The Cats Should Be Pleased

Jun
28


I went to Morgantown and back today (about 2 1/2 hours each way) to pick up Weston from first summer session at WVU. When he left six weeks ago, he took a vole with him that he found while doing yard work. He came back with a rat.

He bought the rat at a pet store in Morgantown as a “buddy” for the vole. Unfortunately, the rat promptly killed the vole. (Let that be a lesson to you.) So now he has a rat. Which he brought home. Which means THERE IS A RAT IN MY HOUSE.





Comments

  1. kristinemarja says:

    Rats are fantastic pets. They do best with at least one (same sex!) buddy, they’re very social. My mom also said the same thing when I came home from college with a rat. It grew on her πŸ˜€ That kicked off over a decade of rat ownership for me!

  2. Diane says:

    Aww its cute. My daughter had a rat when she was in Grade school. It was a neat pet. It would sit on her shoulder as well.

  3. CATRAY44 says:

    Oh my! Have fun with that! lol!

  4. PinkyMac says:

    I know they’re all God’s creatures but I have a hard time with rodents and pigeons (rats with wings). Good luck keeping the rat safe from the cats, she says with a devilish grain. πŸ˜†

  5. princessvanessa says:

    Your cats may look at the rat as less of a new buddy and more of a hors d’oeuvre. At the first sign of a cat licking its whiskers I’d do a welfare check on the rat.

  6. Cheryl LeMay says:

    Does he want anymore? I’m sure I could trap a few in my barn to send to him.

  7. wildcat says:

    It has a sweet face! But I still wouldn’t want it in my house. LOL

  8. lauren says:

    Ehhh I love animals but rats not so much πŸ™‚ probably better than a sugar glider though, we had two once and boy do they STINK!!

  9. Miss Judy says:

    Suzanne, when you left Stringtown Rising we told you not to let another rat in your house! What are you thinking! πŸ˜‰

  10. D1BeachBum says:

    Rats make some of the best pets!!! Good choice Weston.

  11. Old Geezer says:

    The D1BeachBum is right. Rats make great pets. I first learned about rats while a Psychology major undergrad. After the military, as a bachelor working in business, I started to keep pet rats around. That lasted all the way until our kids were old enough to appreciate them. They are far cleaner than people think — cleaning themselves as much if not more than cats do. They will respond to your caresses by grooming you. They will even clean crumbs off the floor if allowed to roam. The downside is that they find their way back to their nest by leaving tiny drops of pee in a trail. Also they only live a few years (three typically tops).

    But you can stock their cage with a week’s worth of food and it will keep for a week. I say “Enjoy your rat, Weston, and he will enjoy you!”

  12. Old Geezer says:

    Oh, I forgot to add this:

    If Weston gets “a buddy” for his rat, make sure it is the same sex. Rats breed readily, happily, and fecundly (?) and you don’t want to wake up some morning to find a dozen or so pink little neonate pups squirming in the cage.

    Well, unless you become a rat breeder. Yes, there are rat breeder clubs where they aim for the most gorgeous coat colors and have rat shows and everything.

  13. Murphala says:

    This is the house that Suzanne built!
    This is the cat that lay in the house that Suzanne built.
    This is the cat that ate the rat
    That lay in the house that Suzanne built.

    Now I’m going to have this poem in my head all day. :shocked:

  14. beforethedawn says:

    AW cute rat! Does it have a name? I had a couple growing up. My first one was named Whipper-snapper. He was super friendly. My next rat was one a friend gave me, he didn’t want her anymore. The friend’s name was Leon, so I named her Leona. He wasn’t thrilled. πŸ˜†

  15. Merino Mama says:

    R.I.P. Mr. (or Ms.) Vole. πŸ˜•

  16. bonita says:

    The Moorwens are a race of non-sentient or possibly semi-sentient quadruped carnivors that were the main predators of planet Moorwen. . . (Outlander 2008) Young Adult pop culture movie. Some of us are just alien-oriented

  17. Stick Horse Cowgirls says:

    Not just a rat, Suzanne! A KILLER rat! Not in my house! lol

  18. LaChienne says:

    I had two rats up until last year when they both died of cancer. I would recommend getting her spayed. Weird, I know, for such a tiny, short-lived pet, but I wish someone had told me to do it. One of my rats died of breast cancer, and the other of uterine cancer. If I’d had them spayed, they might have had happier endings to their lives.

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