Beautiful
Louise

1/00 (?) - 8/13/01

One of the all time greats passed away today. Louise had a few strokes, besides battling the occasional respiratory problem over the last few months.  She fought like no rat I’ve ever had.  Sadly, Louise, who is one of the friendliest and happiest pets I’ve ever had, finally gave in this morning.

Louise came to me with her sister Thelma and Thelma’s babies from a lady who was going to feed them to a snake because they chewed on her couch.  I’m so glad I stepped in when I did because Thelma and Louise have been two of the finest pets I’ve ever had.  The lady said Louise had babies at one point, but I didn’t ask what had happened to them. I assumed the worst.

Louise was the more outgoing one from the start. Thelma was shyer and wouldn’t come out of the cage at first (back then, now she’s the first one out). Louise was mingling with the other rats right away. She loved it here from the get-go. And more than anything, she loved eating. That girl Louise got huge when she was with me. She was a good size already when I got her. But with me, she ate like a queen and really got big. She was the biggest female rat I’ve ever had.  Even Thelma right now is pretty big, but still not as big as Louise was.

I had zero problems with Louise.  When I would let all the rats out for their playtime out of the cage, all of them would go straight to the veggie plate. Thelma and Louise (and April) would come to my lap to say hi. Louise was such an affectionate girl, I wish more people had the privilege of meeting her.  Sometimes when all the rats were back in the cage, I’d let Louise (or Thelma) stay out and run around, because they were so good. Much of the time, Louise would come over and lie next to me for some scratching. Sometimes, she wanted to get back in the cage, though, which was funny, and she’d go lie by the cage door, which was her way of saying “let me in.”  Louise never had scuffles with the other rats.  She got along with everyone.

A couple of times this year, Louise had respiratory problems so bad, that I literally thought she’d be gone by the morning. One time she lied at the edge of the bed, hardly breathing and not moving. I kept waking up and checking on her throughout the night. She was still alive the next morning. I kept giving her medicine. Amazingly, she pulled out of it.  For a while, she was almost back to normal. I’ve never seen a rat bounce back to health like this amazing girl did.

Then she started having strokes.  She had her first one about three months ago.  She could still walk and move around fine, but couldn’t climb and when she tried to groom herself, she’d tip over like a toy. I had to make sure the water bottles were low in the cage and that she’d get enough food because when I’d give her something personally, the others would snatch it away.

But she was still happy and getting along fine. Then she had another stroke, and lost partial use of her front legs. Now it was getting tough. She developed respiratory problems again and again, there was a point where I thought she wasn’t going to make it through the night. But she pulled through. She learned to live with her partial use of her front legs. She couldn’t hold up food to eat it, so everyday, when I put the rats back in the cage, I’d keep Louise out and give her a plate of veggies and baby food.  I’d also hold a cracker or whatever treats I had given the others, for her to eat, which she could do fine as long I held it right by her mouth.  I noticed she was getting less and less use out of her front legs and it got to the point where she couldn’t hold herself up to the water bottle. I decided she should just live in my room outside the cage where I could keep an eye on her and make sure she was getting food and water. I put a bowl of water for her on the floor which she could drink out of fine and I always made sure she had rat food, veggies and baby food to eat.

Sometimes she’d go to the cage door like she used to, letting me know she wanted to go back in the cage, so I’d put her in for a while. I think she just liked being with her sister and the others.

I’m not sure how many strokes she had then, but soon, she lost all use of her front legs and most of her back.  She could only lie on her side. She couldn’t access food so I had to feed her. For about the last three weeks, I had been personally giving her baby food, water and that orange liquid you give to babies so they won’t get dehydrated (I forget what it’s call, the label came off the bottle).  I started getting a lot of different baby foods that I didn’t give the others, just for Louise so she’d have a variety. She couldn’t eat anything solid.  I had to hold her head up and give her the food through a syringe.

After a few days, she started getting use of her back legs again. When I’d put her on the floor, she’d kick her back legs and until she was able to actually push her body around. She didn’t have too much control of where she went, but she tried.  She’d even kind of wiggle her front legs.  At least she was eating all the baby food I’d give her and her poops looked very healthy. Make no mistake, I was willing to do this for her forever (and thanks to Robert Cunningham for the inspiration).  The last couple days I really think Louise was accepting her situation.  I was giving her some of her favorite banana baby food and she was really grinding her teeth and doing that “bugged eyed” thing rats do when they’re happy.  She was even starting to lie straight up, with her head up, like a dog, which seemed much more comfortable than her other positions.  Pretty much most of the time I was home I’d have Louise in my lap petting her or by my side. At night, I would place her next to my bed. She would push herself around the room and in the morning, I’d always find her under the drawers.  I tried giving her solid food now and then, but it was too hard to get her to eat it. I could occasionally get her to nibble on cheese, but she couldn’t open her mouth too much.

I was looking into getting her teeth taken care of as I could see the top ones were growing and I’m sure it was annoying her, and I was going to clip her nails this week, since they were really getting long.  But last night, she wouldn’t take any food.  I managed to get her to eat some, but no where near what she should have eaten. I forced her to take some water. I could tell this might be close to the end.  Yesterday, I decided to take it easy for the day and just lie around and watch movies all day (and I’ve been really sick all week) and I kept Louise right by my side. She didn’t try to push herself off at all. She lied in her towel and looked at me in a kind of content way and seemed to enjoy my petting her despite the fact she would hardly eat.

When I went to bed, I put her in her spot next to the bed and pet her until I went to sleep.  I couldn’t assume she wasn’t going to last through the night anymore because she proved me wrong too many times.  I could only hope she’d hang on.  This morning she had moved out a few inches on the floor.  She had just passed.  She was such a fighter, a girl who really should have died months ago. But she wouldn’t give up.  She enjoyed the company of the other rats and myself.  I feel sad when any of my rats die, but there are a select few that are at a different level. Louise was one of those.   She was a great pet, another one those rats who, if she had the chance, could turn the “rat illiterate” into rat lovers.  She loved people and loved life.  It’s cliched, but it’s true; rats lives are too short.  This is one girl who deserved a lot longer life.  But I’m glad I was lucky enough to have had her and Louise will be one of the pets I’ll never forget.  I hope everyone has at least one pet like her.