Charolette was my third rat, and the bestest friend I ever had. It broke my heart when she passed, and although I still cannot accept it, and am probably not ready to write this, I owe it to her and know that she cannot play peacefully at the rainbow bridge until I let all my tears out once and for all and let her go. No matter how much it hurts.
Charolette was a black dumbo self, daughter of a dumbo russian blue self and a dumbo mink berkshire. She was born on June 3rd, and I purchased her from a wonderful woman named Crystal, who takes wonderful care of all her rats, and bought her home on August 3rd.
June 3rd:
And... a little bit later:
And a little more later:
I saw Charolette for the first time on a Craiglist ad with this photo attached:
It was love at first sight. I knew that this was the rattie for me. I bought her home, and I think that she felt the same way about me, because she was already grooming me and bruxing on the way home. She was 2 months old at the time.
For a week or so she lived in a dog kennel thing(the carrying kind) as I searched for a good cage for her. It wasn't long before this smart little critter chewed a hole through it and got out. It was in the middle of the night, and she jumped on my bed, curled up on my face, and slept with me. I woke up and it took me a good hour to find the hole. The next night, I placed the cage on the highest shelf in my room. Two days after that, she simply jumped off and crawled in my bed again. She was a fearless daredevil, and even after I luckily found a 3-story ferret cage for her, she still found ways out, no matter how many exits I patched up.
November 22nd I had a friend over, so I didn't check on her much, only to say hello to her and Matilda, who was her new cagemate. It was at 12:30 a.m. that I took her out to say goodnight, and noticed that something was horribly wrong. Her fur was puffed up, she had horrible eye discharge, and she was all flabby and weak. I immidietly moved her to an isolation cage, she ate a bit of food, but layed the whole time. She was hardly holding herself up, mostly just resting her whole body.
Although I'm not religious, that night I prayed to every god I could think of and stayed up with her all night, not getting a wink of sleep. Everytime she slightly changed her position, hope flooded through me, but I was still terrified and unsure that she would make it till morning. She did, and I rushed her to the vet at 9 a.m.
They are not sure what was wrong with her, but we knew that she was anemic. She must have had some sort of internal bleeding, maybe from falling from a high shelf. I had to leave her at the vet's where she would get fluid and baytril injections, and be placed in a oxygen chamber. When the vet scooped her up into her arms, I looked at her and wanted to give her a kiss(the rat!), but decided that I'll be seeing her in a few hours.
Sadly, this was not so. At 5:05 p.m., for some weird reason, I called the vet office to ask how she was doing. I called exactly at the moment she took her last breath. I picked up her remains an hour later, and buried her in my garden along with a bear I knitted. She was only 5 months old.
Charolette,
you were the smartest, most beautiful, amazing, clever, brave, and cuddliest person I ever knew. Although I could only spend three months with you, it felt like a lifetime, and I felt as though I lost a sister. We were family, best friends, whatever you wanna call it. I love you to bits. I couldn't eat or sleep for three days after you died, and I was sick with sorrow, grief, and guilt. I wished so bad I had checked on you earlier, I wished I could have spent more time with you when I still had the chance, I wish I broke into the pharmacy next door to steal some baytril and given it to you Wensday night. The only thing that helps me is thinking that you're right here with me, watching over and trying to calm my heart. I know you can't be peacefull until I accept what happened, but it feels as though I never will be able to. There is no other rat alive today, before, or in the future like you, and I truly hope that there is a rainbow bridge witch we will cross together. I love you.
Your mommy, Aida.
It dosen't matter how long I make this, and I won't try and make it five pages, nor will I try and write fifty verse poems about it. Anyone who has ever lost a best friend knows how it feels, and it can't be put into words that everyone will understand, anyways. Because it's different for us all. All I can hope is that my sweetheart sees how much I love her, and understands and forgives me.
Charolette was a black dumbo self, daughter of a dumbo russian blue self and a dumbo mink berkshire. She was born on June 3rd, and I purchased her from a wonderful woman named Crystal, who takes wonderful care of all her rats, and bought her home on August 3rd.
June 3rd:
And... a little bit later:
And a little more later:
I saw Charolette for the first time on a Craiglist ad with this photo attached:
It was love at first sight. I knew that this was the rattie for me. I bought her home, and I think that she felt the same way about me, because she was already grooming me and bruxing on the way home. She was 2 months old at the time.
For a week or so she lived in a dog kennel thing(the carrying kind) as I searched for a good cage for her. It wasn't long before this smart little critter chewed a hole through it and got out. It was in the middle of the night, and she jumped on my bed, curled up on my face, and slept with me. I woke up and it took me a good hour to find the hole. The next night, I placed the cage on the highest shelf in my room. Two days after that, she simply jumped off and crawled in my bed again. She was a fearless daredevil, and even after I luckily found a 3-story ferret cage for her, she still found ways out, no matter how many exits I patched up.
November 22nd I had a friend over, so I didn't check on her much, only to say hello to her and Matilda, who was her new cagemate. It was at 12:30 a.m. that I took her out to say goodnight, and noticed that something was horribly wrong. Her fur was puffed up, she had horrible eye discharge, and she was all flabby and weak. I immidietly moved her to an isolation cage, she ate a bit of food, but layed the whole time. She was hardly holding herself up, mostly just resting her whole body.
Although I'm not religious, that night I prayed to every god I could think of and stayed up with her all night, not getting a wink of sleep. Everytime she slightly changed her position, hope flooded through me, but I was still terrified and unsure that she would make it till morning. She did, and I rushed her to the vet at 9 a.m.
They are not sure what was wrong with her, but we knew that she was anemic. She must have had some sort of internal bleeding, maybe from falling from a high shelf. I had to leave her at the vet's where she would get fluid and baytril injections, and be placed in a oxygen chamber. When the vet scooped her up into her arms, I looked at her and wanted to give her a kiss(the rat!), but decided that I'll be seeing her in a few hours.
Sadly, this was not so. At 5:05 p.m., for some weird reason, I called the vet office to ask how she was doing. I called exactly at the moment she took her last breath. I picked up her remains an hour later, and buried her in my garden along with a bear I knitted. She was only 5 months old.
Charolette,
you were the smartest, most beautiful, amazing, clever, brave, and cuddliest person I ever knew. Although I could only spend three months with you, it felt like a lifetime, and I felt as though I lost a sister. We were family, best friends, whatever you wanna call it. I love you to bits. I couldn't eat or sleep for three days after you died, and I was sick with sorrow, grief, and guilt. I wished so bad I had checked on you earlier, I wished I could have spent more time with you when I still had the chance, I wish I broke into the pharmacy next door to steal some baytril and given it to you Wensday night. The only thing that helps me is thinking that you're right here with me, watching over and trying to calm my heart. I know you can't be peacefull until I accept what happened, but it feels as though I never will be able to. There is no other rat alive today, before, or in the future like you, and I truly hope that there is a rainbow bridge witch we will cross together. I love you.
Your mommy, Aida.
It dosen't matter how long I make this, and I won't try and make it five pages, nor will I try and write fifty verse poems about it. Anyone who has ever lost a best friend knows how it feels, and it can't be put into words that everyone will understand, anyways. Because it's different for us all. All I can hope is that my sweetheart sees how much I love her, and understands and forgives me.
