooling – I think he’d just managed to clear his throat. I got him out for a cuddle and then Alan and Mungo started fighting. As soon as they started squeaking, Tesla got very agitated and tried to leap back to the cage. As soon as they stopped, he was calm again. This happened several times – whenever the boys started squeaking Tesla got very very upset – never seen anything quite like it.
Tesla is a very good alpha rat. He’s one of the best, and he really looks after his boys. I mentioned it to Si, about how Tesla was worried his boys were fighting and clearly wanted to get back to the cage to keep things calm (he’s good at sorting out fights). Si then told me that before he went to bed he got Tesla out for a cuddle and told him he needed to make sure the boys behaved, and reminded him of his duties as boss rat – which just made it even funnier!
Gah, it’s too busy at the moment. Every spare second is wedding related. With less than 4 months to go, it seems like everything I’m doing outside work is either wedding, housework or rat related. So, very quick update just so you know I’m alive and well, and I’ll hopefully be able to do a longer one later in the week.
Sadly, we lost Puddle a week ago. It was very difficult, and his loss has hit me harder than I expected. I really miss my old boy. His life was just getting too difficult.
We did, however, get a new little boy – an agouti dumbo we’ve called Alan (just because he’s amusing to give a rat a person name!) Alan is Tesla’s little protege, a silly, sweet cheeky thing, very confident and lovely. He has a picture page set up if you look at the “My Rats” section in the tool bar.
I really really do plan to reply to my emails and comments but I feel like I haven’t even got time to scratch my bum at the moment! So all I will say is this is temporary, normal services will hopefully resume soon and the Rodent Rebels will continue, definitely. And I will finish their current adventure, as soon as I can. It’s just a question of finding time.
Oh, and Digby’s losing his fur!!
Love to you all xxxxxxxx
Berg was doing so well, despite all of his health problems. He was just a scatty, carefree, silly chap and we loved him very much. Sadly today he had to be helped to the bridge. I got up early as we had a busy day ahead of us and went to say hello. He was lying half in-half out the toilet, looking very listless. I went to stroke him and he didn’t react – this was a big sign something was wrong. Normally when you stroke Berg he immediately tries to spin around and catch you, as his eyesight was terrible and because of his tilty problems. This time he didn’t even look up. I called Si and he came to see him and Berg didn’t respond – he just lay on his side with his eyes open (because he had bad sight problems he slept with his eyes open a lot of the time). We took him out for a cuddle and he was very very peaceful. We took him to the vet and he lifted his head up when he felt the sun on his face (he always liked sunbathing) but he was very quiet – he never really woke up again. We don’t know why he suddenly declined, but it was very peaceful. Si is so cut up – Berg was his very special boy, he was in pieces when he realised Berg was on his way out. It’s rare you ever get such a clear indication from a rat that their end has come, but this was it.
Berg was a cheeky chap, and a real character. He went through a grumpy, bad tempered phase but mostly he was a very happy-go-lucky boy and we’ll really miss him.
That last photo was only taken a couple of days ago. He liked sitting on his bum like a human. I guess it was comfy
Here’s a picture of me this afternoon with Mungo. He was very good at consoling me.
And today’s rat picture is of Digby:
Too many sick rats, you guys. Puddle isn’t doing too badly, although his back legs and feet are still awful. Berg is soooo skinny and his body shape is almost frog-like, the way his back legs stick out. We’re still convinced he’s very happy though, he just seems very carefree. Cosmo’s mites are getting better but for a while he was ripping his neck to shreds. Digby had to go back to the vets over the weekend for some stronger medication because his myco wasn’t getting better and he was struggling to breathe, but thankfully his new meds seem to be having some effect. And poor Qixl had another fit this morning. I tried to film it so I could post it online, in case anyone could tell me what was going on, but it was over very quickly.
So let’s think of something funner. Tesla has been very playful lately. We put some tissue paper in the cage for them to play with and he’s had a great time with it. He takes it over to whoever’s sleeping (usually Puddle) then rips it until they wake up. Then he takes it to the next one. He’s a very silly chappy.
