Finals Terminated.

So much to write and so little time! Finals are done, finally, graciously. I had a pet emergency around the time the final was due, so I wrote an excuse hoping she will accept my late submission. Hopefully she will because she likes me.

I hate excuses. But I find that during finals I am not quite myself. I blamed it on a family pet that had to be put down. It is quite a sad story that naturally pulls at the heart strings. People envision a dog, a cat or horse maybe, if they know me maybe an iguana or python, but this time it was a rat. Loo's rat. Her name was Sierra. She was white with a black patch over her eye like a pirate. She had a mammary tumor that was terminal, and apparently that gets into their bones eventually and makes them fail.

I was doing my ultimate final revision when my brother ran to get me, said that Sierra was freaking out. When I got there she was squealing and biting the ground ravenously. I thought she had caught rabies or something. The other two rats Patches and Bandida came down to help her out but they didn't know how. I looked from a different angle and saw that her foot was stuck. I tried to reach in to help her but she snapped at me. So I pulled the other rats out, carried the cage outside, dismantled it and saw that she had twisted around so many times that she had a compound fracture. I donned my bro's welding gloves (very thick leather) and grabbed her, she bit me as I knew she would, and I untwisted her three times to get her straight. But it wouldn't come out. It was stuck in a hole wide enough to press on her Achilles tendon, and the underside of her toes. So I reached underneath and pushed her foot back through. She squealed and hopped away on one foot.

I grabbed her by the scruff of the neck to take the weight off her foot and she started cleaning her face and chattering her teeth. A strange gesture, but I have heard of cats puring as they die. So this little rat, 2 years old, rescued and inbred, with a mammary tumor and a compound fracture was at the end of her luck. I took her to the vet to have her put down. But on the way there I gave her all the bad stuff that they love that you're not supposed to feed em. Like cheese and chocolate and stuff.


I have to go to work but I wanted to get to the pet aspect and rat misconceptions. The pet stores inbreed them cause its cheaper, and they have all sorts of problems. If it's with dogs they call it a puppy mill, if it's with rats they don't call it anything because no body cares. I care. And I have a lot of animals and rats are great. They are cleaner then cats, social and like to be held. They can be trained and do cute things all the time like cleaning their whiskers or combing their hair. I have two rats, two brothers that are from a breeder and not a pet store so they are like a purebred dog, healthy distinct etc. Riley and Mijit (he was the runt of the litter) And they sit on my shoulder when I write. Riley will sit forever, Mijit only half an hour. I usually write with Riley on my shoulder and reach up to scratch him when I get stumped. Sometimes I ask him where I made a mistake or read it to him and ask what he thinks.

Love your animals like your family, or don't bother having any.

~To Family