Basil came to us on 2/22/21 as a senior whose cagemates had passed. Upon her arrival she was severely underweight, ill with a respiratory infection, and cool to the touch. With some serious care by her foster home she is doing much better!

Zoe arrived on 3/18/21 with an enormous tumor that her owner couldn’t afford to have removed. She survived the surgery but was placed in sanctuary care on concerns that she may grow more throughout her life. She and Basil moved in together shortly after and have been BFFs ever since!

UPDATE 7/7/21:

“Sadly, Zoe’s tumor did return and was quite aggressive. She continued on like nothing was wrong, just being the unassuming and easy going girl she had always been. Eventually, however, it became clear that the cancer was going to win. She was released from her ailing body May 17th.

Basil was out of sorts for a few days after losing her BFF but she has had the love and support of a small group of other gentle rats to help get her thru it.  It wasn’t long before she was back to her usual carefree busy busy self, stashing her food, running in her wheel and making me laugh with the funny way she walks like a drunken sailor sometimes.”

UPDATE 8/6/21:

“Basil is doing great! We were worried she was starting to look a bit worn out, but she’s bounced back as you can see in this video of her, fussing over her “boyfriend” and running around with her friends. She is still the most active rat in the bunch! even though she’s one of the oldest at around 2 yrs old.”

Basil

Zoe