The Cat and the Rat

What most of my readers don't know, is that before I had a cat, I had a rat. 

Her name was JoJo and I got her in my final year of undergrad. Until Kitten, she was the best pet I had ever had. I would let her out of her cage and she would just run around my apartment exploring. She would also steal food that she found (or my roommates and I gave her) and she would hide it in my one roommate's shoe. We actually didn't know she was doing this until one day my roommate decided to wear flats and found a shoe full of carrots, crackers and Jelly Beans.

Funny story though, when I bought JoJo, she was apparently pregnant. I found out when I woke up one morning to hear little squeaks coming from her cage and saw a pile of what looked like thumbs or fetuses. I called the pet shop to return my unwanted rat babies, but coincidentally they were having a rat baby sale so they were all stocked up. We let the rat babies grow up a bit before deciding what to do with them. In the end, I set them free in a ditch. (Don't judge. It was that or the Reptile Zoo.)

Also humorous, my roommate Sarah lost the runt of the rat babies (we called him runt face) shortly before I freed them and I swear to you, we never found him. 

She really had been the best. One time when she was out, she fell in the toilet and couldn't escape!

Sadly, JoJo developed cancer, a respiratory disorder and lice and I had to have her put down. People always make fun of me for this, but I loved her so much that I couldn't let her suffer. 

But wait! I am almost at the part about Kitten. I promise!

When I moved to Toronto, I really wanted to get another rat since JoJo had been so awesome. So I did. Her name never evolved beyond Rat and she was super lame. I mean she really, really sucked. She hated people and no matter how many times  Boyfriend and I would take her out and give her peanut butter, she just never got better. It was because Rat sucked so much, that we decided to get a kitten! 

Kitten was too little to understand what was going on when we first got him, but as soon as he realized that there was something living in that cage, he never left it alone!

He tried to be sneaky, but being Kitten, he usually failed.

 

By this point, Boyfriend and I had pretty much given up on making friends with the rat and just let her stay in her cage, which I am sure she appreciated since Kitten never left her alone. Kitten and the rat used to actually fight though the cage. Rat would come right up to the side of the cage to scratch Kitten. Since by now you know Kitten well enough, I am sure you have already guessed that Kitten usually lost. 

Sometimes, when I cleaned the rat cage, I would let Kitten and the rat investigate each other. I would watch closely to make sure no one got hurt (Kitten), but usually they were more curious than agressive. Though Kitten does have a unique way of investigating things; it involves lifting up his paw and hitting whatever he is interested in. 

By the way, did you notice the door on that cheap entertainment unit?

In case you were wondering what happened to Rat, I gave her to my sister (though she "passed" shortly after - the rat, not my sister). Boyfriend had taken an allergy test and it turns out that he is allergic to a million things, rats included. My sister ended up getting another rat afterwards, who you can see a picture of on the NOT Kitten post. I will admit, Rattigan doesn't suck, though she's no JoJo. 

I like to imagine that if JoJo was still alive, she and Kitten would be best friends and they would share cheese and Nibs and JoJo would ride on Kitten's back and clean his ears for him. But I guess if that were true, Boyfriend would always be sneezy and goopey eyed and I wouldn't want to have to wipe two sets of goopey eyes a day.