It started off as a pretty normal request. Someone I had helped out in the past was asking to give my email address to a rat owner in trouble.
Of course I said yes, and my conversation with Jason began. It was about his nakie rat, something was wrong with his eye and he and his girlfriend were freaking out about it and needed advice. I asked for pics and it rapidly turned into a ruptured eye. I gave him some general advice but he couldn't afford the vet that the rat really needed.
Then the original contact started telling me horror stories about Jason.
That he kept them in small cages and would put them (there was 2 nakie brothers) in their cage outside for days on end, in the heatwave of the summer. He also supposedly told her that he couldn't afford the vet and was planning on hitting the injured nakie over the head with a rock to put it down. Of course I told Nichol that I would take Freddy!
Freddy's eye was ruptured and soon after he arrived he went to Dr. Munn and had it surgically removed. But even before that I let him meet my goofy Bean, who also had issues. Bean's nickname at that time was The BEaner Weiner the Humpmonster, because he humped everything, my arm, other rats...it was never dominating, it was all in fun....but most rats didn't take kindly to this behaviour. I am sure Freddy thought he was funny because he would let him do it and just ignored him...these 2 matched up instantly LOLOL
Weirdly enough I got an email a few weeks after getting Freddy, telling me that the 2 boys were never his. That his former friend Nichol had been using his email pretending to be him, and that they were her rats all along! Only good thing here is that I got both boys I guess. More to this story later on.
Freddy was a strong, independent sort, but also rat aggressive, except to his Bean. A week after getting Freddy, the first girl emailed me saying she had taken in Wally the other boy, but he was sick and she couldn't afford a vet...would I take him too? Sigh. I tried to re-intro the 2 and it was a disaster LOL
So Bean and Freddy did their own thing...very happily. Freddy was agile, and explored, and you really would never have known he had one eye except when he turned his head.
Bean and Freddy always came with me to my mom's every time I went. Bean was on a lab block mush diet (as was Freddy as companion) and had to come with. Freddy loooved these visits.
Recently Freddy, even though old (but didn't look it or act it), started to act very different for him. He was showing neuro symptoms but the most startling one was complete blindness. His eye was perfectly fine, so there was no real reason for it. He was acting like my Eli did when he lost his last good eye, very tentative, bumping into things, etc. He then started becoming very lethargic, not being able to eat but still not showing definitive signs of pituitary tumour. I gave him a shot of dexamethasone, and started him on bromocriptine. He had very little response to the dex, and the bromocriptine did nothing. I stopped it after 5 days. On day 4 I started daily dex and he really did seem to be doing better...and I was hopeful. By now I was pretty sure I was dealing with a real brain tumour and our time would be short but hopefully we still had a bit more time together.
The next morning, he had regressed so badly I knew he would leave me that day. I hated to do it, but I was going to be late for work, so I tucked him up in a blanket on my bed, gave him a few kisses and said Goodbye. He must've just collapsed quietly onto his side and left soon after.
I thought Beaner would be mess and since he's a very sickly boy himself would start giving me signs I might need to take him in, but instead he seems as good as Beaner gets, and I am now letting him meet Wally (Freddy's frightened brother) who has stopped instantly attacking other rats, and is finally starting to realize that they aren't going to try to kill him all the time LOL
I shall miss my muscular one-eyed boy who would push into my hand for lovings when I opened the cage door (even when I was putting in their food!!).
Freddy just arrived
Friends 2 days later
After the enucleation
One of the visits to Mom
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The neuro symptoms last week
Goodbye pretty boy, rest well.
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