Rocket

Rocket was not just an ambassador for rat kind, he was also a poster child for all the amazing rats that can be adopted through rescue. Rocky's mother, 2 sisters and 2 brothers lived uncaged, with a group of street kids, who ended up surrendering them to the SPCA when one of the does gave birth to 12 babies, and they realized the other 2 were also about to give birth as well. The SPCA asked Little Mischief Rescue to take the 3 girls, and they soon realized it was too late to do emergency spays. Considering the high white markings, it was very lucky there was no megacolon in any of the litters! After a two week quarantine in a foster home, I was asked to raise that first litter.

I had no intention of keeping any of the babies, but Rocky had other ideas. He immediately picked me as his person, and let me know it every chance he got. Ordinarily, if I were going to adopt a rescue baby, I would definitely not have chosen one that was so highly adoptable. He was one of the few dumbos in the litter, and his markings were adorable! I did feel a bit guilty, given that I have plenty of pedigreed rats with similar markings, but appearance was irrelevant. Rocket was insistent that he was staying, and he wasn't taking "no" for an answer. Having an animal choose me, is a truly strange phenomenon that I have only experienced a couple of times before. From his humble beginnings as a rescue rat, Rocket wasted no time climbing through the ranks to become the ruling SITH Emperor, where he ruled with my heart wrapped firmly around his iron paw (well not literally of course - that would be gross!)

Rocky enjoyed a long and happy life knowing that he was incredibly well loved and had many adoring human fans. He passed away just 9 days short of his 3rd birthday, never having been sick a day in his life, until the last 2 weeks of it. It appears that toward the end, his loving little heart simply gave out... heart medication helped, just not quite enough. BUT I was determined to celebrate his 3rd birthday anyway before he passed, and here he is with his cake. (It was a nutritious cake and he actually ate some!)

Before Rocket left for the Rainbow Bridge, he gave me one very important message to pass on to everyone:

Just say no to ratty mills and to all the backyard breeders on Craigslist, Kijiji, and the
newspaper classifieds who are usually pretending to be something they are not.

Rocket is survived by his best friend RMIS King, who is even older than Rocket was. King never left Rocket's side, especially during his last days, when he devotedly kept him warm and groomed, because yes, rats do have empathy. True rat lovers didn't need a scientific study to tell them that.