Poor Chester

Poor Chester


This post came after reading a post on Jeanine's blog. :-) My 13 yo daughter is an animal lover. Her coined phrase is, "Oh, so cute..." She sees cute in a dog who could win an ugliest dog in the world award! This trait of seeing cute in all living things is sweet, but can be blind. Chester was described as cute, smart, clean, lovable, and came free with a cage. I'm embarassed to admit what kind of animal... Chester was a rat. My daughter was smitten even before she met Chester. Chester's family needed to find him a home because one of the kids was alergic. I admit going to "just look" wasn't wise. Also, it's not wise to take pity on a rat. But, poor Chester needed a home. Chester became Chester Anderson and came home with us. After a few weeks of new rat ownership bliss we found out that Chester was a rat with special needs. A call to his first family confirmed his ailments. Chester suffered from a skin problem and lost most of his hair soon after we adopted him. Even my daughter couldn't use the word cute to describe Chester. He also had a pooping problem... Anyone holding him got pooped on. Well, after doing a little research on rats, I discovered a few remedies to try for the skin problem. A couple of trips to the pet store for advice, many baths, and special lotions were of no help to poor Chester. He was bald until he died. No suggestions for the pooping problem could be found. One of the first rules of rat ownership that was established was Chester could only come out of his cage if he was wrapped in a towel. Research also showed that rats usually only live 2-3 years. Chester was a little over a year at the time of the adoption. Given Chester's special needs and expected life span, I was feeling ok about our poor little rat with special needs. It was probable that we would be the owners of a rat for a short amount of time. Who knew that losing your hair and not being able to control when you poop doesn't effect the life span of a rat! Chester lived past his expected 3 years.

Lessons learned: Don't ever go to "just look." This can be applied to many situations, not just rats. Puppies, cars, shoes, and bags come to mind also. And, don't ever take pity on a rat.


My daughter gave her grandfather her Christmas list today. My dad called me to ask about a few things listed. #3 on the list was Two Rats. He wanted to know if I thought this would be a good gift. I said, "Sure! But they have to live at your house!"