Today, I want to tell you about a very special rat named Penny.
Penny is my rat. Every day, she keeps me company around the house. She sits with me on the sofa while I watch TV or eat a meal: sometimes, she tries to get me to share my food with her, but she’s a lady and always asks permission first!
Most of the time, she lays stretched out on my lap or arm, and lets me stroke her. She often closes her eyes, chatters a bit and just enjoys the experience. And, as you can see, she is not just kind and loving, but she has long, silky blue hair, and the sweetest expression I’ve ever seen. She is a beautiful and special little lady.
Until I met Penny, I never knew how much love a rat could have for me, or how much I could love her back: Penny is proof that rats really do have good souls and they feel and understand so much more than we realize.
I wanted this to be a happy story about Penny. And we wanted to have happy news to share with all of our friends out there about her. But, unfortunately, fate doesn’t always cooperate.
3 weeks ago, we tried to breed Penny with Patches, also one of our favorite rats. He was the male cage’s Alpha rat, that we’d raised by hand from birth. We felt that he would be a good fit for Penny, and they would have wonderful babies together.
But, unfortunately, Patches was a little bit too rough with Penny, who is a very gentle rat and had never been with a male before. And, apparently, he bit or scratched her at some point. And it became infected.
She got pregnant, but she also developed an abscess. And, although we were able to control the infection with antibiotics, her babies were born still born.
Penny is recovering, and we hope she will be well enough to try again in a week or so, with a more gentle male. And that, eventually, she will gift us with a litter of beautiful and special little babies just like her.
Please pray for Penny and send her your best wishes and positive energy. I hope (and believe) that we will have some really joyful news to share about Penny in the next few weeks.