On the 23rd of august 2007, another addition was made to our family.
Sadly, he only lived to be 4 months and 11 days old, His tribute is at the bottom of this page.
Branden The Husky Rat

Here's a couple of shots taken with Sam's phone camera, he'd been with us a couple of days here.

Again, phone cam pics I'm afraid, he's in his hammock trying to sleep on the left, and cuddling up to the toy iguana (who doesn't look pleased to have him kipping there :)

And photo's taken age 3 1/2 months, left he's on the curtain pelmet in the van, and right he's doing a bit of mountain climbing on a big rock in Austria.

It was the end of august, we were in Europe in out motorhome going around Germany, and we needed some more doggy treats for Toffee, so we found a pet shop in the town we were staying in (Brandenburg) and got her treats, but near the till were the small animals for sale, and nearest were the rats, I've always loved rats, had 2 of them as pets my self, and I even found an abandoned pet rat in  the snow once (she was wandering down the tyre ruts along the road... a good mile from any houses!!)

These rats were all husky rats, I'd seen them before, and liked their looks, but there was one rat of the litter in the cage who was awake and seemed to keep looking at us, as if asking us to give him a new home, so we thought about it for...oh 20 seconds, and decided a pet rat would be a great addition to our family, we had discussed getting a rat many times before, so this wasn't really such a spur of the moment decision.

We bought a cage, food, sawdust, hammock, water bottle etc, then I had to go to a cash machine to get money out (Germany is still backwards with regards to credit/debit cards, unless it's their own EC card, 9 times out of 10 they wont take it, despite Visa saying it's accepted worldwide, so whilst I was out getting cash, Sam stayed in the shop to make sure this rat who wanted to come home with us really was the one for us.

The other rats had woken up by now, so Sam put her hand in the cage to see what they'd do, she already knew rats very rarely bite, and the rat who had been looking at us at the till was the one that waddled over to her hand and started sniffing it, the other rats just weren't interested at all, even when Sam stroked them, they just ignored her, so this lone little rat had chosen us.

Money in hand, we bought him and his cage and other bits and pieces, and took him home to the motorhome, at that point we only got a little cage, the size for him as a baby, but way too small for a grown rat, but it was only to sleep in, as we planned to ensure he got at least 6 hours play time running free in the van every night, we'd also take him with us when we went out sight seeing.

He was a little timid at first, but he soon started bonding to us, of course we have Toffee our dog with us too, and she wasn't too sure what to make of this 'intruder' into her home at the very beginning, but once she realised she'd still get the same amount of love and attention, she accepted him readily (one of the reasons we wanted a rat was because at night toffee sleeps under our bed, refusing to come on top of it for more than a few seconds before going back into her 'den' so we wanted a rat to be able to play with him in the dark dreary evenings that were going to be along soon, summer being almost over at the time we got him, and of course we wanted all the other rewarding things that come from owning a Rat.

One of the first thing we bought for him after he had settled in was a pet carrier, it took some tracking down, but eventually we got what we were after, it's made of fabric, has a top handle and a shoulder strap, mesh side panels so he can sniff his surroundings, I added the front window my self, as I felt he wanted to see some of where he was going.. it also allows people so see him without me having to get him out all the time, being fabric and not solid it folds down flat for storage, always a good thing when living in a motorhome for a long time.
When it's zipped up, it is pretty rigid, but obviously when were in crowded places we get very defensive and don't allow anyone to bump into us, Toffee usually ensures people keep their distance anyway, but there's always the impatient business types who are always late for meetings and have to get there first, even if it's just running down the escalator to the underground stations platform, just so he can wait for the train like everyone else who stood still on the escalator :)

Branden loves his carrier, as soon as I get it out of the cupboard, he's asking to be allowed into it, we just open his cage door and let him climb into the carrier, and he's quite content to sit down in it and watch where he's being taken, Below is his Cage.

Branden is an adorable rat (aren't they all) he loves coming out with us sight seeing, though he is getting fed up of being called a hamster by American tourists, he loves to have a rummage about in flower pots and planters, to the amusement of the locals in the town who's planters we let him rummage in, he's been swimming in a fountain, I put him on the side and he decided to dive in, it was a hot day and afterwards we bought the wash mitten flannels to dry him with.

