A badly behaved rat on a train

[rattfan]

Today didn't go as (vaguely) planned. This is because I discovered yesterday that my rat Tino had collapsed - looked like the symptoms of a pituitary tumour, so fine one day and then at death's door. Really nasty. So I had to take Tino to the vet to be put to sleep today and also Finn for a check over. He has a tumour on his chest that would be operable if Finn didn't have lung scarring and a permanent wheeze. His back legs have also packed up.

When I showed Finn to the vet and was going over the details of his disabilities, I said, "Please ignore the lump for the moment." "I can't," she said. "I'm riveted by it." She did agree with my assessment that he was an anaesthetic risk, so unfortunately no surgery. He was judged comfortable for now and that the lump was not hurting him. We took care of poor Tino first and then I repacked Finn for the trip home. Finn, btw, is too overweight to fit comfortably into a rat carrier so he had to be loose in the backpack.

On the train, Finn decided he wanted to come out. Despite my efforts, he got his nose and part of his head out, pushing through the zip, so enough to be recognisable as a rat. The young Asian girl sitting beside me emitted a faint squeak of terror and immediately decamped to the opposite seat, with me calling, "He's friendly!" after her, to no avail. Then the elderly lady already on the opposite seat saw Finn and shrieked, while I was busy apologising and trying to shove Finn's head back into the backpack. Even so, she had no call to be mentioning ratsack.

The only luck was that the guards didn't pick then to do a ticket check, because with the way Finn was behaving, they would have seen the rustling backpack for sure and probably the rat face peering at them.

These are the characteristis of rat ownership: Frequent sadness because they don't live long and mixed embarrassment and hilarity at their antics. Thank you, Tino, and also Finn, for enriching my life.

Comments

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

From this far distance, Finn's misbehaviour was wonderful fun. I bet it wasn't nearly as fun at the time!

I hate it when you lose a rat. I know it's inevitable, but it's sad, every time.

[ratfan.livejournal.com]

Especially when the rat isn't old and was very healthy before this struck. The only warning was that he was unusually sleepy for a couple of days and then a discharge around his nose, which is what makes me think tumour; no signs until it was of a size to create problems. If it had to be, at least it was quick.

Oh, I could appreciate the joke of Finn on the train; one elderly, paraplegic rat able to send humans fleeing. I had another rat named Henry who had eeking tantrums when he wanted out of confinement, so after one try to take him on the train, I had to get him treated locally, where the vets didn't really know about rats. Fortunately that didn't matter for his problem, an ear infection, but Henry absolutely could not be hidden on a train. Finn is now comfortably back with Raff, who is Tino's brother and I continue my efforts to get Raff to accept my two young newcomers. Slowly, he's getting a bit easier with them but they're both convinced he'll do them in. Unfortunately rats don't have the concept of teamwork, so while Raff is bullying Dario, the dominant of the pair, Dario's brother Barnaby is hovering anxiously behind him as though to say, "You've got my full support, bro!"

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

Rats and people are not that dissimilar in quite a few ways!

[ankh-hpl.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed, sadness & hilarity. Thanks for sharing both, & my condolences re your latest loss. I can't think how you manage, but these creatures certainly give their all during their short time here . . . even on trains.

[ratfan.livejournal.com]

Rats don't care if they embarrass you. At all. If they get you kicked off the train with several kilometres to walk home, that's fine with a rat.

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

Heehee - naughty ratty