bruxandboggle

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I have just TWO yellow Floral Rattie Scarves left in my shop. I'd love for them to go to someone who loves rats — or someone who loves a rat person.

For anyone who orders one before the end of the year, I'll throw in a Rattie Face Sticker.

Thank you! Every order helps me help more animals.

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Three weeks ago, I saw a cat trying to cool off next to some garbage bins on the street. I ran home to get some wet food, but when I came back, she was gone.

The next evening, I set a trap near where she appeared. Unbelievably, she went in without any prior conditioning. I think she was starving. I got her spayed, vaxxed, treated for fleas. The poor girl was also pregnant and had bad dermatitis 😭. Based on her health, it was clear she wasn’t a pet. She was feral.

Usually feral cats get returned (they sometimes don’t want to eat so you can’t keep them that long post-op). But this girl… she seemed to like it here. Instead of returning her, I put her in the Critter Nation to recover and waited to see what would happen in the coming days.

Fast forward to now, this girl meows for her dinner, lays down at my feet for scritches, and mostly stays inside even though there’s a cat door she can use. She may not have been a pet before, but she is one now. 😻 Her name is Tippy.

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Paying another cat tax. The "new" kitty I mentioned above, that's Schwartz.

She is kinda like Bigfoot, always seen in the distance, the only pictures you can take of her are really blurry.

Anyway, after I caught her, the vet performed her spay *through* her hernia. Closed her up with extra stitches to fix everything.

Schwartz was scared and probably angry. Refused to eat or drink (which is sadly just what happens sometimes, but I was hoping she'd take the free meal). I wasn't sure she'd make it after her release. She had a lot done to her and not much time to recover. But my god, she thrived. I see her from time to time sleeping next to some bushes, hanging out with a chonky tom, and never getting pregnant again.

Big news: after borrowing some traps from a cat rescue organization, I gently trapped Penumbra. She is spayed!!

More later. Both she and myself are physically and emotionally exhausted.

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Going through some of the cat posts, paying some taxes.

Yes, here is the feral cat, the neighborhood menace, the one that flips all the bowls of water, that had to be kenneled for a whole month for his severe ear mites.

Question for rat folks

Is there a bowl holder that can attach to the Critter Nation (with ½" bars) that you'd recommend?

Long story short: One of the community cats I trapped for neuter & release turned out to be in really bad shape and the clinic asked me to keep him in a kennel for a month (!!) so I can continue to medicate. We're at Day 1 so far (ahahahah *screams*), and he keeps knocking over his water bowl and soaking everything. I looked at cat/dog kennel bowls, but not sure they'd fit the narrow bars of a CN cage.

Ahh, how did I end up here? I'm a rat person!

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It’s been a while! Here’s an old pic of Pewter and Barnaby.

My life has been taken over by the cats I mentioned, in the best way. I’ve trapped 12 (!) feral cats so far this year, got them fixed, returned some for release, and adopted a few sweethearts.

I’m pretty sure the ratties I’ve had over the years are the reason why I’m able to help these kitties. The Critter Nation has been the recovery space for several cats, and I feel a lot of my gut feelings about when something is wrong (or when something is right) is directly from what the ratties taught me.

Will I ever have rats again? I sure hope so. I am and always will be (forever and ever!) a rat person. I love rats. I will keep thinking about rats. I will draw rats, make art about rats, and tell people how rats are wonderful. One day, a rat (or six) who needs help will cross paths with me, and I will have rats again.

Anyway, hope everyone is doing well. Stay cool in this heat, be safe, hug your animals, and have a wonderful long weekend coming up. I will pay the cat tax in another post.

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Happy World Ray Day!

This year’s art features a *pink* dandelion which I found out is a real thing.

Hope everyone is safe and healthy.

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Question for rat folks

Is there a bowl holder that can attach to the Critter Nation (with ½" bars) that you'd recommend?

Long story short: One of the community cats I trapped for neuter & release turned out to be in really bad shape and the clinic asked me to keep him in a kennel for a month (!!) so I can continue to medicate. We're at Day 1 so far (ahahahah *screams*), and he keeps knocking over his water bowl and soaking everything. I looked at cat/dog kennel bowls, but not sure they'd fit the narrow bars of a CN cage.

Ahh, how did I end up here? I'm a rat person!

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I'm new to cats, but what I'm learning is that behind every cat helped is a long line of people.

The rescue that gave me gentle and clear advice.

A nonprofit that offers a free online course on TNR and loans traps to you.

A friend who helped me see the value in spending $$ to buy a larger trap of my own to use on those XXL toms coming around.

The person who referred me to a volunteer with extra traps to loan me that can hold me over before my trap arrives.

The clinic who performs free/affordable surgeries for community cats.

I flip-flopped between helping "my" three cats vs. the toms. In the end, everyone needs to be fixed, it's not a versus type of thing.

So, now that Penumbra, Peach, and Nemi are asexualized, I think I'm going to continue to trap cats even though it's so hard. I hate putting an animal through a traumatic ordeal, but some of them really do need help and that outweighs the difficulty of the task.

For example, the "new" cat I mentioned was initially mistaken for a male, but she turned out to be female.

And pregnant.

And had a hernia.