He loves nothing better than running over the bed, under the sleeping bag, and in it when he can find a way in, unfortunately if he can't find a way in, he starts to make his own way in, ahh well, babies puke up all over you and break all your valuables, and the parents accept it as normal, so we can tolerate a few ventilation holes in the sleeping bag I guess :)

Toffee and Branden get on pretty well together, at first she was slightly wary of him, but she soon got used to him, she doesn't like him climbing up her legs, or making a nest in her bum hairs when she's lying down, but she'll happily play 'peek a boo' with him, he'll be on the bed, and toffee on the floor, and she'll pop up, if he's in range she'll lick him, then pop back down again, he then goes to the edge to see what just kissed him, and she'll pop up, lick, hide.

Toffee also likes to root him out from under our pillows, she's very gentle doing this, when we put a treat under them for her to get, she'll paw at them and drag them away, but when branden's under the pillows she'll only use her muzzle to gently lift the pillow and entice him out.. he'll follow her anywhere once she's got his attention.

Below are a few more photo's, just click on them to see the larger version. Hover over them to see what Branden is saying.

The sad part of this page

I never thought I'd be writing this for another 2 years at the least, but Branden passed away today, (the 23rd of November 2007, yes exactly 3 months since we got him) He was just 4 months and 11 days old when he went, we learnt the hard and very horrible way the reason not to get a rat from a pet shop (Please, if your considering one of these wonderful animals as a pet, get them from a good fancy rat breeder who puts the care and longevity of their rats first, and profit is not even on the list of things they want to accomplish when breeding their rats)

Branden had never been 100% fit, a few days after we got him he was having little sneezing fits, we thought it was the sawdust the pet shop sold us along with him, soft wood sawdust is very bad for rodents health, the phenols in it (that give it the scent) cause respiratory problems, and are thought to be linked to liver damage, We changed to maize pellets as bedding, and it did seem to help.

However, he never seemed to put on weight how he should have, it wasn't till we got him a cage mate we realised he didn't eat much, he barely managed to get over 220 grams in 3 months, His cage mate Nugget, made it to 203 grams at just 1 month and 29 days of age, I've always free fed my small pets (i.e. keep the food bowl full so they can take what they want when they want) and with Branden the food bowl would need re-filling every 3 or 4 days, but when Nugget came along the food bowl would need replenishing every day.

On the 9th of November he suddenly went all lethargic, he'd stopped putting on weight totally, so we found a vet to take him to, who said it was a lung infection, she injected him with a big shot of baytril, and some oral antibiotics for a week (Nugget got a small shot of baytril just in case), he seemed to respond very well to that, and had a small booster shot of baytril at the end of the week, and he was fine, back to his old very bouncy and loving self.

That was until 2 days ago, he very very suddenly went lethargic again, and started breathing very fast and short, using his abdominal muscles to breath it seemed, he was loosing weight now, he'd made it to 235 grams, but was suddenly back down to 215 in the time between the boys bi-daily weighing session.

We rushed him to a vet, another one as we are currently touring Germany in our motorhome, this vet listened to his lungs, and immediately took an X-ray, which showed very shadowy lungs, not a good sign at all, he gave us some strong oral antibiotics, and told us to make sure he ate and drank and to bring him back the next day.

At first he would eat slightly, his favourite cucumber, but as the night went on he'd refuse even that, he wouldn't drink, even out of the dogs bowl which he used to love drinking from,
I used the syringe for his medication to get some sugary water into him, but he just wasn't with it much, he couldn't keep his eyes open, his breathing was so fast and laboured.

We stayed up with him till half 4 in the morning, he was with it enough to recognise which of us he was with (With me he'd sit in my hands on my chest, when he was near Sam he'd snuggle up against her belly), and he had enough strength to shoo Nugget away when he was grooming his whisker bed then tried to go round to his mouth, like he was trying to snog him :)

We let him sleep with noogie for the rest of the night, totally expecting him to be gone when we got up in a few hours time, but no, he was above me on the curtain pelmet looking down on me when I woke up at 10, but unfortunately his breathing was the same as before, and he had used a lot of his remaining strength to get to the pelmet where he could look down on us.

