We found Brownie (My brother and I just call him rat) back in early 2013, we got him off the streets and he was around 1 to 2 years old when he joined our family. The 2nd photo was our first picture together, I was in-between 6 to 7 during that time.
He was always super energetic in his younger years as he alway tore apart everything we gave him and finally calmed down in his last 4 years. Every time he was introduced to another person, he would just sniff their feet and then walk away. For some reason, he was alway very charming, since when I started to take him on walks around different cities 2 years ago, we always encounter many people stopping us asking to pet him. They would always say he was a cute puppy and be absolutely surprised when I told them his actually age.
Brownie was a special rat, he was very greedy, but also very dumb and smart at the same time. The 4th photo was the look he gave my brother when he was denied a potato chip. I remember 5 years ago he tried to fight a horse and I had to jump/tackle him so he didn't reach it, the horse's fore leg was only a foot away from my head so that could have ended badly for me if I didn't react a second earlier. On the other hand there was a time when our newborn chicks got loose and we were struggling like for an hour to get them back. The reason we didn't lose our chicks was because Brownie came out and herded them back. We didn't even know that he could herd.
But 2 months ago he started to developed a cough that was persistent, so we took him to a vet and they told us that his heart wasn't doing well, the vet prescribed us medicine for his heart and we thought that he would be ok. Only, his condition got worse and when we took him to the vet again, we were told that his lungs were in bad shape and due to fail in a month or so. So we chose that the next week would be his last since we wanted him to go out peacefully.
The last 2 photos were on his last day, the 2nd last one being our last photo together and the last one being the final photo that I took of him. It was painful to think that we couldn't have any more time with him, most of the day was spent digging his grave, we gave him his own steak before saying farewell. It was a very hard having to bury him, seeing his lifeless body that was still warm had me in denial, since I thought that he could still wake up in that coffin. It was still a gut punch seeing his bed empty the next morning.
I want to post this so his memory could be kept by others and know that he existed. He was my best companion and he helped me during the hardest times of my life. I will remember and cherish him for the rest of my life. Rest in Peace Brownie, my perfect little rat.