RatCreature (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ratcreature) wrote2008-09-08 09:30 pm
ratcreature) wrote2008-09-08 09:30 pm
rat ramblings
I've had to bring my rat Krümel to the vet today. He has some sort of very wet sounding sneezing, and for a few days now weird episodes during which he makes sounds as if to spit something out, or maybe it's like the rat version of coughing (though I don't think rats really cough) or choking, it's hard to describe and not quite like any of the sounds of respiratory trouble I've heard before. When I tried to tell the vet he looked at me dubiously, so I'm not sure useful my description was, but it doesn't sound good, though the scary episodes only happen once or twice every day as far as I can tell, so of course the vet didn't witness one of those. (Why don't pets ever demonstrate their symptoms in a vet office?)
Anyway, he listened to Krümel's lungs, and told me that those sound clear, which is at least something, so it's likely an upper respiratory thing. I got some oral antibiotic to give him, and hope that it'll work against the infection. Krümel is still eating okay, and he's lively, so he can't feel too bad, but with a year and nine months he's not young anymore, and I worry.
Also, on our way back Krümel was admired by a horde of children who were on some sort of class trip. Thankfully he's not really scared by loud noises as long as he knows they are outside of wherever he is (in this case his safe transport box), so he didn't really mind all the staring and the shouting that much as thirty or so elementary school age children were crowding around me while I was waiting for the train, all asking questions about rats as pets. He didn't even hide beneath his towel. Anyway, I tried to impress on them that rats need large cages, need to be kept in groups, and that they may need considerable vet care (as I was on my way back from there that came up, and it's not like I don't still remember the expensive eye operation he needed last winter), and so on, and thus to do my bit for the promotion of responsible pet ownership.
Unrelated to my rats, I've been getting the impression that I still get friended in periods when I barely post, but more readers unsubscribe when I'm updating more regularly. I guess it makes sense in that readers notice more easily that interests have diverged or that my LJ is boring or whatever when I actually post, whereas it doesn't matter whether or not they have subscribed while I'm quiet, but still. This kind of pattern is not encouraging... *frets neurotically*
Anyway, he listened to Krümel's lungs, and told me that those sound clear, which is at least something, so it's likely an upper respiratory thing. I got some oral antibiotic to give him, and hope that it'll work against the infection. Krümel is still eating okay, and he's lively, so he can't feel too bad, but with a year and nine months he's not young anymore, and I worry.
Also, on our way back Krümel was admired by a horde of children who were on some sort of class trip. Thankfully he's not really scared by loud noises as long as he knows they are outside of wherever he is (in this case his safe transport box), so he didn't really mind all the staring and the shouting that much as thirty or so elementary school age children were crowding around me while I was waiting for the train, all asking questions about rats as pets. He didn't even hide beneath his towel. Anyway, I tried to impress on them that rats need large cages, need to be kept in groups, and that they may need considerable vet care (as I was on my way back from there that came up, and it's not like I don't still remember the expensive eye operation he needed last winter), and so on, and thus to do my bit for the promotion of responsible pet ownership.
Unrelated to my rats, I've been getting the impression that I still get friended in periods when I barely post, but more readers unsubscribe when I'm updating more regularly. I guess it makes sense in that readers notice more easily that interests have diverged or that my LJ is boring or whatever when I actually post, whereas it doesn't matter whether or not they have subscribed while I'm quiet, but still. This kind of pattern is not encouraging... *frets neurotically*
no subject
no subject
He's such a sweet rat, I just hope I'll get to keep him until he's really old.
no subject
Unrelated to my rats, I've been getting the impression that I still get friended in periods when I barely post, but more readers unsubscribe when I'm updating more regularly.
Yeah, I notice that phenomenon. Whenever I make, like, three posts in two days, I can wait for someone to unfriend. Which is fine with me... I don't want anyone reading my LJ who isn't interested in its content. I'm still surprised there wasn't a mass-defriending last year when I switched fandoms overnight.
no subject
There seems to be this persistent idea out there that rats must be incredibly robust, because they make it on their own as vermin. But of course that is a total logical fallacy when it comes to keeping individual rats alive. I don't even think that the lab rat descendants have much more health problems than the wild ones, though there may be some of that, but that their reproductive rate it just doesn't matter whether their average individual survives less than a year.
And it is reassuring to know that it is not just me with this (de-)friending pattern.
no subject
Unrelated to my rats, I've been getting the impression that I still get friended in periods when I barely post, but more readers unsubscribe when I'm updating more regularly.
Yeah, that's happening to me right now with all my "Man from Uncle" posts-- I've been defriended by 2-3 people. I think the logic is, maybe, that people have been wanting to clean up their flists for a while (maybe they were only interested in my posts from DCU, which at this point was like 3 fandoms ago, or for whatever reason.) So if you defriend someone after they make 3-4 posts on something you're obviously not interested in, then the defriended person won't sit around going "does she HATE me now?" but quickly realize, "oh, it's all the Man from Uncle. Well, can't blame someone for dropping my journal now that it's all about this fandom she doesn't care about."
no subject