We took him to the vets for his 11:15 appointment, we knew he didn't have much chance, so we made sure we said our goodbye's to him before we went in, noogie gave him a final groom, toffee licked him, and he got a big hug and kisses from me and Sam.

The vet said it didn't look good at all, and he'd keep him in and try to re-hydrate him and get him to eat, and give him some injections to try and bring him round, but if he didn't get better by half 6 this evening, then we really should call it a day, which we agreed with as he was miserable and not having any life at all like he was.

So at half 6 we went back to the vets, and found the poor little thing had died at about 2 this afternoon :(, he went peacefully they said, they had tried to ring us when he went, but like a prat, I had put my home phone number on the temporary client form we filled in, not thinking we're a bit too far from home to hear it ringing.

We were allowed to have his body back, which I was amazed at, I know in England if an animal dies at the vets they can't be given back, as they are clinical waste!! I expected Germany with it's love of rules and regulations to be even more strict, but nope, we got him back in a little box with his wash flannel sleeping bag.

We then went on up the road 20 kms to Frankfurt, and found a lovely park with everything in it he'd have enjoyed, rocks to climb on, benches to crawl over, grass to nibble and play on etc.

We chose a nice spot, and buried him in an unmarked grave, it's probably illegal to bury a pet in a park in Germany, but what else could I do, he was a traveller rat, he'd started out life in Brandenburg, came with us right down to the bottom of Germany, into Austria, Switzerland, and almost half way back up the west side of Germany, so it seemed right he was buried in his home soil.

He has an unmarked grave as I don't want anyone disturbing it, especially not the park keeper, but I have it marked on my GPS as his final resting place, and we put some of his favourite sun flower seeds in the grave with him, so when we come back here in a couple of years time, hopefully there'll be a couple of sunflowers growing where he's resting.

As a final tribute, just as we were lowering him into the grave, some fireworks were set off about 150 meters from us, and some more went off when we'd replaced the turf and I'd marked the position on the GPS, I couldn't have planned it like that if I'd tried.

So now were back to one rattie, Nugget the one we got as a companion to Branden, he is missing Branden already, he slept in Branden's hammock whilst we went out to burry Branden, and he was waiting for us when we got back, I just hope he can handle being alone for a little while, we took him from his litter mates and he lived with branden for the next 3 weeks, we will get another rattie as a companion to Nugget, but this time it will be from a good caring breeder.

We'll always remember Branden, he was such a lovely, kind, gentle and inquisitive creature, even tho he was a pet shop rat, he bonded with us very fast, he learnt his name within 2 weeks, and the phrase 'Branden playtime' would bring him bounding out of his cage to see us, he loved playing the tickle game, I'd tickle his back, he'd bound off, do a big circle and come back for more, when he'd had enough of bounding about, he'd roll over for a belly rub.

He absolutely loved travelling about, he loved to be in his carrier as he knew he was off on a little adventure, he'd regularly ride on our shoulders on U bahn trains and trams, he had a great time at the hobby and electronics show at Stuttgart last week, where him and noogie rode in a model train's wagon, attracting a big crowd of amazed people, including an English couple who used to be judges for the fancy rat society, (Branden would never win prizes, he was mis-marked, but his personality more than made up for that, and that's what we got him for)

He had his little rattie destructive tendencies, we'll always be reminded of him when we turn the sleeping bags over, as he loved being under it, but when he wanted out, he'd try to make a new exit for him self, and I also have the video camera's power cord, we'd just bought it, I got it out of it's box to check it out, and in the time I was distracted reading the destructions he'd got hold of the end of the power cord and chewed half the hand grip moulding off.

Thank you Branden for the joy and happiness you brought to our lives in your very short life, we wish we'd had longer with you, but the time we had with you was amazing, and we'll never forget you.

RIP Branden, our lovely biscuit rat (his fur smelled of butter kek's biscuits :)

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