RIP Louise & Ticia

We've had a lot of sadness in the house in the last week. We came home from our trip to San Diego to find Padme in the heater vents. It took us 20min to coax her out all while Wednesday and Leia were trying to eat the canned food we were trying to coax her out with. We hadn't seen Ticia but since she comes and goes, we weren't terribly surprised and figured we'd see her the next day. We did but not as we had expected. Jonathan came into my bedroom telling me he had seen Lizzy (our cat that ran away at 4th of July). I asked where and he told me under his bed. I told him that wasn't possible but it was probably Ticia. He said she wasn't moving. Uh-oh. I sent Mark and he reported back that she had obviously died in her sleep a day or two previously. For those reading this who don't know, Ticia was Christopher's cat. She joined our family when he was 6mos old and they instantly bonded. She curled up on his lap when he ate and then licked the formula off his face when he was done. She slept next to him in his playpen for naps during the day. We had to constantly shoo her off the high chair when he was eating. She wouldn't eat his food while he was eating, but just wrap herself around him. Most of my pictures of him during his first couple of years include her. To the end, even when she was gross and drooling constantly, they remained close and Christopher was one of the few who would voluntarily touch her. She was 14½ when she passed. She was a wonderful friend and will be missed.

This was a week ago.

Today, I noticed that Jonathan's 2nd rat (Ruby died a few months ago) was showing labored breathing and looked sweaty. She has been slowing down a lot the last couple of days so I was worried about her but also knew, there wasn't a lot that I could do for her. He made sure she had food and water and gave her a treat before we left to take him to therapy. When we got back, I asked Matthew to take her some cheese that had gotten a little dry around the edges and he came back with that look in his eyes and said it was too late. Thankfully Jonathan was busy and I was able to put her in a nice box and dig her grave before I had to tell him. We had been telling him that she was getting old and showing signs that she wouldn't be with us much longer. He had been very attentive of her, giving her apple cores, giving her lots of attention. We reminded him that her original lot in life was to be snake food so she had had a much better life with him than that. She was almost 2 years old and was a very sweet rat.