The Full Rat Story

[the_wanlorn]

You know, I used to find this icon awesome. Now I'm just "No shit, whoever made it. Welcome to Obvious Statements 101. And by the way, excellent job at making an ugly icon." And yet I still use it. So, rats. Rats rats rats. I have two rats. One of which is nibbling on my toe right now. One of which caused the 30 dollar vet bill I was expecting to be, in fact, almost three times that. Plus more coming up. Bran's previous owner or someone at the MSPCA or one of his siblings did something to him that caused his muzzle to break. The vet said it looked like it was shut in a cage door, but that's pure speculation. So, his nose is crooked because of an untended-to break. One of his top incisors is missing, too, probably from the same incident. The MSPCA didn't notice this, or do anything about it. So, he can't grind his teeth down. Nor can he eat hard foods. I'm going to have to trim his teeth for him every two weeks or so. When I took him in, the top one was curved back and growing into the roof of his mouth, and the bottom two here growing up into the roof of his mouth. That's why he was sneezing; it wasn't myco, it was his teeth irritating his nasal passages. Plus, they both have lice. I spent a day bleaching everything in my room, including their cage. I have to do it again today, and again next Friday after I take them in for their final shot. Malachi weighs twice as much as Bran. And they're from the same litter. Bran's putting on weight now, though, and holy crap is he putting it on fast. On the upside, even though he probably should be developmentally slow because of malnutrition, he's smarter and friendlier than Malachi. But jeez. Way to be a society preventing cruelty to animals.