SO, I keep pet rats. They're fucking wondiferous little fuzzballs and just absolutely stuffed with love to give.

Unfortunately, I'm down to one of my two boys. I have to have en emergency euthanasia done for my old man, Caesar today. He was approximately a month away from being three-and-a-half, which rat lovers will know is astoundingly old. Side from weight loss and reduced mobility, he'd been doing okay until these last 48 hours, during which he went blind on the left side, began having a lot of trouble breathing and either bit himself or broke a tooth off and bled all over himself. All in all, he went downhill very, very quickly. Originally we had an appointment for Monday but he was just not going to make it. So I drove an hour to a clinic on the other side of Dallas where they were nice enough to perform a courtesy euthanasia. I paid for the cremation since we have nowhere to bury him and they will be sending a card with his footprints to us in the mail as a memorial. Which is pretty fucking cool, if you ask me.

Caesar was the first pet rat my boyfriend and stepson ever had. He was extremely well-behaved (except when he chewed on things)and all in all was an exceptional pet and companion. He was a rescue, coming from a home where the mom didn't have time to care for him and her son didn't want a pet rat. He was all ready a young adult when he came to us in March 2011 and took to us with no issue whatsoever. He will be sorely missed.