I met Amelia on November 30th, 2007 when I accompanied bruxxy to pick up these 2 older girls being rehomed. At that point they had been with a well-meaning family but they just didn’t know enough about rats. Amelia was called Lily at this time, and her cagemate was Daisy. Lily had sustained an eye injury and they had taken her to a vet. The vet saw scabs on both girls and the eye and said to separate them since they had been fighting. This was in August. They were never together again and it was the last time either of them was let out of their cages. They put ointment on Lily’s eye for 3 days until she nipped someone and they decided she was too frightened so they just stopped. She was a very very lucky girl. The eyeball shrunk and except for excess porphyrin didn’t cause a real problem.
Enter bruxxy and myself. The girls had a bad case of mites so they were treated. I took them home for a couple of days since bruxxy’s girl kept escaping the FN and she needed to figure out a way of keeping her contained
Bruxxy had them for about a month, and had tried to do some intro’s with her resident girls. Daisy, now renamed Tui, was facing off with the resident alpha and wasn’t making things easy for the intro. Lily, renamed Liaka, liked everyone of course.
Friday Jan, 4th Bruxxy noticed that Liaka was not acting well at all…she seemed limp, lethargic and showing neurological signs. Being around 18 months it’s a prime time for PT and the like. :( She decided that I should take her in and start treatment since I had all the fixin’s at home.
I noticed right away that Amelia's nose was crooked and so was her jaw. I took her to Dr. Munn the following Monday. We came up with a conclusion of masses inside her skull most likely along her jaw line causing the shift. I knew when I took her home that she would only be with us for a short while.
BUT she decided to bounce back amazingly…she was climbing, eating, active and happy for almost a week. It was very inspiring to see her persevere against such odds. But the spirit can only do so much with a damaged body, and she finally took a turn for the worse. :(
We spent 2 nights together and I tried to get another rebound but she had given up. Our sweet girl finally left us at 9:13 tonight. It was exactly like Mattie, quiet, and peaceful and in my hands again. I kissed her and said we all loved her, and that her body would soon be healthy and strong again, and there were many wonderful rats waiting for her.
Bye-bye little blue girl…you were a special one.
I’ll take care of your Lottie for you.
Ahhhh…Amelia, too short a time did I know you. :’(
No comments:
Post a Comment