Rat-Man

Yesterday when I was walking with Mom and Franny, I found a rat who was hurt. He was hiding under some ivy on the edge of the sidewalk. I didn't know what it was, so I kept sniffing and sniffing. Mom came over to take a look. When she moved the ivy off of him, we saw how scared he looked. We walked back home and Mom went back alone to check on the rat. She took a cardboard box, some rags to line it with, and her gardening gloves in case the rat tried to bite her. She said that when she found the rat, there were flies all over him, and he looked very scared. She brought him home and he relaxed on the rags in the box outside on the back deck. Franny and I tried our best to be quiet and didn't bother him at all. He wasn't bleeding, but he wasn't moving his back legs. Mom called my vet, animal control, and all sorts of other people. Some people offered to do "humane euthanization" but we really didn't like the sound of that! Mom has found a few injured animals who seemed to rebound after a little TLC. We were really hoping that this little rat would be okay too! Finally someone recommended that Mom call the Sarvey Wildlife Center in Arlington, WA. They were more than happy to take care of our rat friend. They're over an hour outside of Seattle but have a lot of drop-off locations at vets closer to Seattle. Mom only had to drive about 7 miles to bring him to safety. We were so happy to find a place that was willing to give love and care to a critter that some people consider a pest. Hey- Mom calls me a pest all the time, and I know I'm pretty lovable!