October 06, 2024
Things are much the same as usual, work has gotten more overwhelming but it's also much of the same.
I've been thinking a lot about rats lately, about how heartbreaking they are. They live for such a short time, but they burn so incredibly brightly that it's impossible not to get so attached that they rip out your heart when they leave. All four of my current boys are doing just fine, but after Peanut's tumor I've been watching their collective health like a hawk. Did you know I've had fourteen rats total since 2020, these four included? That's ten lost, thankfully mostly in their twilight years.
Sometimes I wonder if I should stop keeping rats entirely or maybe take a short break, but then I look at my boys and wonder where they might be if not here. The cage they're in is a quad critter nation, but would someone else give them so much space? Would someone else have taken all four so they wouldn't be separated? What about all the other rats out there that need homes?
They might not live very long, but I hope I can make a few of their lives better.
They're not a pet for everyone for that exact reason and even those of us who can handle the constant loss get weary. I don't really put much into faith or religion, I personally don't believe in any kind of afterlife, but sometimes I like to think that I'll have a lot of little faces greeting me in the far flung future...
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September 05, 2024
... and its funny how life just goes on!!
Things have mostly been the same! I go to work, deal with that bull, go home, take care of the rats, and then repeat! I really need to give this place some more love, maybe that'll get me out of this boring funk im in.
Last month was Indy Furcon, which is always fun! It was such a warm weekend that i could hardly bare suiting, so i only bothered for the parade. Always grateful for the guy who prints out photos of everybody afterwards!!
Then, right after IFC, i had to take my rat Peanut to the vet for... you guessed it, a mammary tumor. Same kind as what Gemini had, but they've changed things up a little and since his was caught small the surgery to remove it was about half as much as the previous quotes! He's recovering beautifully!
Now all i need to worry about is the eventual need for an MFF hotel and beating this flu I've come down with...
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April 28, 2024
It's funny how things happen, isn't it?
My last entry was full of optimism over the four new boys and this one is opening with the loss of my last two old men. Valerie was put to sleep about a week or so ago now, he'd had what looked like multiple strokes that had affected his mobility so severely that I couldn't let him suffer. He was two years and two months old...
And now Gemini's appointment is being scheduled. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. He's been the most special rat I've had since Durban, he knew Durban. THey even have the same coat color and pattern, though it wasn't intentional on my part. I wasn't aware that Gemini was a berkshire when I went to pick him up, I thought he was full self...
He came to me at close to six weeks old and as a lone little guy and bonded closely to me as he was quarantined until he was big enough to meet the others, he's still so full of life and his eyes are so damned bright that it's just not fair. Gemini is two years and... five months? Six months? Almost three years old... He's been battling a mammary tumor for only three months and his age, coupled with how poorly he heals and the cost I was quoted for surgery, has led to it growing to nearly half his size. He's been able to climb and play until this week, thus... the decision.
Am I a bad owner? Should I have done this when it was smaller? I never expected to be quoted over 1k for a mammary tumor in a rat, I last recall similar surgeries being half that... did I fail him...? Ive had the means to care for every other issue they've all had, but this one...
Durban passed from a brain tumor, have I mentioned that here? It was something we knew about, that was being treated, and it bought him another year but the end was traumatizing for everyone. It's like the sweetest, most charismatic ones are the ones who get it worst. They're all the sweetest, really... I just have very bad luck in which ones bond closest to me.
Rats don't deserve all the hardships their bodies put them through. We don't deserve rats.
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April 28, 2024
It's funny how things happen, isn't it?
My last entry was full of optimism over the four new boys and this one is opening with the loss of my last two old men. Valerie was put to sleep about a week or so ago now, he'd had what looked like multiple strokes that had affected his mobility so severely that I couldn't let him suffer. He was two years and two months old...
And now Gemini's appointment is being scheduled. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. He's been the most special rat I've had since Durban, he knew Durban. THey even have the same coat color and pattern, though it wasn't intentional on my part. I wasn't aware that Gemini was a berkshire when I went to pick him up, I thought he was full self...
He came to me at close to six weeks old and as a lone little guy and bonded closely to me as he was quarantined until he was big enough to meet the others, he's still so full of life and his eyes are so damned bright that it's just not fair. Gemini is two years and... five months? Six months? Almost three years old... He's been battling a mammary tumor for only three months and his age, coupled with how poorly he heals and the cost I was quoted for surgery, has led to it growing to nearly half his size. He's been able to climb and play until this week, thus... the decision.
Am I a bad owner? Should I have done this when it was smaller? I never expected to be quoted over 1k for a mammary tumor in a rat, I last recall similar surgeries being half that... did I fail him...? Ive had the means to care for every other issue they've all had, but this one...
Durban passed from a brain tumor, have I mentioned that here? It was something we knew about, that was being treated, and it bought him another year but the end was traumatizing for everyone. It's like the sweetest, most charismatic ones are the ones who get it worst. They're all the sweetest, really... I just have very bad luck in which ones bond closest to me.
Rats don't deserve all the hardships their bodies put them through. We don't deserve rats.
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March 02, 2024
The year's come and gone... and now it's already March! Can you believe it?
I know I've mentioned that I lost two of my eldest rats in the last three months of the year, but guess what? A friend contacted me about a pair of baby boys her cousin was fostering that needed homes... then, when I went to pick them up on January 1st, I left with FOUR!! A woman had backed out of adopting their other two brothers and my cage is huge enough I can house them all comfortably (It's TWO double critter nations put together, a quad!) so the woman who'd given her the pair to foster wanted to see if I'd take them... so of course I did!!
What a great start to the year!
Their names are Onion, Peanut, Beans, and Allan. Yes, I still had the Barbie movie on my brain. They're around two months old now!
Valentine's Day at the floral department went well, I beat the year's sales goal and was as stressed as ever. We immediately began the planning for Easter lily orders and Mother's Day right after... and corporate won't leave the store alone, so Im getting all kinds of shiton top of that. We're a fifth of the size of the main stores, of COURSE I'm not gonna be following standards perfectly when I dont even have more than two displays...
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