Well - it's with a very very heavy heart that I write about this - it's more than the end of an era... it feels like something has been taken from our rattery never to return. Jemi was the last of our first real breeding rats. We got her and Desi in 2006 from Jo and Emma. The pair of them were fabulous - really wonderful girls, and we're eternally grateful for them, and the wonderful litters they both gave us. We lost Desi a couple of months after moving here - but Jemi has just kept on and on. She was coming up to 32 months (well, a bit over 31 months actually - but a lady is welcome to lie about her age when it's one so grand :*) ) and you just wouldn't know it. She was frail - her eyes were cloudy - her fur was patchy to the point that she looked double rex... she was very thin and had a massive tumour, however she was so fit and active and happy and still the first to the bars and the food bowl.

It was yesterday when she fell over, and couldn't get up without a serious struggle that I knew it was time to call it a day :*( and we spent one last night with her. Today she went to the vet, who let her go with the peace and dignity such a grand old lady deserved.

I'm really going to miss her - it's just not right for her to be gone :*( and I don't quite know what I'll do without her. I posted a thread about her 30th monthday recently - so here's a snippet from there - because it's a fond memory:

"When we were in Leeds for the Bradford in January - I got a call from my mum saying that there was a lumpy rat loose when she went to feed them... and she walked in the shed and this scrawny little rat came and sat on her feet - waiting to be put back home! Mum didn't know that she could open the cage door - and thought we'd left it open - so rung me from home, telling me off! Anyway - I told her that the rat could open the cage... sure enough, she went back to the shed, and Jemi came and sat on her feet again!"

Run free gorgeous girl, go and find your children who went before you (and weren't very young in doing so), go and find your beloved sister... and all of your friends who've gone on to the bridge. Go and find Frodo and Sam - it seems like only yesterday Frodo went :( and now you've gone too... :*(

And her song... because for me it is so fitting and reminds me so much of her...

Billy Stoned - Go Home Productions - well worth a listen :*)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0OT3fJ3cy4

Got a call from an old friend
We used to be real close
Said he couldn't go on the American way
Closed the shop, sold the house
Bought a ticket to the West Coast
Now he gives them a stand-up routine in L.A.

I don't need you to worry for me cause I'm alright
I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home
I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life
Go ahead with your own life, and leave me alone

I don't need you to worry for me cause I'm alright
I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home
I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life
Go ahead with your own life, and leave me alone

I still belong, don't get me wrong
And you can speak your mind
But not on my time

I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life
Go ahead with your own life, and leave me alone

(turns to 'The Byrds' - Mr Tambourine Man)
Take me for a trip upon your magic swirling ship
All my senses have been stripped
My hands can't feel to grip
My toes too numb to step
Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way
I promise to go under it[/quote]

It is so fitting for her :(

xx
 

Had a gorgeous litter of 9 in 2007

Pedigree