The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/14/09 Section: Variety

Media Credit: Kevney Moses Maran Little holds her pet rat, Penelope. Three-year-old Penelope suffers from multiple tumors, which have continued developing. [Click to enlarge]

Despite recently losing a sister and suffering from recurring tumors, fancy rat Penelope refuses to lose hope and continues to be the shining light of owner Maran Little's world.

"Penelope is great; she is like my baby," Little said while proudly displaying a portrait of the rat she had tattooed on her shoulder. "She is my heart, and I love her to death."

Penelope hasn't always been the only tiny-footed friend that Little has kept close to her heart; according to Little, Penelope was the glue that helped mend it back together after losing sister-rat Dorothy to a terminal illness.

"Dorothy had a very severe type of respiratory infection that is common with pet store rats, but her symptoms were very serious," she said. "You can treat this type of illness, but you can never really cure it."

Little decided to tackle the infection, which eventually led to pneumonia, head-on. As a result, Little had to take the sickly rat to a specialist in Atlanta who she hoped would be able to finally prescribe an effective treatment.

"The vet in Atlanta put her on antibiotics twice a day and probiotics once a day, and she took those for about a year and a half with check-ups every two weeks," Little said. "She eventually developed what I think was a brain tumor because her back legs stopped working, and she would just kind of huddle in a corner and not eat or drink anything."

Seeing Dorothy suffer led Little to what she believes was the most humane decision for Dorothy, even though it was not the easiest.

She had her put to sleep and finally put an end to the extensive medical care. The treatments, which Little estimates cost about $1,700, had only succeeded at extending Dorothy's lifespan, not improving her quality of life.

"I really wish the vet would have allowed me to be in the room when she received the gas," she said. "The hardest part was waking up the next morning because my first thought was that I had to give Dorothy her medicine, and when I looked at the empty cage, I remembered what had happened and just sobbed."

Little said she cannot be sure that Penelope knew Dorothy was sick during the year and a half she was being treated. However, she knows that Penelope definitely missed Dorothy when she suddenly was left to sleep by herself in the cage she and Dorothy had shared since birth.

According to Little, Penelope began sleeping a lot more than usual and became difficult to get out of her cage. It was as if she were waiting for Dorothy to come back and play. It took "a couple of weeks" for her to stop grieving her sister's absence and get back to her normal, playful self.

Now a senior citizen in the rat world, 3-year-old Penelope is experiencing some health problems of her own in the form of tumors. But, she refuses to let these quickly multiplying masses stop her from playing and living the rest of her life to the fullest, a philosophy that Little has adopted too.

"A couple of months ago, she developed a tumor on her side, and I got her the surgery to have it removed, and she had to wear the cutest little satellite collar after," she said. "But, right after her stitches healed she developed another tumor and now she has a couple of them."

"I know that no matter how many surgeries she has, the tumors are going to keep developing. So, now that she is almost 3, I'm just going to let her play and do what she does until she can't do it anymore and then go from there."



Editor's Note: Each week, reporter Courtney Smith will profile a quirky pet that belongs to someone on campus. This is the sixth installment in the series. If you or someone you know has a unique pet you'd like the University to know about, e-mail Smith at c5s@uga.edu.

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