soc_puppet | Loss

I. I just lost Ari. Like, within the last few minutes. When I came into my room he was up and squirming and trying to climb the cage bars, which I had never seen him do before - so I stuck my hand in to check on him, and no, he wasn't too interested in coming out. But then the other guys started getting interested, so I figured I'd go and get Ari some animal crackers soaked in water (a recently discovered favorite treat).

When I got back, he was laying in the back of the cage, breathing heavily. Oh, I thought, he's probably just worn out; I still wanted to get some food in him, so I lifted him out and took him to his "treat" cage (the portable cage where he went to get treats, so the other guys wouldn't steal them from him; he's been a little on the skinny side, and I thought it was helping him to put on weight). I turned my back for all of one minute, and that was all it took; he was gone.

Good-bye, Ari-gator. I never understood you as well as any of my other rats. I always wondered if you actually were blind, and, if so, if it played in at all to how you socialized - how you still nibbled before you licked, even when you got to know me, even before the ear infection. We never got along too well, and it probably didn't help when I had to force-feed you antibiotics within our introductory months. Still, I loved you, my sweet, hard-to-understand crooked rat, my very special boy, and I will miss you dearly; I already miss you dearly.

May you be at peace.