(no subject)
ash put druid to sleep last night. she found instructions to create a carbon dioxide rich chamber using baking soda and vinegar to slowly reduce him to unconsciousness before adding greater amounts to ensure that he wouldn't wake back up. she gave him a chicken bone and laid him on his fleece hammock in a small tupperware, then she placed that inside a ten-gallon fish tank where the reaction would occur. there was no risk of sores breaking out on his tail from consuming too much protein now. she followed measurements for a 1 lb rat, so he must have been a bit heavier than that because instead of 5 minutes to fall asleep and 20 to stop the heart, it took about 40 to fall asleep and 30 more before she was sure he had passed.
but it was a very peaceful way to go. she held her hand in the tank with him to give him comfort and scritches as the air grew heavier in the tank.
i sat on skype with her and i'm sure the distance helped my nerves. i could not change the outcome. we both knew it was his time to go and this was as humane a way as any other. even as we sat there he started grooming his tumor again. the side of it was scabbed over where he'd previously groomed it to bleeding, the poor sweet boy.
ash mentioned that when she first found him, she had him living in this same little fish tank until she got his big cage with the hammocks and skywalks and chew toys. he was about a month old and she gave him a toilet paper tube to play with. when she came back from the bathroom, he was asleep inside of it, his back haunches just out the back and the tip of his nose peeking out the front end.
he was an amazingly friendly rat from day one when she found him crawling over her foot in the parking lot outside of a reptile store in the city. he was dehydrated and exhausted and glad for a the dark crook of an arm to curl into. yes, he had a found himself a much better life than as feeder food for a gila monster or boa constrictor.
i started crying when she was adding the leathal amounts of baking soda and vinegar. he was such a good boy.
i loved when we'd give him baths in the bathroom sink. brisby would always poke her nose in to see what all the fuss was about. in would go an oily yellowish rat clinging to the faucet like it would save him from the evil soaps and out would come a spiky fluff of white rat. those little pink hands would start passing over his face in little praying swoops to re-apply his scent and work out the excess water.
ash wrapped the little body in linen and bound him with a green string. she'll light a pyre tonight to send him on his way like she did for his brother blue earlier this year.
goodnight, dearheart. sleep well.
but it was a very peaceful way to go. she held her hand in the tank with him to give him comfort and scritches as the air grew heavier in the tank.
i sat on skype with her and i'm sure the distance helped my nerves. i could not change the outcome. we both knew it was his time to go and this was as humane a way as any other. even as we sat there he started grooming his tumor again. the side of it was scabbed over where he'd previously groomed it to bleeding, the poor sweet boy.
ash mentioned that when she first found him, she had him living in this same little fish tank until she got his big cage with the hammocks and skywalks and chew toys. he was about a month old and she gave him a toilet paper tube to play with. when she came back from the bathroom, he was asleep inside of it, his back haunches just out the back and the tip of his nose peeking out the front end.
he was an amazingly friendly rat from day one when she found him crawling over her foot in the parking lot outside of a reptile store in the city. he was dehydrated and exhausted and glad for a the dark crook of an arm to curl into. yes, he had a found himself a much better life than as feeder food for a gila monster or boa constrictor.
i started crying when she was adding the leathal amounts of baking soda and vinegar. he was such a good boy.
i loved when we'd give him baths in the bathroom sink. brisby would always poke her nose in to see what all the fuss was about. in would go an oily yellowish rat clinging to the faucet like it would save him from the evil soaps and out would come a spiky fluff of white rat. those little pink hands would start passing over his face in little praying swoops to re-apply his scent and work out the excess water.
ash wrapped the little body in linen and bound him with a green string. she'll light a pyre tonight to send him on his way like she did for his brother blue earlier this year.
goodnight, dearheart. sleep well.