It is almost a month after Meredith passed away. I wasn't sure what I was going to write about her. I didn't get to know her as well as some of my past rats as she was one of many during her stay with me.When thinking about it further, I realized that she had taught me a valuable lesson, one that will influence my ratkeeping in the future.
Meredith was a rescue who I brought home after another hoarder situation. I was already well within what I believed to be my limit, but I wanted her to have a forever home and believed that good food, the love of people and friendly cagemates would be a good life for her. I'm sure it was, but she left me with the impression that she needed to be someone's special baby - to be one of a very few of someone who could give them near unlimited attention. I could possibly be wrong about that, but that was the feeling I got from her. It was always a feat to give each rat equal time - I try not to play favorites.
After she passed, I vowed that I would let the group I have go and stay within my limit of four or five, at the very most. We have six right now and I feel comfortable with that. When we rescued the three boys and that brought us up to ten, I knew that it was a precarious situation and then getting Meredith at 11 rats was really stretching it. But, as I said above, I believed that having a forever home with good food, cagemates and people would be better than being in a foster.
Was this the right choice? I'll never really know. She didn't voice her opinion. It did, however, wake me up to the fact that perhaps it wasn't and for this I will never have that many rats again until I no longer have to work and my days are free.
She was a very cute, sweet and friendly girl. She loved the boys and they loved her. She got along very well with all the other cagemates and when she went outside the cage, she liked to stay still, but became bored very easily and tried to look around. She also liked to keep fingers. We'd put our finger in to give her a pet and she'd take it, gently hold on but then when we'd try to take our finger away, she'd have a death grip on it. And just hold on. No biting, no licking. Just held it in front of her.