Today’s picture: Dervel.
Thank you everyone for your congratulations for Si and me. We are so excited about the wedding. And a bit stressed. But mostly excited. We haven’t really given ourselves much of a time scale for this. I’m confident we’ll get it all done – I don’t think my mum is! Which makes me less confident. Aargh!
There’s so much to do!!! It won’t be rat-themed (although we have thought about it) but it will be themed: Phantom of the Opera themed (with a little Les Mis thrown in for flavour). Five and a half months. We can do that, right? Right?
The boys are all doing fairly well. Puddle is very wheezy though, and his back legs are quite weak. He’s taken to walking on his curled-in toes, and he’s lost a bit of weight. Digby is also still snotty and a bit thinner, Berg is doing well but his back hips have started splaying something awful, and Cosmo has mites. Qixl is doing very well though, and Tesla and Mungo are both in their primes, so at least that’s something!
Well, we’ve got some good news here – Si and I are getting married! We’ve been engaged for nearly 8 years so we thought we should probably get on with it and so we are! We’re getting married in November and it’s all systems go – lots to do until then but we’re so looking forward to it!
I hope this won’t affect the sites too much but it probably will – certainly the Rodent Rebels. It has so far, anyway (what with so many things to arrange). But the sites won’t grind to a complete halt. I hope
Apologies to those who have emailed me at my Rodent Rebels email address (or through the site) – I changed my passwords recently and promptly forgot that one. I sat down this evening to crack the code and so have read all your lovely words, but am a bit too tired now to respond to them – hopefully I will in the next couple of days.
The boys are doing well, although Mungo is now more blob than rat. We’ve got some great pictures of him recently that I know you’ll want to se:
I think it makes Mungo look a bit stoopid really
Today’s picture is Baldrick. It’s based on another artist’s work – link to be supplied soon when I can find it again!
Oh wow, I am aching with fibro right now!
Si and I went away for a few days over the last week, to visit his mum in Plymouth, which is why I haven’t been around so much. We’ve got a lot on over the next few weeks – all will be revealed soon. Until then though, I must admit I don’t know when the next Rodent Rebels installment will be. Hopefully sooner rather than later. I’m going to have to stop doing an installment every week as it has (clearly) proven difficult to keep up with and the book itself has to be my priority. However, I’m definitely not stopping the cartoons – and at least I’m making headway with my book.
Digby is making progress – his leg is better now and he’s getting over his myco. It’s still there, but he is beating it! We took some more pictures of him today with his new teddy:
Mungo, however, was less cooperative.
He decided to kill the teddy instead. I think he’s going for the groin!
Puddle is doing ok still, and Qixl hasn’t had any more fits. Berg is losing weight quite a bit and keeps eating the substrate. We think his urine is a little pinker too, so his kidneys might be failing. He’s still really happy though.
Here’s our little Bergy for today’s Rat picture.
Digby seems to sloooowly be making some progress with his myco problems – it’s starting to sound a little less crackly – but dear lord, he’s running us through the mill at the moment. We noticed yesterday that he was limping, and today his back foot is terribly swollen. I touched it gently and he squeaked, although he let me feel it and I can’t feel any broken bones in his foot or leg. It’s just very swollen and bruised and he’s really pulling it up into his side, and struggling to get comfy. Poor chap, it’s one thing after another. It’s always the heart rats who have these problems, isn’t it.
Thankfully Mungo, my other heartie, is doing very well, the big fatty. Had him out for a cuddle this evening while I read a book to Si (he loves me reading him stories) and Mungo was fascinated. He looked like he was really listening, and kept jumping up to look at the pictures. He’s very boyish is our Mungo-bean, and loves sitting on my chest and snuggling into me. He is very much like Dervel!
Qixl and Puddle and Berg are doing well today, although Berg had a bit of trouble aiming his head at the water bottle this evening, so Cosmo slid underneath him and propped him up, pushing him in the right direction. Rats are amazing, aren’t they!
