Alphonse was adopted along with his brother Edward on September 18th from Petsmart. Both brothers were named after a popular anime "Fullmetal Alchemist" in which Ed and Al were very close and made sure to look out for one another. Alphonse in the anime is more timid and clear-headed, and his rat counterpart began life that way too, however as he grew, he became more adventurous and more dominant then his brother, which made his name more ironic then anything else.
Alphonse was a bit of a rebel, he liked large environments and explored without any fear, he did not mind taking baths, however it was during this time that he would follow Edward's lead and squeak while being shampooed, though not as loudly, he was playing along.
Alphonse's favorite place was the hammock, he was fine sharing it, but often made Edward take the bottom, Al's sense of dominance would often lead to him laying on top of his brother, but Ed did not mind. Both rats always looked cozy when they slept, it showed they really cared for each other, despite the few scuffles they had, this would often lead to bedding flying all over the floor, but the resolved their differences right away and went back to being best buddies.
On July 18th, Alphonse began to favor the hammock even more, not allowing Edward in as often. He did not move much from the hammock, after a few days I noticed that he lost a lot of weight, and be was defecating and urinating as he lay. After a bath to clean both him and the cage, I felt the impact of his weight loss, Al was skin and bones, and did not show much of an appetite. I moved him to the hospice cage and made him comfortable, Al was so weak, that I was certain that he would pass in his sleep.
It was not the case, in fact Al held on for over a week, I even brought him with me on a trip to my home community just so that he would not die alone, but he still held on, even eating some popcorn on my lap. On his final two days, Alphonse was showing his discomfort, he was standing often using the cage as a support and held his head high, it sounded as though he had trouble breathing, whatever his illness was it was eating him from inside. Half of his tail looked black, which meant the flesh inside was dead.
While most rat I have had often pass on peacefully in their sleep, it became apparent that this would not be the case for Alphonse, his discomfort was too much. On July 31st, I took him to the vet to be humanly euthanized. Alphonse is no longer in pain. sleep well little buddy, your brother will miss you immensely.
