She never really had much of a show career, being typically too dark for an agouti due to her blue line background, although she did come to a couple of shows as a PR rat as she was quite happy to be cuddled all day!

She also decided not to become a family lady, after several attempts at mating her up, probably due to being a typical fat agouti, bless her!! She was a bit of a reluctant auntie to Ffions babies when they temporarily moved in with her before going to their new homes, and she was frequently found sitting in the hammock with a resigned look on her face and mad babies leaping on her!

Sadly, life for Nia hasn't been very easy for the last few months, and she developed malocclusion back in September. She had them burred under anaesthetic, but they grew back very quickly. Tooth removal surgery was considered at first, but poor Nia had started to lose a fair bit of weight, so my vet and I didn't want to risk tricky surgery, so fortnightly trims were really the only option. She coped very well with this, up until just before Christmas, when she developed co-ordination problems as well as her teeth issues. She was diagnosed with a pituitary tumour, and her symptoms were managed very well for a while with steroid injections, and she soldiered on with a fairly decent quality of life.

Unfortunately, the steroid shots eventually stopped working and Nia deteriorated to the point of falling over and not being able to get up on her own. I decided to call it a day and gave my determined old lady a helping hand

Sleep well brave girl...you fought so hard, right until the end