RIP Dario [approx 1/7/2014 to 6/10/2016]

My lovely black rat, Dario, died this evening. I was holding him and his passing was peaceful, at home. Nor was it very long. He went into the terminal stage some time yesterday. A little creature has left a large sadness. He is survived by his brother Barnaby. Both rats came to me at four months old, after being found in a box left in a car park and turned in to Perth Rat Rescue. They began life here being terrorised by the big boys - as young rats always are - but soon moved to the top of the heap, ordering the human around. I've been trying to upload a short video I took of the pair of them a couple of weeks ago but it won't load.

Below is the post I wrote a few hours ago:

My little guy Dario is very unwell now. I'd noticed signs of his slowing down this past week or so and yesterday he demonstrated the clingy behaviour/aimless running about which is bad news to a rat owner. Dario is approximately two years and three months old, as near as I can guess, which is an elderly rat, and he has advanced mycoplasmosis. He's been through all the antibiotics and basically we're now in palliative care mode. He has his brother Barnaby with him, at least. Barnaby isn't a terribly social rat; his focus is on home design [newspaper, newspaper and more newspaper] so if there has to be just one rat for awhile, he's the best one. He's too elderly and cranky himself for new company at this stage, and in any case I had resolved not to get more rats for awhile. This is a very difficult stage for a rat owner, but rats are so engaging and intelligent that they're hard to resist, even knowing the health problems and short lifespans.

Anyway, I now need to do everything one handed - trying to rig a sort of sling here - because I'm clutching a rat. See above for clingy.

Dario

My little guy Dario is very unwell now. I'd noticed signs of his slowing down this past week or so and yesterday he demonstrated the clingy behaviour/aimless running about which is bad news to a rat owner. Dario is approximately two years and three months old, as near as I can guess, which is an elderly rat, and he has advanced mycoplasmosis. He's been through all the antibiotics and basically we're now in palliative care mode. He has his brother Barnaby with him, at least. Barnaby isn't a terribly social rat; his focus is on home design [newspaper, newspaper and more newspaper] so if there has to be just one rat for awhile, he's the best one. He's too elderly and cranky himself for new company at this stage, and in any case I had resolved not to get more rats for awhile. This is a very difficult stage for a rat owner, but rats are so engaging and intelligent that they're hard to resist, even knowing the health problems and short lifespans.

Anyway, I now need to do everything one handed - trying to rig a sort of sling here - because I'm clutching a rat. See above for clingy.