Over the years I have adopted 7 pet rats from Lollypop Farm. All rats are wonderful, and just like children have their own unique personalities. Bleu was a very special rat! Every single person who met him instantly fell in love. Even those we thought they hated rats. Some say that each person has an aura. I believe that is true of animals too. Bleu radiated pure unadulterated love. Such a tiny animal, but such a big heart! Friends of mine who thought I was crazy for having rats, instantly loved him. One night I had a medical crisis. Once I was stabilized, one of the EMTs said, I wish I could stay all night and play with him. All that year I was in terrible and constant pain in my hip. Bleu would go to the side of his cage closest to my chair and stretch out in his cage as close as possible to me. He’d stay there for hours. If I moaned he was on high alert, jumping up as if to check on me. Before I went into the hospital I had set up several home services so that everything would go smoothly when I got home. The MOWs lady was so impressed she stayed for almost an hour. It took 5 min. to fill out the paperwork. The rest of the time was spent visiting with Bleu. The personal alert system guy was mesmerized by Bleu. The handyman who put up grabbars stayed to talk to Bleu. All my homecare team liked me. They loved Mr. Bleu. Bleu was the Pied Piper in reverse. He didn’t lead the mice out of town. He lead all the humans to him! Bleu was grey and white with a white blaze down his face. He was one of the most beautiful rats I ever had or saw. That’s saying something. He was my 26th rattie! One of my best friends hated rats. For years I kept telling her how great they were. She said that I would never convince her. And I didn’t. Bleu did. She babysat Bleu when I went out of town 2 weeks before my surgery. We were only an hour from home before I wanted to call and check on my little one. I decided to wait. I didn’t want my friend to think that I was checking up on her. I need not have worried. 15 min. later my phone pinged. My friend had sent 3 videos of Bleu’s antics and Grandma Jeanne loving him up. The day before my hip surgery she called wanting to know when Bleu was coming. She was disappointed that my sister was going to babysit him. I started to chronicle Bleu’s life on Facebook. He was a hit. I’ve been advocating for pet mice since 1991 and rats since my first one in 2000. I wrote a newspaper article on how wonderful rats are. My car is a rolling billboard for rats. My license plate is PETRATS. But for all my efforts, Bleu was the best ambassador for rats. Blue helped me through a very hard time in my life. Besides my physical pain, I had to put my sister in assisted living. Emotionally that was gut-wrenching. But I had my little angel by my side. That’s what made Bleu so special. I rescued all my rats. But Bleu rescued me. And I am so grateful to Lollypop Farm. First for being there to rescue Bleu. And second of all for giving me Blue. 💙