Vet visited

When it was finally time to go to the vet last Sunday, we went into the living room and found all but one of the windows in the fort blocked up by paper towel. Clearly Linus had been at work since we'd last checked, but the fort lifts right up, having been a cardboard fruit box in its prior life and having no floor when upside down, so the ratties were easily collected, installed in their little takeaway hut, and off we went!

It was a good visit, the lump on Linus was thankfully nothing cancerous and turned out to be no more than a sebaceous cyst, which was ..er.. expressed by the vet (i.e. he stuck a needle in and then squeezed white gunk out). Linus behaved surprisingly well throughout, despite his expressed reservations about vets in general and all things to do with being outside of his cage or the living room.

Which reminds me... one question that takes me by surprise when people ask about my rats is "do they run away?"... which should really be no surprise since i have owned hamsters in the past and running away seems to be the pinnacle of hamsterian achievement and goal fulfillment.. but anyway, that's not the case with ratties, who seem to know a good home when they've got one, and get rather attached to their cages and play areas. They like going home to have naps and take care of business in their litter tray, and hang out on their hammocks, even when they're let out for play time. Also, they're very good about boundaries, particularly in our living room, where the doors are usually left open to let the aircon in, and nothing more than a low cushion is placed as the barrier between rooms. Linus especially likes to jump up on the cushion to survey his domain and look at the room beyond, but will not venture past it. Even then, he knows he's not really allowed on the cushion, and if i clap my hands or say his name loudly, will turn around and quickly jump off the cushion. Kimi is a little less familiar with this notion of "not allowed", but he keeps within the boundaries anyway. Maybe it's just a territorial thing, but it certainly makes a difference to have a pet that isn't trying to get away from you all the time.

Ratties rock my world.

:P