Marty

Marty - September 2011 to October 31, 2013 :'(

Marty and her sisters were being offered as pet or food. The "rescuer" had saved them from being dumped outside but she was still offering them as food, as "their condition would not be harmful if fed to snakes" (her boyfriend's idea apparently, he would've fed them to his snakes if they were smaller...lucky girls!) Sadly there was 5 rats and the ad was 17 days old. I was still in QT, and Lizmo had offered to foster for me if I found rats in her area...so I contacted Liz and very quickly she emailed, found out there was 3 left and picked them up that night.

She named them the Pink Ladies (Grease reference) calling them Marty, Rizzo and Frenchie 

The first time I "saw" Marty, she was the smallest girl, and would never gain weight, which worried Liz.


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Liz cared for the Ladies for awhile and did some great work socializing them.

But finally they came Home 

Marty curled up on the hammock squishing one of her sisters :P



Poor little Marty got really sick, and when nakies get sick, they get icy cold...so I was always tucking her against my skin and she would curl up and sleep while the antibiotics helped her immune system fight. She got sooo skinny. :( She also learned to sleep on the computer modem as it was toasty...I put hammocks around it to keep the heat in, and she would spend her days there with a water bowl and food nearby on the desk.



Curled up in a wee ball, she could fit in my hand easily...she slept so much, conserving her strength



But she would still eat for me




and soo thin



But taking her meds like a good girl!



and resting and recuperating wherever it was soft and warm, IF I wasn't around. 



Finally she recovers and starts to gain weight, and more weight...I used to be able to tell by her tiny body, but now I was having to check her eyes to see if it was her or Rizzo



These girls were so gentle, and soft in their manners, just wonderful and sweet. They would put themselves back to bed after they had run around an hour...I would check their hammock, and try to count heads LOL Just an absolute delight to have around. They never bugged each other it was sisters forever in that group, no scratches on skin from being on the bottom of the pile...just a happy family.



Then in late September I realized that Marty's shape wasn't quite right, so I gently gave her a more thorough exam, and found an abdominal tumour, one of those that spread smoothly across the belly, so you don't feel lumps and bumps, and often only notice when you see some rounding as they turn. My heart sunk. NOT my Marty...I was just getting her to REAL health...not fair!! But fair is not a word you can use when you are owned by rats. The favourites always seem to leave earliest. 

I watched her carefully but it wasn't growing fast. She was having a bit more trouble breathing but nothing too bad, I hadn't even started her on pain meds for any discomfort. I noticed in the last 1.5 weeks she was less active and more likely to cuddle. Last night she curled up on my neck, and I fell asleep with her there. Normally I put her back, but I was too tired to get up, so left it. I am glad I did. She slept on my neck, my chest, curled in my arm and over my side at one point...she's so light, that you only feel the heat of her body.

I woke up at 5:56 am and found Marty had slipped off the bed a short while ago, and had curled up and fallen asleep in the middle of the floor on her belly. She had just slipped away, as her body showed no signs of stress, she was just gone.

I shall miss my tiny neckwarmer, her big bright eye, gentle nudges and cuddles. :