"LIFE'S TOO SHORT TO EAT BAD NUTS"

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Perching here and gathering my thoughts ...

Goodbye for now, Mary Bird

08 July 2008 ~ 11:08

On Friday, I had to say a sad farewell to our beautiful rat girl Mary. She was 22 months old and had been battling respiratory illness for a couple of months, on four different medications, but fighting well and seeming perky. She had even been feisty towards the two new baby rats, fluffing up, kicking out and fighting them, but she never harmed them and she soon accepted them.

Mark & I had been on holiday to Boston. My mum was supposed to be coming with us but she was sick the morning of the flight (Thursday 26th June) so she had to stay behind at the flat. It�s fortunate she did, because our pet-sitter, a friend we thought we could trust, didn�t actually turn up at all on Friday (we had asked her to come by around lunchtime), and on Saturday she didn�t show until 9.45pm! Mary was lucky to have her nan to look after her in her penultimate week of life, and she was pampered with boiled eggs and jam (jelly) on toast. If it was up to the pet-sitter she�d have gone hungry, which makes me so angry. Obviously all this time when we�ve booked her, she has only been turning up to collect her money, and not every day to see to the girls.

Mary was quiet on Thursday night, sitting on her own in a corner when I let the girls out, and she would only eat a couple of pieces of sweet corn from my hand, when usually she rushes to the bowl. When I came home Friday, she looked bad, she was cold and floppy, lying in wet and wouldn�t eat anything. That�s when I knew. I rushed her to the vets as an emergency and the vet, a lovely Aussie girl, agreed with me that euthanasia was the kindest thing as her lungs sounded terrible and she would not recover . She said Mary was beautiful and that touched me.

Mary has gone to be with Star but she leaves behind her 14 beautiful babies who are carrying on her genes.

Mary 10/09/06 � 04/07/08





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