Bettina was one of my first rats and she was special. She loved to sit just inside the neck of my shirt and walk around with me. I had a tiny tiny little collar and leash that I'd put on her sometimes when we went out, because people thought it was so cute. She'd even hold still while I put it on and took it off.
When she wanted to come out of the cage and play she'd let me know by rattling the bars of the cage with her teeth. She was very smart and understood a lot of words, including her own name, the names of my other rats and commands like "Hold still", "Up," "Okay," and "In the cage". A week after I first got her, she gave birth to 9 babies (I had no idea she was pregnant!). She was an excellent mother and she earned the nickname of Mama.
Even people who didn't like rats who met Bettina liked her. She had this sweetness and energy about her that made people see beyond the stereotype of rats. She loved other people and was excited to meet everybody.
She lived for 4 1/2 years, beyond the life expectancy of a rat (usually 3 years). Even at the end I could tell she just didn't want to go. She loved life so much. She would try to bound up one of my arms and down the other like she used to, but she'd stumble and fall, half-blind because of cataracts in one eye. She had developed calluses on her back feet and she was starting to lose some of her fur, but she still tried to enjoy the time she had left.
The last 3 days before she died she could barely walk and just wanted to be held. She couldn't clean herself properly anymore and I gave her a bath. She seemed to really like that. On her last day she waited for me to come home and pick her up, and she died then in my hands.
Goodbye Bettina, you had one of the sweetest spirits I've ever known.
When she wanted to come out of the cage and play she'd let me know by rattling the bars of the cage with her teeth. She was very smart and understood a lot of words, including her own name, the names of my other rats and commands like "Hold still", "Up," "Okay," and "In the cage". A week after I first got her, she gave birth to 9 babies (I had no idea she was pregnant!). She was an excellent mother and she earned the nickname of Mama.
Even people who didn't like rats who met Bettina liked her. She had this sweetness and energy about her that made people see beyond the stereotype of rats. She loved other people and was excited to meet everybody.
She lived for 4 1/2 years, beyond the life expectancy of a rat (usually 3 years). Even at the end I could tell she just didn't want to go. She loved life so much. She would try to bound up one of my arms and down the other like she used to, but she'd stumble and fall, half-blind because of cataracts in one eye. She had developed calluses on her back feet and she was starting to lose some of her fur, but she still tried to enjoy the time she had left.
The last 3 days before she died she could barely walk and just wanted to be held. She couldn't clean herself properly anymore and I gave her a bath. She seemed to really like that. On her last day she waited for me to come home and pick her up, and she died then in my hands.
Goodbye Bettina, you had one of the sweetest spirits I've ever known.
Bettina was one of my first rats and she was special. She loved to sit just inside the neck of my shirt and walk around with me. I had a tiny tiny little collar and leash that I'd put on her sometimes when we went out, because people thought it was so cute. She'd even hold still while I put it on and took it off.
When she wanted to come out of the cage and play she'd let me know by rattling the bars of the cage with her teeth. She was very smart and understood a lot of words, including her own name, the names of my other rats and commands like "Hold still", "Up," "Okay," and "In the cage". A week after I first got her, she gave birth to 9 babies (I had no idea she was pregnant!). She was an excellent mother and she earned the nickname of Mama.
Even people who didn't like rats who met Bettina liked her. She had this sweetness and energy about her that made people see beyond the stereotype of rats. She loved other people and was excited to meet everybody.
She lived for 4 1/2 years, beyond the life expectancy of a rat (usually 3 years). Even at the end I could tell she just didn't want to go. She loved life so much. She would try to bound up one of my arms and down the other like she used to, but she'd stumble and fall, half-blind because of cataracts in one eye. She had developed calluses on her back feet and she was starting to lose some of her fur, but she still tried to enjoy the time she had left.
The last 3 days before she died she could barely walk and just wanted to be held. She couldn't clean herself properly anymore and I gave her a bath. She seemed to really like that. On her last day she waited for me to come home and pick her up, and she died then in my hands.
Goodbye Bettina, you had one of the sweetest spirits I've ever known.
When she wanted to come out of the cage and play she'd let me know by rattling the bars of the cage with her teeth. She was very smart and understood a lot of words, including her own name, the names of my other rats and commands like "Hold still", "Up," "Okay," and "In the cage". A week after I first got her, she gave birth to 9 babies (I had no idea she was pregnant!). She was an excellent mother and she earned the nickname of Mama.
Even people who didn't like rats who met Bettina liked her. She had this sweetness and energy about her that made people see beyond the stereotype of rats. She loved other people and was excited to meet everybody.
She lived for 4 1/2 years, beyond the life expectancy of a rat (usually 3 years). Even at the end I could tell she just didn't want to go. She loved life so much. She would try to bound up one of my arms and down the other like she used to, but she'd stumble and fall, half-blind because of cataracts in one eye. She had developed calluses on her back feet and she was starting to lose some of her fur, but she still tried to enjoy the time she had left.
The last 3 days before she died she could barely walk and just wanted to be held. She couldn't clean herself properly anymore and I gave her a bath. She seemed to really like that. On her last day she waited for me to come home and pick her up, and she died then in my hands.
Goodbye Bettina, you had one of the sweetest spirits I've ever known.
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