# breathe easy spider *warning* picture heavy



## twitch

as some of you may have noticed i have been absent from the forums for a while. this was because spider got really sick. more then once i thought we were going to lose her in my arms. then we got her on dexamethazone. talk about miracle drug! her breathing cleared up to almost completely normal and she started to eat again. from there we were confident that if we could just get her to eat more and get her strength up she would be fine and be around for a long time to come. unfortunately she was too ill for us to bring her strentgh up enough and she passed away during the night on june 21 at the age of 30 months.

she was a very specail girl who had a very full life.at 5 months she gave birth to 11 babies and the next day her sister gave birth to 13 more (all of which found homes and some of which died before her). all of Spider's babies grew up to be fatties just like their portly mother and many of them had tumor issues, again just like their mothers (snicketts-spider's sister- died of cancer at 20 months old). Spider had a tumor removal at 25 months old and pulled through with flying colors (though admittedly not as quickly as Violet who also had a tumor removed though she only around a year then). 

spider was a joy to have a around. even when she was feeling her worst she would bruxx and boggle her little heart out if you pet her just right behind the right ear. she was my mouse-y rat, her cheeks were so fat that she looked like a giant mouse. bless her, even her tail and fingers were pudgy. she's the rat in my ID display and that was her when she was thin after having the babies. heck, she was fatter after she had the babies then she was when she was pregnant with them! *lol* she was always one of the first to the cage door to greet me and would push her way out to be with me. when she was sick she hardly ever wanted to be in the cage, rather she wanted to be held and cuddled or just sit out on the chair with me. she always was able to make me smile and most of the time she wore a smile of her own too. she even went to philosophy class with me once and made the teacher laugh. she was quite the mascot for rat kind. after class was over and throughout the day she had people come over and say hi and give her treats and pat her. some really wanted to see a rat because their's were at home and others just wanted to figure out if the rumors were true. but nearly everyone fell in love with her. 

by the time she died you wouldn't have recognized her though. she had lost so much weight. i knew she was a small stature rat of course but i didn't realize quite how small that was until she lost all her pudge. even little twix and tween, my yearlings that are stuck at the size of 5month olds, were bigger then she was. but that had never slowed her before and once we got her breathing better it didn't seem like it was going to slow her now either. 

she was my squishy little girl. full of love and happiness and she will be sorely missed. i know she's breathing easy now, kicking it back with all my other lost babes and chowing down on melon and strawberries but i will miss her special smile for a long time to come yet.


----------



## OnlyOno

ohh i'm so sorry for your loss, i know she was such a special girl to you. you have some wonderful pictures and memories of her, and i'm sure she knows how much you cared and is grateful to you for all you've done. she was lucky to be able to call you her own.


----------



## twitch

thank you ono, that really means a lot


----------



## DonnaK

She was a beautiful girl, Twitch. I'm sorry she had to leave you  *hugs*

RIP Spider.


----------



## Inesita

I'm so sorry for your loss!


----------



## d00mg1rl

so sorry to hear about your baby
its never easy when they died


----------



## twitch

no its certainly not easy but you do get used to it more. i was devasted when i lost my first rat and though i'm saddened by Spider's passing its not nearly as hard to deal with as when Pocket died. mind you i now have all the people here to lean on during the hard times that i didn't have then. you people understand that Spider is not "JUST a rat". its really nice to have that now.


----------



## Poppyseed

Oh the little girl in your avy. She was so beautiful, and she is breathing easy and playing hard now happy to have your love to guide her to her final home.

That drug sounds interesting, I'm looking into ways to help Odin and was just feeling so helpless about it all today. If you don't mind I will pm you about the doseage and stuff.


----------



## twitch

thank you, i thought she was very pretty too. 

no i don't mind at all. i was really impressed with the medication myself, i just wish i had gotten to it sooner now. i'll look forward to your pm then.


----------



## Stephanie

I am so sorry For your loss twitch I wish there was more I could do or say *hugs*


----------



## MagicalLobster

I can safely say that the picture of your rat in the bathtub with the cat was the cutest thing I've ever seen.  I'm so sorry. I hope the babies are okay.


----------



## twitch

magical Lobster: that's one of my more favorite pictures too. the expressions were perfect. but my all time favorite picture of spider has to be the first pic i posted in here. that was a perfect picture of her smile. 

the babies that are left a re doing just fine. they just had their 2 year birthday on may 3rd actually. though there aren't as many now as there was (quite a few didn't make it to 2) the ones that are left are as happy as ever.


----------



## Nazarath

*OH NO!! I loved her! She was always so so cute and I've always wanted to steal your Av. pic of her. I'm so sorry you lost her  I hope you and your other hunnies feel better soon. *


----------



## LiamHasRats

I am really sorry for your loss twitch but im shure spider is up there playing and breathing in the good air with the great rat in the sky.


----------

