Who Are You...

And what did you do with my rat??

After last night, I can't help but wonder if the antibiotics cleared up something in Sugar we never knew she had. I wonder if she didn't feel well or was in pain and that's why she was such a lazy, uninterested rat.

Because after 4 days on the antibiotics, she is completely different. She is still bleeding, although not as heavily. It got worse on Friday, and then has been slowing down since then. I'll still take her in if it doesn't stop completely by Thursday, which is her last day of medication.

But her attitude and personality have just blossomed in the last 24-48 hours. It has been an amazing transformation to watch. It was literally like she came out of her cage last night a completely different rat.

She was hopping and running around. She's still got a limp, but she doesn't seem to notice it at all. She came to her name, which I didn't know she could do. It was awesome! I got her to follow me about 20 feet before she got nervous and hurried back to the cage. She played "chase the hand" for the first time. I drug my finger on the carpet in a circle around her, and she turned and turned to follow it. She was going pretty fast, and really seemed to enjoy it. I wish I got a video of it.

She's more comfortable coming to me, too. I just call her name, or tap (hard!) on the floor and she comes right to me. She's always been kind of licky, but last night she cleaned my toes and was very serious about the whole matter.

And the funniest thing of all: She is a fraidy rat for the most part. Loud noises startle her, and she runs for cover and watches from the safety of her igloo. However, night before last she was out and I had to vacuum up the bits of food and bedding she tossed out of the cage. As I'm pulling out the vacuum she's curious, but not really sure what's going on. When I turned it on, though, she started chasing after it, coming right up to it and confronting it and wasn't the least bit afraid of it. It was incredible. She was absolutely comfortable with it, and was even playing with it. The vacuum! The noisy vacuum!

It has been the most rewarding 2 days to watch her come out of her shell and metamorph into a normal rat. The only thing I can think is the antibiotics cleared something up, because why would she suddenly be acting more natural when we're forcing a foul tasting liquid down her throat twice a day? If it were me, I might be a bit more reclusive thanks to that.

And, on the topic of her medication, she's too funny with it. I hold her head still, slip the syringe in the side of her mouth to the back of her tongue and give her the dose. After I let her go, she puts her mouth on the bottom of her cuddle cup and rubs it around as if she's trying to get the drips off her chin, which is cute enough in itself. After a couple minutes of that, though, she then sits there for another couple minutes licking her lips and smacking her lips like she's trying to get the taste out of her mouth. When she's satisfied, she'll eat the cheese or yogie I gave her. I'll try to get a video of it, because she looks like she's trying to get the nastiest taste out of her mouth. LOL

I have to say, she is adorable.