The Passing of Snowball Oldfather: a special rescue rat

February 27th, 2002
My name is Peri Craig, and I'm the director of CFAR-AZ, which is a Cavy, Feline & Avian Rescue. Well ... supposed to be! But then a woman had a rat three weeks ago ... a sweet little two year old (or there-abouts) whom she was about to turn loose in a field! He, and his rattie companion, had lived with she and her two daughters for 13 months. Before that he'd lived for two weeks or so with an old woman who "couldn't abide" him, and before that, who knows. All he had ever eaten in his life was dry cat food and Cheetos. He was malnourished, thin, poor coat, dehydrated, wheezing, sneezing ... and depressed. The two little girls had gotten a dog for Christmas, and didn't want the ratties any more. Then a week before he came to us, his companion died. Well, the poor little fellow had hideous bumbles as well. We managed to get him eating (little fellow was afraid of fruit at first!), and his fur had already begun to regain texture & shine. Even the wheezing was greatly eased!

Unfortunately the respiratory distress was not completely gone when he had to go in to have the abscess lanced. Snowball Oldfather died two nights ago at the vet's surgery. In that short three weeks, I'd grown terribly attached to this funny little old man. He would fall asleep on my lap, waking slightly every now and then to lick my hand and twitch a whisker at me before bruxing happily back to sleep.

Within a few days of getting him, I decided that, once he was better, a companion would be advisable. I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Lydia (who runs Eadie's House) and she travelled clear down from Tucson to Phoenix to get four little rats (3 at about 3 months, one about five months or so) from the Arizona Humane Society, and bring them back to me in Gilbert (near Mesa, Arizona). They went into quarantine, of course, away from where Oldfather was recuperating.

Well ... tears now past ... mostly, I can now say that I am the Mum of Tatouille, Ta-Tat, Ceres & Clove ... the four little ratties. They never met Oldfather, and they cannot replace him because they are each their own sweet little selves ... but somehow caring for and loving with them is not only helping my old heart to heal from an unexpected and very fast love for a dear passed pet. It is also, in its own way, a tribute to that funny little old man who even now is there and watching, just beyond my view, whiskers twitching while he waits beyond the Rainbow Bridge.