Tired

Rat is busy trying to stop choking. I fed them some chow mein noodles, and apparently, Rat got one stuck. She is not a pretty sight right now. She's got labored breathing, she doesn't want to move, and she's drooling/retching as best she can. Poor thing. :(

Rat Rat, while I was busy with Rat, dug up an entire pot of plants I had in the window. Just got finished replanting.

Coda is looking much better. Her wound is healing quickly and nicely. Much more quickly than Halfie's did. Yay!

Rat's more quiet now. Her breathing has slowed down, and she's just resting. I hope she got it dislodged. She ate the yogie I gave her. She's just laying there while Halfie housecleans and rearranges around her. It's a funny thing to see.

I need more sales. Bills are coming quickly this month. *sigh*

Happy Sunday.

Oops. Now Rat is on the 2nd floor. I guess Halfie was disturbing her. She's laying out on the 2nd floor, and Halfie has taken over Rat's vacated spot. lol

Rat is a M-O-R-O-N

A short post. A short story. A stupid rat.

Last night I gave the rats dried bread chunks with baby food all over them. Rat greedily started pigging out. She ate her first and started on the second. She readily scarfed the second down in about a minute. She ate so fast she started choking. After gaging and retching the obstruction up, she immediately headed to the food bowl for a third piece. (Mind you, there were only 2 pieces per rat, so somebody only got 1 piece.)

Summary: Rat is a pig, she wound up choking, and she couldn't bear the thought of not eating all she could. Health be damned.

It's no surprise she's fat.

Rat's Adventure

Well, we had a semi-exciting night last night. Rat was free-ranging and while she was crawling on me I felt a lump on her side.

But...this was a different type of lump. It felt more like a scab. So, of course, I investigate. As I'm pulling the hair away to look at it, she starts tugging and I wind up squeezing the lump. And it squeezes partly out of her skin.

Well, it looks like a huge, deep under the skin scab. So, I squeeze it a bit more. And more. And more. Finally, I've gotten it out as much as I can, and the hubby uses tweezers to pull it out. He pulls out three different chunks of mass.

It left a gaping, bleeding hole in Rattie's side. I disinfected it, and she didn't seem too bothered by it. It stopped bleeding shortly after. Now it has a scab this morning.

We looked at it, and most of the lump was hard and crusty, like a scab. And it was HUGE for a Rat. However, the part he pulled out of her, the bottom of the lump, was gelatinous and fatty looking.

We still don't know what it is. I'm sure that Rat likes having it out, though! :)

Here's the update

Ok folks, here's the rundown. It's kinda long, so you might need a break! I'm rested and ready to tell my stories.

It's been a hectic week. I've been battling a cold and dealing with an injured toe. But that's ok. That's not too bad, is it?

Add to that mix, one rat with a tumor. First I drive her all around town to find her a cheaper surgeon. Then I get calls from the first vet wondering why I didn't take her in for her follow-up. Still, not so bad, right?

Half Rat has decided she doesn't like taking her meds. Now it's a twice a day struggle. It ends with a frustrated rat and a frustrated owner. So, what am I complaining about right?

Now, we're up to the night before Half Rat's surgery. I give the girls their usual nightly fruit. Tonight it's oranges...which they love. I come up from doing laundry, and my husband tells me, "Something's wrong with Half Rat."

I ask him, "What's wrong?"

He says, "I don't know" in the most frantic voice ever. I check her out, and she's standing stock still. Her mouth is open and there is a copious amount of drool coming from her mouth. The longer I watch the more I realize, SHE'S CHOKING!

Oh crap, oh crap. What do I do? I've never had a rat choke before. So, I pull her out of the cage and rub her throat and the back of her neck. She keeps gagging, and drooling frequently. All I can do is wipe it away. She doesn't seem to have trouble breathing, but I feel the most helpless I've ever felt.

She periodically gets really still, pulls her head back into her body, lays her ears back, opens her mouth and lolls her tongue out, and gags. She can only get a little up at a time. However, she's still relatively active and running about.

She tries to eat, and that only makes it worse. She gags more frequently when she eats. Poor thing.

I leave the husband to watch her; to see if her feet start turning blue. I look up rat gagging on the internet, and find that there is absolutely nothing I can do. But, I learn the rattie heimlich and the rattie fling anyway. I learn that most rats can clear the obstruction themselves. I learn that all I can do is be calm and comfort her. So I do. I stay up all night watching her.

They say that if the rat can't clear their throat within 6 hours, to take them to the vet. Well, that's about how long it is until her surgery, so I decide to wait it out.

When I check her before we go to the vet, and she seems ok. Hallelujah! I pack her up at 7:30 in the morning and take her in to have her mass removed.

Now, going on no sleep, I've got to go Christmas shopping with my sister, because she doesn't drive, and still needs to buy all her presents. So, as I'm dragging my butt around town, guess what?

Yes, I run into my abusive, craptastic ex-boyfriend. *blank stare* He's supposed to live in AZ, but his family still lives here. Maybe he came back for the holidays? Eehhh.

So, he pretends he isn't watching me, but I blatantly stare at him. You see, I left a 6 year abusive relationship with him within 48 hours of re-meeting my husband. I got married 6 months later. He wasn't real pleased with the turn of events.

I was surprised he didn't say anything to my sister or I. He really liked my sis. So, that ruined my day. And weird enough, two nights before I had a dream about him. I dreamt my husband and I were helping him move, and I opened a box in his closet. In the bottom was the purple, bound body of a dead woman face down. It TOTALLY creeped me out. It was an awful dream. And then I see him. Coincidence?

I go to pick up Half Rat at 4 p.m. She is doing ok, and recovering. The doctor didn't put a collar on her (yea!), but told me to watch her to see if she starts pulling out her stitches.

I bring her home, get her settled in, and she seems fine. I have a bite to eat, and then back into the crappy hubub of Christmas shoppers. Yuck.

Then, to make matters worse, I lend my sister money to buy a more expensive present for her boyfriend, than she did for me. *sigh I am a chump.

I finally finish shopping, and drop her off with a friend, around 9 p.m. I come home and begin wrapping the multitude of Christmas cheer in plastic bags.

Then, my husband calls me from the other room. Half Rat is actively RIPPING her stitches out. Oh crap. No, no, no, no. Not this. Oh, but yes. She is having a field day ripping those intruders out. What do I do?

I grabbed a water- proof bandage from the cabinet and stuck it on her. Then I started calling around, trying to find someone to help her. Of course, there is no exotic vet on duty anywhere. One place offers me a collar and some bandages. I go and pick them up, just in case.

So, I get to stay up another night with her. To make sure she doesn't get to her sutures. I leave a message at the vets, to let them know what's going on.

At 7:30 in the morning, I get the call. They can see us at 10 a.m. *sigh of relief

I drag her in, and find out...she's ripped out half of her stitches. But, the doc can stitch her up at 11. No problem. I wait.

She does fine in the surgery, and I bring her home. My fantastic best friend brings me Christmas gifts, homemade cookies (hers are the best), and lunch. She is a saint. I love her.

So far, Half Rat is not pulling on the new stitches. But I'm watching her. I'll be watching her all night. If she pulls them out again, they're going to put a collar on her, which I know she'll hate. I'd rather her not have one, but if she insists, what can I do?

And that's the story. Christmas is almost here, and I'm totally exhausted.

Goodnight, all.