temblabamomo
Senior Member
As many of you already know, sweet Lucky lost his fight last night after a week long battle with complications from what likely began as a tooth abscess. So much happened this past week, but his life story had so much more to it than this recent sad ending, and I wanted to share it for anyone interested to read. Sorry it's such a long read:
EDIT: none of my post came through :/ Pls delete thread.
EDIT: Take Two! This is the somewhat condensed version:
As far as I am told, this is Lucky’s tale: He was born as feeder rat, and like so many, found himself in a snake’s tank. Fate interjected and he was not eaten. Up on CL he went as “free feeder or pet”. He was claimed by S, our VB hoarder, and became one of the many packed into her home. When the lady of NHR (a rat overpopulation situation we helped out with last summer) decided to help S, Lucky was one of the rats who she took from the house.
In his new home, Lucky was put with a group of boys who beat up on him, then found himself living alone in a hamster cage. After defending his territory during an improper introduction, during which he tore open the face of another rat, the NHR lady berated him, screamed at him, smacked his cage and basically scared the living daylights out of him. He never let her touch him again, and developed a fear-biting problem. L and I offered many times to take Lucky and work with him, but the lady refused to give him up. It broke my heart to leave him there the last day we were there to sort babies, but the repercussions would have been bad. Then, one day in August, I got the glorious phone call from L: "I have Lucky. When can I bring him to you?" Apparently he bit the woman one time too many, and she finally gave him up.
Lucky’s trust was not earned easily, but he is to be commended for his willingness to give humans a second chance after all he’d been put through in this world. An easy neuter solved his issues with other rats, and Lucky became part of a happy trio which included himself, Helo and Sidney. After Helo left us, Lucky and Sidney became close pals. He learned to trust, to love, to enjoy things like playtime and lap time. He even learned to popcorn somewhat awkwardly. He preferred to be left to enjoy playtime on his own, but there was never a day that went by when he wouldn't come to me and place his little hands gently on my leg to say hello. I loved the gentle way he did this, just as I loved his delicate pink flower petal ears and his round little tummy.
Both of his previous homes were raided by animal control earlier this year at different times. The fate of all those rats was not a happy one, although their suffering is finally over. “Lucky” was certainly an apt name for my little fellow who evaded death and/or other bad fates so many times. When it came to his last surgery, Lilspaz summed it up best though: we know there ARE miracles out there, it just wasn’t Lucky’s turn. It was time to pass his good luck on to another rat in need. Lucky was with me for 11 happy months. He adored Sid - always gave him baths, snuggled him, followed him during out time; Sid was his safe place and I'm so glad they were friends.
Rest well sweet Lucky <3
With his new pals (l - r) Helo, Sid & Lucky
EDIT: none of my post came through :/ Pls delete thread.
EDIT: Take Two! This is the somewhat condensed version:
As far as I am told, this is Lucky’s tale: He was born as feeder rat, and like so many, found himself in a snake’s tank. Fate interjected and he was not eaten. Up on CL he went as “free feeder or pet”. He was claimed by S, our VB hoarder, and became one of the many packed into her home. When the lady of NHR (a rat overpopulation situation we helped out with last summer) decided to help S, Lucky was one of the rats who she took from the house.
In his new home, Lucky was put with a group of boys who beat up on him, then found himself living alone in a hamster cage. After defending his territory during an improper introduction, during which he tore open the face of another rat, the NHR lady berated him, screamed at him, smacked his cage and basically scared the living daylights out of him. He never let her touch him again, and developed a fear-biting problem. L and I offered many times to take Lucky and work with him, but the lady refused to give him up. It broke my heart to leave him there the last day we were there to sort babies, but the repercussions would have been bad. Then, one day in August, I got the glorious phone call from L: "I have Lucky. When can I bring him to you?" Apparently he bit the woman one time too many, and she finally gave him up.
Lucky’s trust was not earned easily, but he is to be commended for his willingness to give humans a second chance after all he’d been put through in this world. An easy neuter solved his issues with other rats, and Lucky became part of a happy trio which included himself, Helo and Sidney. After Helo left us, Lucky and Sidney became close pals. He learned to trust, to love, to enjoy things like playtime and lap time. He even learned to popcorn somewhat awkwardly. He preferred to be left to enjoy playtime on his own, but there was never a day that went by when he wouldn't come to me and place his little hands gently on my leg to say hello. I loved the gentle way he did this, just as I loved his delicate pink flower petal ears and his round little tummy.
Both of his previous homes were raided by animal control earlier this year at different times. The fate of all those rats was not a happy one, although their suffering is finally over. “Lucky” was certainly an apt name for my little fellow who evaded death and/or other bad fates so many times. When it came to his last surgery, Lilspaz summed it up best though: we know there ARE miracles out there, it just wasn’t Lucky’s turn. It was time to pass his good luck on to another rat in need. Lucky was with me for 11 happy months. He adored Sid - always gave him baths, snuggled him, followed him during out time; Sid was his safe place and I'm so glad they were friends.
Rest well sweet Lucky <3
With his new pals (l - r) Helo, Sid & Lucky
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