Liam Wiam, a good old soul

Liam passed away overnight. I loved him very much.

Although he was a shy sort, and as timid as a mouse, one still knew that he trusted you.

When I first got Liam, he was terrified of everything. He did not want to be touched or held. He opted to stay in the cage all the time, and when I took him out to socialize with me, he would hide under the dresser. Taking him out became such a hassle, for it would almost take an hour or so to catch him. He was very tiny and very quick. On top of that, he was terrified of everything. He didn't want anything to do with us.

This was very difficult on me, what with being spoiled with Mark and Vincent's incredible social-ness. I even debated for a while that Liam was better off as an only rat, and should I give him away? But I stuck with him.

I created a rule: he was only allowed on the bed or on my person. He could not leave the bed when he was out of the cage. He could not leave my person when he was out of the cage. I forced him to stay with me.

At first, he was not willing. I would feed him while I had Mark and Vincent on my shoulders too, trying to show him that I could be trusted. You see Liam, they take the food. You take it too.

It was a long road, but finally one day he took an edamame from me; and then a cracker; a yogurt raisin. He did not always eat it on my shoulder, but he would hold it and play keep away from Mark and Vincent. This always resulted in terrible scratches across my shoulders, clavicle, and chest. There was a long period of time where I would always come to work with the injuries on me. I remember Natalie pointing them out, and we just laughed about it. She said I looked like I got in a fight. Truth is, I was just in the middle of one.

Every-so-slowly, I would entrust Liam to leave my shoulder and bed area. He always ran to the dresser. It was his safe spot. But eventually, I could call his name and he would come out. There was a solid week, actually, where he would only respond to Sam calling his name.

Then he eventually learned that he would get treats when he came out. I would crinkle the cracker-plastic, a sound all well-trained rats know, and he would come out from under the dresser and wait by my foot until I either picked him up or gave him the cracker. If I did the latter, he would of course retreat beneath the dresser to eat the treat in his safe haven.

It was such a pleasure, seeing him flourish socially. I felt that I was doing well. I was pleased that he was able to trust me.

Soon, Mark passed away and Liam and Vincent became roomies. At first there was a lot of fighting, but in the end they grew very close. This made me happy.

When we moved into the apartment we're in now, Liam's routine of going under the dresser never stuttered. But I noticed that if I kept them out for a long while, Liam would eventually come out. He would go under my bed and investigate that. He would climb on my book shelves, sniff my books, and eventually come to sit on the bed with me and Vincent.

Whenever he did, I was very happy. I knew that he was extremely comfortable with me.

When company visited, he was always still shy. When I let company handle the boys, I usually let them play with Vincent. Vincent was the social sort, raised properly by Mark Bark. However, if given a cracker, Liam would still take it. He had learned the cracker was good treat.

Liam has always been sick. He was probably wheezing the day he was born. It's very common for rats to develop this lung disease; its a respiratory disease called Mycoplasma. It's basically a virus, a nasty little bacteria. There are a lot of ways ratties can get them, including being passed on from the womb. You can always tell who has the virus. There are several symptoms: sneezing, wheezing, crusty eyes, crusty nose.

Mark had the sneezes, so it is probably a safe assumption he had very minor Mycoplasma. Vincent too. But Liam had the worst. I knew that when I got him, his life would be shorter than Vincent's. As Liam aged, the virus took better hold of him.

A lot sneezing, intense wheezing; his eyes and nose were always a little red. It got worse and worse in the past few months. His body began to deteriorate as his skin stuck to his bones and his body lost all fat. The past few weeks, I knew it would be any day now.

So I gave him and Vincent anything they wanted. They wanted crackers? How many? They wanted yogurt raisins? Choose your favorite.

Liam was a good old soul. Shy and timid, but good. He was the most rattiest of rats, being as close to a wild rat as is possible without being wild.
I will always remember him and think of him fondly. I am glad now that his wheezing and distress has stopped. He will move on; his soul will meet up with Edgar and Mark, and Victoria, and even Alice and Sadie. I take comfort in that.