RWS - Our Rats

Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called the Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

	Grendel (cc)
	Grendel is our albino rat. We rescued him from a family that was housing him together with his sister. The litter he sired with her were all albino as well, and went to homes amongst ratclub members. Grendel suffers a bit from insecurity resulting from lack of handling when he was younger. He is slowly growing in confidence now though.
	Titan (aammRr)
	Titan was adopted from FD from FlyingDuster Rattery and is my beautiful mink berky boy. His name is derived from Titanite (the jewel) as his litter all had gemstone-themed names. He was born on the 30th November 2006.
photo to come	Socrates (AaMmRrpp)
	Socrates is the alpha rat of our boys cage. A large silverfawn berkshire, we can only tell him apart from Gus by his slightly darker coat and the patches of white that extend up his sides from his tummy. He is a very friendly rat, and the only one of my boys to actually fall asleep while upsidedown on my lap.
	Monk (A-)
	Monk is Gus's agouti brother. Initially we only adopted Gus from the store. One month later there were still 3 of the brothers left, and given Gus's temperament we couldn't resist adding an agouti cutie to our pack. He is just as lovely as his brother, but health concerns sadly prevent us from breeding from him.
	Sharna (aa)
	Sharna is one of our most loving girls, even if she won't stay still for scritches! Sister to Ruth, she has come a long way from squealing whenever we touched her, to running to the cage door for cuddles and out time whenever we come into the room. Sometimes we call her our 'little moo girl' since it has been remarked that her back markings look a little like a freisian cow! She is a black hooded, but also is slightly varigated.
photo to come	Hope (Aapp)
	We rescued Hope from a petstore that refused to house male and female rats separately. At only 9 weeks old she gave birth to our first litter early 2007. Sadly she developed an inoperable tumour before her 2nd birthday, and we had to say goodbye.
	Gus (A-pp)
	Gus was a little silverfawn boy I fell in love with on one of my many trips to the vet. One of the store assistants gave him to me to hold, and I was hooked. 4 days later my husband bought him for me for my birthday. He is one of the floppiest, squishist rats I have ever encountered. Sadly though Gus was plagued by illness and passed away from heart failure at a young age.
photo to come	Hamish (September 2006 - May 2008)
	We nicknamed Hamish "mile-a-minute". A very fast and hyperactive rat, he is slowly developing into a big squishy. We celebrate his birthday on the 18th September 2006.
	Rana (AaMmrr)
	Rana was born on the 29th July 2006, and was adopted from the same breeder as Lily up in Whangarei, along with her sister Tanyas. She was our smallest and most mischevious girl, always wanting to explore, but always coming back to lick our hands. Mother to our first litter, she is sorely missed.
	Ruth (October 2005 - April 2008)
	Ruth was adopted from a local 'breeder' along with her sister Sharna as the breeder no longer cared for her rats or was looking after them properly. She was a very sweet champange hooded girl, who we miss very much, but had to be put down when an internal tumour got too much.
	Skye (March 2006 - Jan 2008)
	Skye was an amazing rescue rat. She had been well looked after and loved in her previous home, and was a really confident and friendly mink berkshire girl. Sadly, she passed away before her second birthday from a pituitary tumour.
	Isaac (September 2006 - April 2007)
	Isaac and his brother Hamish were bought from Jansens Glenfield as companions for Phillip. They were rather skittish when we first got them at 8 weeks old, but settled down a lot after that. Isaac enjoyed boxing with his brother, but started to get to agressive towards other boys as he matured. Sadly, he died the night he was neutered from anaesthetic complications.
	Sophie (2005? - March 2007)
	Sophie was our first rescue rat, along with her companion Jodie. At around 18 mths old, she already had a large mammory tumour when we adopted her which was inoperable. Also having an infection festering in the tumor, she spent a large portion of her time with us on antibiotics until the infections got too much and we had to put her down. She wass a really loving girl, who enjoyed sitting on your shoulder and eating yoggies! She has now gone to be with her boyfriend Darcy and is buried beside him.
	Darcy (2004? - Feb 2007)
	Darcy was one of our first rescue boys, and our first big squishy rat. Both the boys had a bad mite infestation when we got them, but cleared up nicely with a treatment of revolution. Darcy was neutered and lived with the girls along with his steady girlfriend Sophie. He was a black berkshire. We buried him beside Josh.
	Josh (2004? - Dec 2006)
	Josh was our first rescue boy along with his friend Darcy. Josh was neutered and lived with Darcy in the girls cage. He was a real sweet tooth, and even gobbled his medicine when mixed with a bit of chocolate sauce. He loved to cuddle and just be with you. Judging from his hind leg degeneration, we put his age as 2 1/2 years old when we got him. Unfortunately even with medication his condition slowly deteriorated until we had to make the hard decision to put him to sleep. He was buried in the forest on my parents block of land.
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