This is Three Blind Mice. I bought her to feed the snake. At the time, I didn't know if it was a she or a he.
I socialized her. I spared her. Because of her one eye. I have written about her, I know. But she is sick.
I bought for her a hamster ball. Last time I put her in it, her foot got caught. I loosed it, but now it is infected. Bumblefoot, or pododermatitis. She needs a vet right away.
Her stomach is gargantuan. That's why I think she is pregnant, and therefore, a she. Most rats are mixed together in shipping and at the pet store where they are raised to feed reptiles. That's where she is from. I got to know her, and I couldn't feed her to Cecil the ball python. I bought another.
A coworker at the O.R. is an animal lover. Her daughter's boyfriend is a rat rescue person. She said Three Blind Mice would be lonely, as rats are social. So I bought two week's worth of food for the snake, and let them room in with Three Blind Mice. She didn't know the difference, that they were coming and going.
What I didn't know is Rat 101: they are often pregnant AT THE PET STORE. Pet stores sex them wrong. Your She may be a He after all. And they often are infected with a lung disease that is contageous only to rats, but will lead to heart failure and death.
Rats can get pregnant immediately after giving birth. But rat dads are helpful, supposedly. The trick with rats is to get them fixed. But I didn't know. So there are twelve to twenty babies coming in a rat just on the verge of sepsis.
Do I Reiki?
No. I do more. I take them to the vet. Even if it is expensive. Even if the treatment might not work.
And I separate the mom away from the others. To a maternity cage.
This did not come easy. I sat there for a moment, thinking about the worth of a four-dollar rat. One that is meant for snake food. I learned about myself, and who I am. And about compassion. I researched bumblefoot and pregnancy in my Rat guidebook and on the internet. I am a doctor. I help those in suffering. What else is there to do?
The man with the finger partial amputation at the pet store, the reptile one, said, 'If I had known about rats I probably would have gotten into them. They are pretty neat.'
Which leads me to believe, I must double check how I think about animals in general. And about what I eat. And what kind of person I am. There is a lot to be said for the vegetarian lifestyle. And for kindness to animals in general.
Namaste,
Reiki Doc
