Gone But Not Forgotten - Hilda - May 3, 2008

Hilda was brought home with Clementine as part of a large rescue. Later on we reunited her with Virginia and Lulu.

Hilda always seemed to be the oldest of the bunch (besides Virginia who wasn't supposed to be with us long) but she outlasted the other three girls and when I talked to the lady at the rescue, she said that there were only a few rats remaining from that particular rescue.

She was a curious, restless girl. When I would take her out of the cage to sit with me, she would be very interested in what was going on elsewhere. She'd try to get on the back of the chair or on the computer table. She would only give me a few moments of attention until she wanted to find out what was "over there".

One thing Hilda was was a fighter. She was already starting to show her age and slow down, but then she got a lump. Then she got another lump on the opposite side. What really determined what we would do was that she also had a hard belly, which was found with a few other girls that we had and it meant that they would be going soon - a major abdominal surgery is not something we would want to put an older rat through even if we found a vet who would do it. She eventually started growing a third lump, but it never grew any bigger than a pea. Hilda was still very much interested in running around and checking things out. We figured we'd keep an eye on her and once she stopped losing her enthusiasm and interest in food, we'd decide what to do.

She hung in quite a bit longer than we thought. We actually believed that Hilda would go before Lulu. When Hilda started to lose weight I started to make a habit of giving her chocolate chips and/or a cashew when we went to sit. I knew she was wearing out when she started sitting with me longer before she'd get wandering. She was still eating though. Eventually, we woke up to find her gone in the cage. She was still doing reasonably well and eating and still getting around. We would look into the cage to check her out only to see her looking back at us as if to say "where's my food????".

We'll miss Hilda, the last of our four ladies. I'll definitely miss her bruxing by my ear on our sits. I will always remember her spirit and her fight.