Darling Selwyn

I know it's weird for a lot of people that I had a pet rat...but I loved the darling little thing. And you have to admit...she'd kinda cute! I find most people love her once they can get past the creepy tail thing.

Picture taken the day I got her, January 30th, 2009

And maybe this is pathetic, but she died last night and when my dad told me today, I cried. I'm really sad and miss her and was looking forward to seeing her when I got to Utah next week.

I knew she was going to die soon. She's had a horrible tumor on her leg for almost a year and even though my cool nursing dad has done what he can to help her, the tumor grew and was starting to prevent her from moving around as well.

She was a special member of our family and when I got married and moved away, I asked my youngest brother to take care of her (my apartment wouldn't allow pets). But everyone in the family loved to get her out of her cage and play with her. Like all rats, she loved to hide in small, dark places. She especially loved sitting on your neck if you were a girl and hiding behind your hair. She'd crawl in your shirt, or a pocket...anywhere she was hidden and felt safe.

And she could do tricks. We would have her jump from our hands to her cage and then give her a cheerio as a reward. She loved those cheerios and would always try to persuade you to give her more than one.

One of my favorite things about Selwyn was that when you entered the room, she'd pounce on the side of the cage and watch you. It reminded me of a monkey and I often referred to her as my "little monkey rat".

Playing with my sister, March 2009

A rat's life span is only two or three years, and Selwyn reached her two year mark recently. I'm glad she's not in pain anymore, that tumor surely couldn't have been pleasant. But dang it, I'm going to miss my little monkey rat!

Pets go to heaven too, right?