Yesterday we sadly said farewell to our gentle vegetarian
rat, Mello. He had a good life, short
though the life of rats is, but it was time to end his suffering.
What really broke me up was seeing Rattle, one of the new
younger rats, nudging him, licking him, and finally lying over top of him in
mourning.
It is so easy to believe that animals do not have feelings,
but many of them (if not all of them) definitely do.
I took this photo of a punga tree fern while walking in
Hamilton Gardens yesterday. I was so
happy to be able to walk for 30 minutes without stopping – my legs were wobbly, but that is to
be expected after so many months unable to do anything.
It seems that a lot of my exertional breathlessness and
utter exhaustion has actually been a side-effect of one of the medical drugs I was
taking. Now I have stopped taking it,
things have started to dramatically improve.
I hope it continues!
The first signs of spring are appearing. The grape buds have burst and the distant
trees are getting a slight haze of green about them. Summer is on its way!
Have a great day 😊
Margaret.
As you observe early signs of Spring I'm always looking for signs of Autumn. It's still quite hot and very dry here and any trees that drop dry leaves are probably affected by the drought more than anything else.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised to know that rats can mourn the death of a fellow rat. Who knew?
I'm sure glad you found out about the negative effects of the meds you were taking and now are getting your energy back. Just in time for Spring!!
We are seeing signs of Fall here, that is a very pretty tree fern. Sorry about the death of the rat, yes I believe pets of all kinds can mourn their friends:(
ReplyDeleteMe, too, on seeing subtle signs of fall. I do believe animals have feelings.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the older we get the harder death impacts us. Sorry to hear about Mello.
ReplyDeleteI believe we underestimate animals for sure, as Rattle showed you.
ReplyDeleteIt’s great that you could walk around the Gardens, Margaret. Meds can have such terrible side effects and it’s easy to think something else is wrong.
So sorry for your loss.
ReplyDeleteCertainly animals do have feelings.
Just saw a docu on that. Inbetween species and that counts in humans (a baby elephant trying to cheer up a sad man by making jokes an cuddling him later.
A sheep taking care of baby-rhinos...
Great for walking - don´t overdo it - I enjoy each summer day, just work and balcony-time, no training at all. Wee, wobbly I will feel, too... later, hopefully much later!
Meds can be so... negative, I went through that, too. And never needed them!
Yay to your summer coming nay for ours leaving in the near future.
Glad we have no influence on this - would be chaos ;-) x
I can imagine the chaos! It would be absolutely dreadful :)
DeleteSo good to hear you are walking again. Slowly slowly . Must have been so nice to get out in nature again
ReplyDeleteI absolutely believe that all animals have feelings...they may express them differently than we would, but the wag of a dogs tail, a cat curled up on a lap, or the way a mother cares for her young all tell me they do have feelings. I know that any animal we invite into our homes is part of the family; losing them is sad.
ReplyDeleteHow sad about your rat. One of my grandchildren had 2 pet rats; she adored them, and often they would be snuggled into her, in her hoodie hat or pockets. That exhaustion from exertion - so tiring. Good that things are looking up for you.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really a rat person but I have to admit that would make me very teary eyed too, it's never very nice seeing pets in pain
ReplyDeleteGood to hear your meds are sorted and you are on the mend, Margaret. The fern is lovely. Sorry to hear about Mello, he will be missed.
ReplyDelete