Temporary Rats

(3)

Rats only live for two years or so, three at the most. So you have to be prepared to lose your pets fairly often if you raise rats. I cried over every one of them. (Interestingly, I am experiencing no itching at all now as I write this! Is beer the best cure for rat allergy?)

My rats were very prone to respiratory disease. They would wheeze and cough as if they were allergic to humans. I tried everything to 'cure' them of what seemed to me to be a kind of genetic curse. But they kept dying, or they became so ill that I had to have them put to sleep (lots of faint thuds in the background as I type this). One of them actually died in my arms (Fred's son who used to drink beer with us). Seeing his distress I had taken him into the bathroom and turned on the hot water in the shower and closed the door, hoping that it would ease his breathing problem. It seemed to help, but when I took him back out into the hallway he suddenly became alert, looked at me and dropped dead in my hands.

Several of my other rats also died in my hands but only after being given a shot by the vet.