My first thought of Isabella was an email from Jane at Small Victories Rodent Rescue in Montreal. She had received an email about a Rat Found in Toronto, so forwarded it on to me to see if I could help. I contacted the girl and met up with her and found out Isabella's story. The girl Tara was walking her pitbull in the park and saw this little rat out there...she watched her for awhile, but she seemed normal but she was worried about diseases so walked back home. Later on she passed the park again with her dog and the little rat ran up to her and tried to climb up her leg. She took her home, put her in a box, and started trying to find someone in Toronto to take her in. Enter...me.
Issa was thin, her coat was filthy, she was funny looking and angular and her face was all swollen out of proportion. She was unable to eat hard foods but man she could devour soft foods...
the poor little mite was soo exhausted from her ordeal that she basically slept and ate for a week. She would cuddle up to my oldies and sleep with or under them. :giggle:
That angular shape finally filled out, and she started to look normal, but was still not able to eat a lot of hard foods.
And that's when I discovered her malocclusion and she started getting tooth trims.
She met Lilith soon after that and the love affair was instantaneous.
And then old Hansel joined the family :)
Sadly soon after this Isabella started showing symptoms of PT (January 9th) and with help and support from rat friends and my vet, we started her on bromocriptine as a possible treatment for PT. She rebounded beautifully and we had a lovely almost 3 months more together until sadly she had to be let go for reasons other than the PT.
During this time I put her and Lilith in with Eli to give him company and Issa was very gentle and caring of my little blind boy.
Issa has given a lot of hope to rat owners everywhere that we might have something that works a little better than the typical steroid treatment at prolonging our baby's life.
Last night Lilith who is normally a bossy, active not particuarly cuddly girl, crawled up my legs while i was on the computer. This in itself is not unusual as she likes to come for a visit and see if I am eating anything. :lol: But last night she lay down in my arms, and I sttroked her and rubbed her for over 20 minutes. I think Lilith knew I needed that last night, and Isabella (my regular cuddler) just wasn't able for the job.
The softest girl you have ever touched (she was a satin) :mrgreen: Everyone loved to hold her and stroke her, and she soaked it up like the love sponge she was
I ended up having to put mesh grids all over her cage since she would push her way out and escape!
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