Ellie made it all the way to college with me - Caeleb Dressel on keeping a pet rat × Follow Us Create Notifications New User posted their first comment this is comment text Link Approve Reject & ban Delete Log in Manage your profile Editing Story Queue Video Queue Editing Stats Writer Home SEO Redirection Admin Gaming Wiki Edits Taxonomy Home Edit Site Menu Mapping Dashboard Tag Pages Community Social Feed Queue Feed Center Notification Center Affiliate Home Manage Pages Bottom Tagline Dash Timeless Stories Logout Swimming Feature Ellie made it all the way to college with me - Caeleb Dressel on keeping a pet rat By Anushree Dinesh Burad Modified 04 Oct 2022 Follow Us Comment Share Caeleb Dressel: American professional swimmer (Image via Getty) Caeleb Dressel is one of the greatest male swimmers in the world today, having won five gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics. After Michael Phelps' successful reign, the current American swimming sensation is Caeleb Dressel. Along with his passion for swimming, Dressel is equally passionate about his pets and has had reptiles, mammals, birds, and many more on his pet list. This may shock a few, but it's true. In a conversation with Graham Bensinger, Dressel revealed his love for pets, especially his rat, Ellie. Caeleb Dressel s most favorite pet was his rat Ellie When asked about the animals he had while growing up, he said, "We had reptiles, mammals, birds. We had everything. Horses... dogs... guinea pigs...I had a bird at one point... cats... hamsters, which got out a few times." Caeleb was born to Christina and Michael Dressel, who is a veterinarian and therefore, it’s no surprise why he has so much love for animals. The most interesting pet that he had was a rat. During his dating years with Meghan, the couple decided to get a pet together. They did not want a dog or a cat so they decided to get a rat together. Caeleb Dressel's mother was not happy with him having a rat as a pet. She told Dressel that either he or his rat are not coming inside the house. Despite the warning, Dressel bought the rat and named her Ellie. Eventually, his mother also fell in love with the rat. She said, "I dont know what it was about this rat, but it was him and Meghan's little child." She also revealed that the rat went everywhere with Caeleb Dressel and Meghan—even to the beach, and Meghan would put it in her purse in good restaurants. Caeleb Dressel s rat gave birth to 16 babies Caeleb Dressel also shared that he bred Ellie with a male rat named Big Nuts, before Ellie got pregnant and had 16 babies. "We found homes for all of them with teammates and stuff, the cousins. They all wanted these little baby rats. They were so so cute." Moreover, he even took her to college. “Ellie made it all the way to college with me and then she got a tumor, which got removed," he said. The tumor was removed by Caeleb Dressel's dad, who himself got attached to Ellie throughout the process. Talking about their attachment with the rat, his father said, "She got a pituitary tumor and got really sick. Me and Christina took this thing and I would take her to work and we all got attached to her." Eventually, her condition worsened. She had trouble walking and she passed away from old age. They had her cremated and they also had a little ceramic paw print including her front feet, back feet, and tail. "We spread her ashes over one of our apple trees out there that we planted as a wedding gift. Then we spread them around the pasture so Ellie got to to rest here where we'll be here for a while." They spread the ashes and buried the ceramic print under the apple tree. Poll : 0 votes Quick Links More from Sportskeeda Edited by Sabine Algur × Feedback Thank You! Be the first one to comment Follow Us Share Show More Comments GIF Comment in moderation 0 0 Reply x Edit Delete Delete the comment? 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