The worst day of our lives

22 February 2004 ~ 15:59

We had a great time at the shelter, the home of a lovely woman called Emma who had ferrets, rats, degus, rabbits, cats and a dog. We cuddled and played with the ferrets, particularly one gorgeous individual called Squidge. We also picked out two little female rats: Zoe, who was white with a grey patch over her right eye, and Jade, white with a blackish brown cap on her head with a thin white stripe vertical stripe on her forehead. They were darling little things, full of beans.

We took a cab home with the rats having paid a �10 donation to the shelter, and proceeded to put them on the bathroom floor with Sky. She seemed afraid of them and sat on my shoulder, while the babies hid in the corner. Mark went to clean the cage out.

I was worried about putting them all in together and suggested using the spare cage for the babies, and just letting them play together until they got used to each other, but Mark thought they would just avoid each other and the only way to get them along together was to put them in the same cage.

When we put them in, Sky displayed typical rat dominance behaviour, which I had witnessed before when introducing new rats to a resident rat. She kept flipping them over onto their backs�Jade particularly�and sniffing them vigorously. We watched her do this for half an hour, then we both thought we�d step out for something to eat, fully expecting them to be the best of friends when we returned.

We went to the local caf�, then both got a quick haircut. We went back to the flat and as I took my shoes off in the bathroom, I called to Mark �How are they doing?�

�Oh no!� I heard �Oh please God.�

�WHAT?� I yelled, �Are you winding me up?� I so hoped he was joking. Had she hurt them? Again he just called �Oh no� and I rushed into the living room. Mark seemed paralysed with shock. Bloody tissue lay inside the cage, and two lifeless tiny rat bodies, with fatal bites to their necks. Zoe�s ear was even slightly chewed. We snatched them up to try and give them the kiss of life, but they were already cold.

I have wept buckets. I do blame myself. Those babies trusted us with their tiny lives, and we left them in with a killer�though we didn�t know it at the time. The worst thing is that we are both now grieving not just for the two tiny lives snuffed out so abruptly, but for our love for Sky. We are not sure how we feel about her anymore. We did love her with a passion. She was our baby, our darling, the love of our lives. I even had a necklace made with a picture of her on it, and had commissioned a painting of her by a renowned artist (now cancelled, of course). We are in mourning for things the way they were with Sky, just as surely as we are about the loss of Jade and Zoe.

God rest their tiny rat souls.


Stored nuts | Future acorns