Rat Crack - and other pet stuff

The wife has made a new discovery with our rats. They just LOVE oatmeal! Ok, maybe that wasn't new to her (I can't remember), but I do know she was surprised at just how quickly and intently they all went after the dish of oatmeal that she set in front of them. The wife calls it "Rat Crack," and after watching them dig in, I think that's an apt description.

It's even better than pudding! They love pudding too. Of course, I like it when she gives them pudding because I get to finish off the container after she's dished enough out for them.

Of course, whenever the rats do something new (and even when they don't), you have to get rat pictures! I've got a few of them to show you, after the break.

(click on images to enlarge)

Here are Maizy and Batman, enjoying their new treat.  Batman (he was named before we got him, so don't blame us!) is blind, which can make things interesting sometimes.  Unfortunately, Batman and Bitey (one of our other male rats) don't get along, so we've had to segregate him from the rest of the group.  Since rats are social creatures, we didn't want him to be alone, so the wife decided to put him with Maizy.  They make a cute couple.  Batman is, of course, neutered, so there won't be any "accidents."

Here's Maizy coming out from hiding to take a lick at the oatmeal too.  Nice to have "at the door" food service, eh?

Unfortunately, Maizy isn't doing very well right now.  We got her from the Little Mischief Rescue group here in Vancouver (where we get almost all of our rats, and it's a great organization), and we believe she wasn't that well when we got her.  We wanted to give her as good a home as possible for as long as she lived, however long that will be.  But she's still eating and seems to enjoy it, so hopefully she'll last a while longer.

Meanwhile, our other rats were really enjoying their Rat Crack too.

These rats are, starting from the left and moving around the dish, Cuddles (neutered male), Bitey (neutered male and asshole to Batman), Baby (female), Sylvia, and Mom.  Baby is the wild and inquisitive one.  She's all over the cage, checking out new things, and she's often the one we see staring at us through the bars of the cage.  She always wants to know what is going on.  When we had the cage over by the bedroom door, we couldn't go through the door without Baby hanging off the top of the cage watching us.  It was hilarious.

Finally, a non-rat picture.  You remember my post from last week, where I said our cat is getting chummy in her old age?  I didn't have this picture when I posted that, but here you go.



She has never been one to lay on our laps and go to sleep.  She recently has started climbing on me, but she would get off of me if she was going to lay down.  Not now!  If my lap doesn't have anything on it, she will plop herself down.

There's your pet update of the day.  We now return you to the regularly scheduled insanity of our lives.