Because it has blown mine.
So I was on Petfinder today - getting to know all the current pets up for adoption at Richmond Animal Care and Control (the home of Ham Skillet) - when something peculiar caught my eye: Ratatouille.
Not because of the name (French veggie dish? Whatever. Cute animated film? If you must. Certainly not as unlikely a name as Ham Skillet.) but because of the dog breed listed underneath the name: Rat. Could it be a typo? I wondered. A nickname? A Rat Terrier? (Note for the smarty pants in the bunch: I know what you're thinking; just let me finish.) Anyway, as I was saying, I was more than curious about this dog named Ratatouille (and the blurry thumbnail image was no help, thanks to my semi-retired, insubordinate eyes). So I clicked the link, and saw this face...
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| Hi, there. I'm not a chef, but I sure do like to cuddle with my peeps. |
Oh! It's a rat (as in rodent)! I thought, feeling a little silly. It's not like I'd never heard of shelters taking in caged small animals (like rats, rabbits and even snakes) before. It's just that I wasn't expecting to see one today.
So then, naturally, I had to know why the little guy's owner surrendered, or worse, abandoned him: Did they move? Did their new significant other hate rats? Were they hospitalized? Or dead?
Never, in my wildest dreams, though, did I expect to learn this from his Petfinder description:
Found loose in the city (as in Richmond CITY, not the burbs, teeming with fast cars and over 200,000 people)?!
What the peanut butter fudge?!
OMG! What are the odds?! What animal-loving, no-rat-fearing, decent human being scooped him up and had the know-how to get him to a shelter? And what about the fantastic, amazing, caring and unprejudiced people who run Richmond Animal Care and Control?
I say Ratatouille is one LUCKY RAT!
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| If I say "cheese," are you gonna give me some this time? |
And as of yesterday, because no one has come forward to claim him, one lucky rat who's gonna make some lucky person a great little pet.
Whether you like rats for pets or not, you've got to admit this is one uplifting example of all the good that can be served by our local animal shelters. It gives me hope.
*****
More shelter pets on the blog tomorrow (on account of me getting all distracted by the rat today). :)
P.S. Although I've never owned a pet rat, one of my husband's college roommates had one, Edwina, who spent most of her waking hours out of her cage, playing and interacting with humans. She was one smart, funny and surprisingly affectionate dude-ette.
