Gone but not forgotten - Albie September 10, 2007

This is crazy Albie. We brought home her and her sister Siggy from a pet store. They were quoted to be "the ugliest rats I have ever seen" from the young man who sold them to us. We found them gorgeous and a heck of a lot of fun. Albie was nicknamed "demon rat" on occasion from me due to her red eyes. She was such a small girl and, funny enough, turned out to be an alpha rat. Bedlam would occur in the cage and it would be business as usual to see that it was Albie asserting her alpha-ness over another rat. This continued with the three boys, who at the smallest is twice the size of Albie. Plus, she was the nosiest little busybody. She was always the first at the door, pushing her cagemates out of the way to get to whatever it was. She had to know what others were getting. She was also quite fearless outside of the cage, riding my shoulder and wanting to check out the cat. Albie also was always on the go, making it difficult for our visiting sessions outside of the cage. She was so restless and always wanting to look at something.

She ended up with a lump and we had it removed. The vet told us that the lump had its own blood source and that we could have the lump checked for malignancy. We felt there was no point, as there wasn't much we could do for her if it was malignant. We decided to keep an eye on her and enjoy our time with her. She did very well for about four months or so and then started to lose a little weight. It wasn't much, not enough to be concerning. Then, on September 9, pretty much overnight she went from being somewhat energetic and lively to slow, lethargic and listless. I knew the end was coming when she would just sit with me. She never just sat with me.

We kept an eye on her overnight and on Monday she looked worse. Luckily, I was able to spend some time with her and when I was wiping her face off with a cloth, she had a seizure and died. We are thankful that she did not linger and suffer and that she had to make the "death ride" to the vet.

She was such a strong personality and will be greatly missed.