Corwin

 

I was hoping I wouldn’t have to write this post for a while. I’d hoped at least not this side of Christmas; but he had other plans.

Last Thursday Rhys came home from work to find him laid up in the cage, dehydrated and not interested in moving. Rhys tried tempting him with Peanut butter and he turned his nose up a it.

Corwin… not accepting food meant it was a bad sign.

A few weeks ago he’d started to loose movement in his hind quarters – as can happen in old rats.

He was still moving around reasonably well; eating, drinking and snuggling and we agreed to take each day as it came.

We took him to the vets that evening, and all agreed that the best thing to do for him was to let him go easily, peacefully and quietly in his sleep.

Corwin came to us from SPA Vets in Gloucester. This was our vets before we moved to Newport and one I would heartily recommend to anyone in the area.

He’d wandered in through someone’s cat flap and realising (thank goodness!) that he was  domestic rat they scooped him up and took him in to SPA who contacted me and asked if I’d like another rat. As Corwin was male and we had females they offered to neuter him for us (for free! I told you they were amazing)

With that he came home to live with us.

From the get-go Corwin was a warm and loving rat. Gentle and not bothered by the squabbles of the girls he normally kept out of everything – unless there was food involved.

He loved food, and rapidly put on quite a bit of weight with us!

I blame Rhys, but his head was up at the bars every time you walked past and you just couldn’t resist giving him a little bite. It was hilarious to see him with a whole sweet corn. He used to lay across it and eat from one end so no one else could get a look in!

He loved going to the vets – especially his “girlfriend” Nat the receptionist. He used to let himself be loved and held like a baby for her.

He wasn’t so keen on Paul the Vet though – when he’d had enough he just used to climb back in his travel cage and refuse to come back out!

We had a hairy moment about a year into owning him where he developed a serious head tilt. He never fully returned to a flat head, but coped remarkably well regardless – giving the girls a serious run for their money!

That and the time we thought he had a lump on his eye! Serious panic, rushed to the vets and possible talk about surgery…. turns out it was a lump of soft paper bedding that went when I had the bright flash of inspiration to flush his eye with water! D’oh!

He had the sweetest sleeping face in the world, he slept like a little angel. Maybe because of his rough start in life he always looked content with a warm place to sleep and a pile of rats on top of him.

 

Maybe because of his size he was always a cushion for the girls – always at the bottom of the pile, squished under everyone else

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That being said he often pushed his way in if he felt excluded!

In his old age he got incredibly sweet. Hours and hours of cuddles with me. Sleeping on me and enjoying me and him time. I’m so glad we got to spend that time together. It’s something we’ll always treasure.

I love you and miss you old man.

Play hard at the Rainbow Bridge little man, I’ll see you again someday.