Annie and Burt
by kirsty
(manchester)
It is nearing the anniversary of my pet rats death so I felt it would help to share my story with you all. In 2012 my partner and I bought our little baby Annie from a local pet shop. She was a beautiful brown dumbo rat and oh so cute. We fell instantly in love with her.
After 2 months we were worried she was lonely so wanted to get her a little sister as a few years before we had 2 male dumbo rats who loved each other. So we went to buy her a little sister. The pet shop said she was a female however over the next few days her gender would change a little. Finally it settled, as female, but her male name stuck. Burt. Thankfully they took to each other very quickly and loved snuggling together. Recently, an American rat expert has identified Burt as a British Blue dumbo rat. She is gorgeous! Together Annie and Burt look like the rats from Ratatouille. Proud mum 🙂
Sadly, last spring, Annie started to get a wheeze which was the beginning of the pneumonia. It was heartbreaking hearing it get worse and the medication wasn’t working. In the last few days she loved snuggling with me and eating grapes. Her breathing suddenly went very shallow when I was with her so we took her straight to the vets. She was so frightened and I knew what needed to be done to help her. When the vet injected her with the medication to put her to sleep she had all the love and kisses she had known her whole life from myself and my partner. She went to sleep very peacefully, our beautiful baby.
As upsetting as it was and still is, thankfully, we still have our little one Burt with us. She dealt with it very well when her sister was gone and became very cuddly thereafter. Burt developed a large tumour on her hip which was removed just before Xmas. This was a very difficult time caring for her wound and getting her back to normal however it was all worth it as she is very healthy.
I hope you enjoy my story and the pictures included of my babies. It has helped so much sharing my story.