![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Last Night's Discovery
Oct. 23rd, 2008 11:03 amComing home last night from the Obama meeting, I was startled on the 2nd floor landing by a sight I didn't expect -- a large white rat atop a box outside the 2nd floor neighbor's apartment.
We've never had a rodent problem in this house, and I was spooked enough that I actually retreated down a few stairs, but only so far that I could still see the rat. After the initial shock and a few minutes of observation, it was clear that this was a pet rat, albino, bright and alert but bewildered and out of its element.
No one was home on the 2nd floor.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
vanguardcdk wasn't at home. I went down to the 1st floor, and the new neighbor, who I was just meeting for the first time, came back up to the landing with me.
She braved the box, and inside was a neglected and filthy cage which the rat had chewed its way out of via a jerry-rigged cardboard closure. After a round of calls with my landlord, I finally got one of the 2nd floor neighbors on the phone (these neighbors are also new). She explained, in a sort of embarassed half-giggle, that her brother had visited and had abandoned the rat and his cage, and that "we were like gonna take him to the Humane Society or something but we like haven't gotten around to it." Apparently they didn't like the smell of the cage and had put it out on the unheated landing. She said she was on her way home and promised to bring the rat back into her apartment, out of the cold.
Honestly, I would have brought the poor little guy into my own apartment, but my cats would have made short work of him. I went back down to check on him, and found that he was completely without food or water. I filled his little water dish, and he drank and drank. I fed him apple slices and tortilla chips (I don't even know what foods are appropriate for rats, but that's what I had on hand). Goodness knows how long it had been since he'd had anything to eat or drink. The paper on the floor of his tiny cage was saturated with urine, and he seemed desperate for warmth and human attention.
I waited and listened until I heard the neighbor come home. I went down to the landing, and the rat and his cage were gone, presumably into the apartment. I e-mailed a report to my landlord.
I'm very sad for this gentle, intelligent little animal, and I don't know if I handled the situation in the best way possible or not. I don't know what action I should take from here, either. If not for my cats, I would have rescued him then and there. I heard the lonely mews of a cat from inside their apartment, and the rat's cage doesn't have a proper closure. I have no idea if they'll really take him to the Humane Society, or if they're just going to let him starve to death.
I despise people who do things like this, and I have no idea if I can even help.
We've never had a rodent problem in this house, and I was spooked enough that I actually retreated down a few stairs, but only so far that I could still see the rat. After the initial shock and a few minutes of observation, it was clear that this was a pet rat, albino, bright and alert but bewildered and out of its element.
No one was home on the 2nd floor.
vanguardcdk wasn't at home. I went down to the 1st floor, and the new neighbor, who I was just meeting for the first time, came back up to the landing with me. She braved the box, and inside was a neglected and filthy cage which the rat had chewed its way out of via a jerry-rigged cardboard closure. After a round of calls with my landlord, I finally got one of the 2nd floor neighbors on the phone (these neighbors are also new). She explained, in a sort of embarassed half-giggle, that her brother had visited and had abandoned the rat and his cage, and that "we were like gonna take him to the Humane Society or something but we like haven't gotten around to it." Apparently they didn't like the smell of the cage and had put it out on the unheated landing. She said she was on her way home and promised to bring the rat back into her apartment, out of the cold.
Honestly, I would have brought the poor little guy into my own apartment, but my cats would have made short work of him. I went back down to check on him, and found that he was completely without food or water. I filled his little water dish, and he drank and drank. I fed him apple slices and tortilla chips (I don't even know what foods are appropriate for rats, but that's what I had on hand). Goodness knows how long it had been since he'd had anything to eat or drink. The paper on the floor of his tiny cage was saturated with urine, and he seemed desperate for warmth and human attention.
I waited and listened until I heard the neighbor come home. I went down to the landing, and the rat and his cage were gone, presumably into the apartment. I e-mailed a report to my landlord.
I'm very sad for this gentle, intelligent little animal, and I don't know if I handled the situation in the best way possible or not. I don't know what action I should take from here, either. If not for my cats, I would have rescued him then and there. I heard the lonely mews of a cat from inside their apartment, and the rat's cage doesn't have a proper closure. I have no idea if they'll really take him to the Humane Society, or if they're just going to let him starve to death.
I despise people who do things like this, and I have no idea if I can even help.