straggler drawble, also happy birthday to my rat Ben!

[ratcreature]

marinarusalka asked for "items accidentally left in the back seat of the Metallicar" after I already posted the other drawbles.

My rat Ben celebrated his second birthday today, which is a respectable age for a rat. His health isn't the best anymore -- he's gotten thinner and also he has a mycoplasma lung infection that is antibiotics resistant by now (last time the vet tried to push it back only one antibiotic of several even worked, and still his breathing sounds didn't get that much better, while on the downside at the end of over three weeks of daily injections he had skin lesions from reactions to the antibiotic solution, and he lost weight, I guess because the long progression of antibiotics wasn't great for the friendly digestive tract bacteria). So he makes ugly breathing sounds sometimes, but he isn't gasping for air or anything for now, and he still likes to come outside to run around a bit and snuggle with me. He also still hisses at Krümel when they see each other through their cage sections, so for now he's doing okay despite the mycoplasma, and I hope he'll be with me for a while longer still. Anyway, he is very sweet with humans, recently decided that likes to sleep inside my t-shirt while I'm sitting somewhere with my laptop, and would probably like me more if I cooked him his favorite foods (a tie between scrambled eggs and cooked rice) every day, rather that to expect him to eat rat food.