Some time ago, one of my adopted girls escaped. I looked EVERYWHERE for her. Even though I didn't think she could get out of my small room, I looked downstairs as well. My house is not very big at all, it is a small house that was changed into two units up and one basement suite, so it didn't take long to look everywhere. I was left to conclude that maybe one of my roommates dogs got her (one is an avid mouser/ratter).
The previous owner was moving to Bhutan to be an ESL teacher and couldn't take her two girls. Since I am on the same island as her, I took them. One was an old lady with a tumor who passed away not long after I got them. Then when the other one disappeared, it was not long afterwards... so I didn't want to tell her right away about it.
It has been a while since then.
I had just come upstairs from my shower this morning when my roommate called my name from downstairs. I asked what was up and she said that her boyfriend said earlier that he saw a rat outside and that she had just seen it too! Since the new landlord has been clearing out the lot next door (as he owns both properties) there is no vegetation, only a dusty blank/brown soil and the two fallen trees that he chainsawed into rounds, the rat was easy to spot since it was white!
It couldn't be! I thought. I figured it was probably a pet rat, since wild ones are brown or black. My roommate and I raced downstairs, threw on our flipflops and ran outside. The rat ran from the pile of dirt it was spotted on into the wood pile. We spent about 10 minutes sifting through it looking for the rat. We kept spotting it, but it kept running and hiding. We spotted lots of droppings, and I saw its nest which was inside a hollow part of one trunk round, stuffed with chewed up newspaper.
My roommate ran to the garage to grab a box. When she came back, we couldn't spot the rat anymore. My roommate heard a noise over in the nearby brush (in a different lot, the back of the 7-11) and sure enough, the rat was in there. She flushed it out and I darted in to grab it. It was startled and bit both of my hands, but not badly.
We put it in the box and brought it into the house (just downstairs) to the bathroom just inside the door. I opened the box after washing my hands and the rat had calmed down. I pet it on the head and stroked its side and it let me.
It is a Himalayan female with one missing eye. Mine didn't have a missing eye, but anything can happen out in the wild. Since she had calmed down, I ran a lukewarm bath and put her into it. She did really well and didn't poop at all (though she did a lot in the box) I let her hops around in the water for a while as I pet her. I manipulated her tail (which is so filthy it is black) and she didn't seem to care. Her nails were SUPER sharp, but I picked her up anyway and she let me. I chanced it and soaped her up with some banana scented shampoo and washed her off. She had four fleas and I picked them off and searched hard to find more, but didn't find any. I gently dried her off and cuddled her to my chest. When washed and dried, her fur showed her to be a rex. She started giving me FURIOUS kisses on my hands.
That cemented it. This must be the girl that escaped. I don't know how she possibly made it outside (my bedroom is on the third level) or how she survived for all this time... but I am glad my roommates boyfriend spotted her! She also let me clip her nails (but peed on me when I clipped the first one).
She is super skinny and has a little wound on her tail and on her back. I have her out in the garage now since it is warm enough and the garage is a completely separate building. I gave her some water and mixed up a bowl of food that she went CRAZY over. It is a mix of cream of wheat, baby cereal (oats), peanut butter and lastly a couple spoons of almond tofu, all mixed with hot water.
I am gonna keep her out there for a couple of weeks and see how she does before reintroducing her to the mischief. I should also take her to the vet to check out her eye... but I will have to build up my vet fund some more (I am not sure if I will have enough for rent/buspass/phone/groceries this month as it is). It seems to be healed and she seems ok with it, but I should probably get a professional to check it out.
I think after her ordeal I might give her a new name, but I don't know.
How about that!