The hernia was in her umbilical area and it was likely going to get worse from the pregnancy.

Anyway, this is not what I planned for myself, but there are just too many cats here to ignore.

Big news: after borrowing some traps from a cat rescue organization, I gently trapped Penumbra. She is spayed!!

More later. Both she and myself are physically and emotionally exhausted.

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This week, I trapped Nemi, Peach, and a "new" cat. Everyone is now fixed! I'm so happy!

Big news: after borrowing some traps from a cat rescue organization, I gently trapped Penumbra. She is spayed!!

More later. Both she and myself are physically and emotionally exhausted.

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How a rat person helps a cat—a ½ Critter Nation is a post-surgery recovery room!

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Big news: after borrowing some traps from a cat rescue organization, I gently trapped Penumbra. She is spayed!!

More later. Both she and myself are physically and emotionally exhausted.

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Shifting gears — several large tomcats got into fights with Peach overnight. It was so intense they knocked a board off the nails on the fence. Penumbra is now hiding in a crawl space or on high alert on the roof. Nemi disappeared. Peach is in survival mode. This escalated really fast.

I really wish someone or an org could come out and trap them (because I'm new to cats, I don't know what I'm doing, I don't have the time, etc.), but everyone is strapped and no one can come to my area.

After thinking about it for half a day, I am going to try to trap these rampaging males myself. I'll even (gently) trap Peach. I am SO not the right person to do this, but I can't have these persistent, hormonal males making the other cats feel like they're in danger.

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❴New❵ There's now a green and pink version of the Floral Rat Heart sticker! 🍃🌸

Thank you for your support! It will go towards the kitties' food and vet bills.

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Throwback to rats using carriers in their playground lol

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One of the cats willingly went into a carrier — MULTIPLE TIMES! I'm so excited!!

I used a method inspired by rats, of course. :D

They always used the carriers as something fun in their playground, and it was easy because I put food in it.

For the cat trick: I twisted a fat hair tie around a tiny teaspoon, and then put a binder clip over the lump of hair tie loops on the spoon handle. Put a little wet food on the spoon and slipped it into one of the window slots at the back of the carrier. The hair tie and clip prevent the spoon from falling in.

It's only one cat, but it's a start.

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L to R: Penumbra, Peach, and Nemi.

I'm calling different places (rescues, nonprofits, private vets) to see how each one services cats that are kinda stray, kinda not. Each option has its own set of flaws, and it feels daunting.

But, I remember that I had rats for 15 years, and I think, OH I GOT THIS.

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Happy New Year [an update]

2021 felt like an extremely long year. Not just because of all the obvious things, but a lot of personal reasons too.

At the end of the summer, I moved out of a place I'd lived for the last 10+ years. It was the forever home of ALL of my rats. I was sad and overwhelmed. There was so much to do. I had to put my store on hiatus. Everything became 10x harder. New home layout, new neighborhood, new everything.

At the start of the move, I imagined, hoped maybe, that once settled in, I'd fairly quickly bring rats back into my life. It would be the right time. My last rat, Pocket, passed away in September of 2019. I'd find a new vet, get acquainted with a rescue, and set up my two Critter Nations.

Well, that didn't pan out.

Because sometimes you don't choose the animal. The animal chooses you.

One night in October, my partner said from outside our place, "Hey, there's a cat out here." It was nearly completely dark and there were so many mosquitoes. A little cat had come down from the wall to see what us humans were doing. Squatting low with my shirt pulled over my legs (to minimize the bites), I made myself as nonthreatening as possible. The cat was curious, but also nervous and unsure, and she soon left.

A few weeks later, I was watering some plants after sunset and in the semi-darkness, I saw a black, squarish shape on the ground. "Is that a car battery?!" I thought. It wouldn't be out of the question because sometimes people leave trash in random places in the neighborhood.

On this occasion, it wasn't a car battery. It was a cat. The same one from before!

I had prepared for this moment, and brought out my new bag of cat treats. I tossed one, and she went to eat it. I tossed another, a little closer this time, and she ate that too. Over the course of weeks, treats gave away to dry food, and dry food to wet food.

This cat eventually brought another cat, and the second cat brought a third cat.

For the last couple of months, my day has included feeding cats, gaining their trust, and learning as much as I can about them.

I never, ever imagined that I would have cats in my life. I'm a rat person, not a cat person! But, sometimes you don't have a say in these matters because the animal chooses you.

Even though they are yet to be collared and chipped, I have named the cats to make it official — they are Penumbra, Nemi, and Peach. I'm fairly certain Nemi is Penumbra's mom, and possibly also Peach's mom.

Having had rats, I have to say, primed me for this new undertaking like nothing else could have. So many of the rats' accessories are actually cat products, from their carriers to their toys. And, having bonded with traumatized, "difficult" rats like Cream, I feel like the task in front of me is not impossible.

I feel so grateful for my ratties! Even though they are all long gone, my experience with them continues to deepen and inform my new animal relationships.

I like to imagine that if cats can sense ghosts, then they should see about a dozen little rodent spirits telling them to trust me — because this year, I'm going to manage to get them all into carriers and take them to the vet to get all the care they need.

I may still have rats in the future, maybe not immediately, but eventually. I love them and I am a rat person forever.