Sleep Tight Holly

Yesterday we woke up to find that our Holly rat had died in the night.

Holly was always the biggest of the four sisters we adopted back in December 2011. When we got her she was like this little golf ball sized thing that would sit in the palm of your hand. She was always very rotund, growing to about tennis ball proportions.

She loved her food. I always worried that perhaps she was eating too much but she was just a big squishy girl who seemed meant to be that shape.

Holly was the boss of our girls, probably because as the biggest she could just steam-roller the others out the the way. They didn't seem to mind, though we did get some long-suffering looks when she decided to use one of her sisters as a pillow!

She was the home-maker rat. She was always the first to start ripping up boxes or rearranging the furniture after they'd been cleaned out. You could almost seem her exasperation as she realised she'd have to start over after a cage cleaning.

Holly was never a proper shoulder rat (her bum was too big), but she liked cuddling inside clothes and in hoodie pockets.

She thought that Tara was her pet and used to post shredded paper out through the bars for the dog to eat. Evidently she thought we didn't feed Tara enough!

Holly never visited the vet and although she'd slowed down a little in recent months she still climbed up to the top of the cage for sweetcorn.

She'd developed a lump recently but she was still our Holly rat who made little pigeon coos when she was snuggling with her sisters.


Holly was our fatty-ratty, squishy girl, two-handed rat. If she'd been a boy she would've been called Hamnpork which would've suited her perfectly.

She died in her sleep with her sisters beside her and yesterday we buried her in my in-laws' garden beside her sister Bell.

We'll miss her terribly but she had a good little rattie life, totally spoilt and well loved. And rats are here for little time, that's really all you can give them.