They Always Go In Pairs

Yesterday Bella followed her life long buddy, Celeste (who left us last week), across the Rainbow Bridge. Bella and her other buddy, Sophie, came to live with me on 10/01/09. At first glance, she seemed to be just your regular old brown rat. But she was much more than that.

Bella was a kind and gentle soul with a heart as big as the world. She loved to give kisses and never fought with her cage mates. If there was an Olympics competition for rats, Bella would have won the long jump time and again. Her favorite trick was to leap from the toilet tank to the towel hanging over the shower doors, scurry up the towel and then run back and forth along the top of the shower. She also loved to sit on top of my head and do my hair for me.

Bella had been slowing down the past few weeks. She'd still try to jump on top of things but wasn't quite as successful at achieving the great heights she loved. Never a chubby fuzzbutt, she was even leaner than usual. On Tuesday something must have ruptured in her head and so she made her last trip to the vet yesterday.

I've lost six rats so far this year. With each rat you grieve in a different way. With some it was just a matter of time before they passed. With others, like Jordi who just up and died at the age of 2 months, it's a terrible shock. Even though I knew Bella's days were numbered this one sucks the most. Jump high, Little Princess, you will be forever missed.