Olivia The Rat

Sadly, my rat passed away overnight. She had been doing very badly over the last couple of days and I had a vet appointment this afternoon to have her put to sleep. Kerry and I have plans to go to a movie this afternoon for our birthdays and we were going to have to go to the vet beforehand. Nothing like having to have your animal put to sleep to damper your birthday celebrations. Being the thoughtful animal that she was, she passed away on her own. She will be greatly missed.

Now, I didn't "name my daughter after my rat." You see, I love naming things. In fact, as a child I think I named my roly polies. . .until my brother and his friends squished them. I still like to stop by the animals at the pet store and think of what I would name all of them. That's a slippery slope, however, because once you name something. . .they have a way of inching themselves into your heart. I always tried to keep my animal names separate from my future children names, but that didn't work so well with Olivia. Plus, my rat was such a sweetheart that it made the name Olivia even more appealing and it sounded so good with Logan. Rats are very intelligent and after being called Olivia for over a year, my rat wouldn't respond to any other name.

Anyway, I got Olivia the rat a few days after I got Lucy. Lucy was the personable one and Olivia was the shy one. Lucy helped bring Olivia out of her shell and she quickly became just as friendly as Lucy. The two of them became the best of friends. Last summer, I found Olivia the rat in a pool of blood and found out that she had some sort of tumor or cancer of the reproductive system. She had surgery to be spayed and also had three cysts removed. She bounced back from that amazingy well. Lucy passed away about 6 months ago and Olivia the rat never really bounced back from that. She has been so lonely without her best friend. I actually had to put a stuffed animal in her cage to cuddle with. Rats are truly amazing pets and Olivia was an amazing rat.

Here are Olivia and Lucy as babies.
Olivia the rat peeking out to say hello.

Wasn't she adorable?

After her surgery.

My rats are together again. . .somewhere over the Rainbow Bridge.