I never really paid tribute to Bon yet.

The little pic is her baby pic and she truly did look like a fat little bon-bon. I never had an adult picture of her but I believe the picture with the dark blue background is very close to how she looked. She was quite a beautiful rat with a tail that was patterned like shifting sand.

Here is something I wrote shortly after she died.

In the little rat kingdom she was Queen. Penelope was her Merlin secretly running things and Dinky, the little Court Jester.

The humans were giant, but benevolent ogres. She had a special fondness for the one called John and even as weak as she was, she still boggled and bruxed when he petted her and fell asleep with him for one final nap. She was fond of me, too, in her way, and every once in awhile she would climb up on my chest and cautiously look me in the eyes like she was trying to bridge the interspecies communication gap.

Always somewhat grumpy, but never mean. A real rat's rat. She liked to be near her humans, but at arm's length. She would come to you when SHE wanted to be petted. She loved being scritched then for long periods of time and would wag her tail and close her eyes in bliss.

She loved her food and until the very last day nothing would keep her away from her Belgian chocolate pudding.

I will miss you my little curmudgeon. I'm glad you are at peace now and Queen of your new surroundings.

Labels: good-byes, pics

Penelope, AKA 3GR Lioness, came from 3 Girls Rattery in Washington.

I've been meaning to write this for a long time now. It still hurts for me to think about her and to see her pictures. Penelope was my heart of hearts. She was always Penelope Princess to me and always will be. Even as she was dying she still had a little ratlet's spirit.

I originally thought her breeder name of Lioness didn't suit her. As I grew to know her though, I discovered that she did indeed have qualities of a Lioness. She was totally brave. Scared of nothing, curious about everything. She loved to try new things, explore new places, meet new people. She loved people and was my greatest Rattie Ambassador. I used her to work with girls who had intense rat phobias (at the non-profit afterschool program where I work) and she never failed to win them over with her good nature and charming ways.

She adored me, as I adored her. As a little pup, she climbed up my chest one day and looked me in the eyes for a long time and it was as if one being was looking into the soul of another being. Whenever I was near she wanted to be with me. No matter where she was in the cage, she was always first out and last in. She was extremely affectionate. Even though she was ALWAYS busy and always going, she would check in frequently to give kisses and groom and sometimes to snuggle up in the crook of my arm or to lay on my chest and fall asleep bruxing in contentment.

Penelope was an incredibly smart rat. Although the tiniest girl in the cage, she ran it. Without a fight she somehow ruled.

I will miss her all my days and nights.

Labels: good-byes, pics

On Sunday night as I was doing my nightly good-nights to everyone, I saw Dink in an unusual position, kind of limply laying with her back to the front of the cage. When I reached in to pet her she was very unresponsive and cool. John and I held her most of the night, talking to her and kissing her, snuggling her inside our shirts to keep her warm. We tried to get her to eat or drink but she seemed to have lost the ability to swallow and seemed semi-paralyzed all over. I made a bed for her with a hot water bottle underneath so she could stay out with us. She never seemed to be in pain but you could tell life was leaving her.

At one point I looked over at her and there was something...
I don't know what it was exactly...she had been sort of staring blankly for awhile but her eyes looked blank in a different way. I knew she was gone. I think it must have been a stroke like her sister, Gigi.

Ironically, the previous evening we had remarked that we thought she might make it to three because she was running around like a kid and bright-eyed and energetic and happy as could be.

Having rats makes you face your own mortality and the mortality of all that you love.

I made a shroud for her out of material that looks like the night sky and put her in the freezer. She will be buried with her sister in a large flower pot at the Girls' Club where I work. The girls specifically asked for that. She was much loved by all of us, especially "daddy". He used to call her his sack-o-sugar because she was so sweet.

Labels: good-byes