| TIMMY November 2000 - 21 January 2003 |
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| My husband came home on Christmas Eve 2000 with a little cardboard box carefully strapped into the passenger seat of his car. I knew it was something alive! Inside was Timmy, a tiny little runt of a rat who looked like a pink-eyed-white, but if you looked really closely, there was a definite cream-coloured hood. I still don't know quite what to call it. He was named after the character in South Park. He was so little I was worried about him. Obviously, being a boy, he could not be put in with the girls. I was a bit perturbed that hubby hadn't brought one of his brothers home as well. Anyway, he started sneezing the day after we got him, so that meant quarantine anyway. Timmy sneezed and sneezed and sneezed. He went to the vet again and again..... He's had more antibiotics than any rat or person I know! He also grew and grew.... I can't believe I was so worried about how little he was. From 2 inches long to Jabba the Hutt in 6 months! Not only did Timmy sneeze, he bit! Not in malice, I think it was a combination of poor eyesight and thinking we were food. He was a jumpy rat, and scent marked everthing to make sure it was all HIS domain. He left a trail of yellow everywhere! He was a hard rat to play with, because no sooner would he come out to cuddle, than he'd be trying to remove your finger tip with his teeth. And you were covered in pee....... So we got him neutered. Poor Timmy, he was not a happy chap for a couple of days (and neither was hubby, who felt guilty!). However, our vet is excellent (Vets at Jansens, Auckland, New Zealand) and for a very reasonable fee Timmy was rendered calmer and infertile - two things very much to his advantage. And for some strange reason he stopped the bulk of the sneezing at the same time..... Now that he was no longer a health or personal safety hazard, I decided he also needed a friend. I did not want to put him with Wilma and Phoebe, somehow I felt they were too small and he was a still slightly-agressive giant. So I went hunting for a new girlfriend, and came home with Sarah, a 3-month old, pretty little silverfawn berkshire. Despite several weeks of socialisation and a few days together in one cage, it soon became obvious that Timmy was happier on his own. He was scared of Sarah, and puffed up like a bottlebrush whenever she was close. If he could, he would slowly tiptoe away before she knew she was beside him, rather than interact with her. So Sarah moved back out. Timmy spent the rest of his life in batchelor splendourhood in Timmy Towers. January 2003 Eventually Timmy's respiratory problems got the better of him. Despite copious doses of antibiotic, his lungs were too damaged, and pneumonia set it. He got quite distressed and the kindest thing was to let him go. The day after we lost Wilma, we had to put Timmy to sleep as well. It was a terribly hard week. He went to the Garden of Remembrance with Wilma, and we had a little funeral for them both. It's a comfort to know he has them all to keep him company there, since he was so lonely when he was alive. Home |