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Bianca

Bianca came to me with her sisters, Druscilla and Daria, as a rescue from Leicester RSPCA. While they are all very special little girls, I would like Bianca to be considered for Rescue Rat of the Year.

I had a spare cage, and plenty of love to spare, even after giving my two pet shop girls all the love they could take, so I decided to go to the local RSPCA and give two other girls a second chance. When I got there I explained that I wanted two does, as I already had girls and I was taken to the rodent unit. I was spoilt for choice: - there where the two pretty girls who were found abandoned in a telephone box, and the four young babies, still cute fuzzballs.

And then there was another cage.... One rat was hiding in the rat igloo, another looked grumpy and was covered in ugly lumps and scars, the other was a big PEW squish who looked at me at a funny angle. I asked if I could hold her and the second I open the cage door, the white rat was out the cage, up my arm and sitting on my shoulder like she knew that was the place she belonged. As I fussed her, I asked their story - These three girls had been rescued from a supposed rat rescue centre!!! The person who had taken them on had stopped caring for her charges and neglected them. They'd been let down by people who were supposed to protect them at least twice in their short lives so far.

As I've said in previous entries, Daria was suffering from breathing difficulties, and Druscilla had scars from a serious mite infestation. The PEW, however, had a massive lump growing under her armpit and had a head tilt that meant she had a habit of walking in circles.

I've kept rats for 8 years now, and the girls in the other cages were young and pretty, they had a good shot at being rehomed. I decided that these girls needed me the most and I'd take 3 home instead of the 2 I'd intended to have.

The first thing I did was take the PEW, who I named Bianca (it's Italian for "White Lady") to the vets to have her lump removed. She was a trooper and was eating yoghurt from my finger by the evening after her operation. She displayed her bald patch and scar with pride when she was allowed back in with her sisters. Then a month later, I was taking her out of their cage when I noticed another lump growing under her other arm. I'm not ashamed to say I cried at the unfairness of it all. After much soul searching I decided that if I didn't get this lump removed as well then I wasn't doing everything in my power to give her the best life possible. Her second operation was in September last year, and I'm please to say she pulled through without a hitch and after the second operation even her head tilt seems less serious now.

I'm nominating Bianca for Rescue Rat of the Year, not just because she has been a strong fighter after so many trials in her short life and has the sweetest personallity you could imagine, but also because that day she sat on my shoulder at the RSPCA she not only secured her future with me, but her sisters' as well. She knew that I was the one who would fight for their right to have a happy life (and chocolate drops!)

VOTING HAS NOW FINISHED!