Today we received a package in the mail with the two plague rats that we ordered from Baby Patches. We are keeping one for the grandkits, but I removed the other one from its plastic bag right away. Even before I could do that the cats were already sniffing around – it has some pawerful aroma, I must say! So, I thought why not just test it here out in the open air (where I wouldn’t have to smell it).
Though Dante was the furst to sample it, he was also distracted by another evil squirrel. So Domino spotted what Dante had left behind and soon became intimately acquainted with the raunchy thing. She started off with a real good sniffing, from its head to the tip of its tail. At this point she appeared to be under the spell of its unique bouquet, and that’s when her mouth began to water. Drops of drool dribbled out of her onto the bricks, around the rat-tail and everywhere in the general vicinity.
Domino is the biggest drooler amongst the 3-Ds. Of course, this usually occurs when she’s kneading biscuits on top of me. I’ve been told this behaviour is a throwback to kittenhood, when the little ones massage their mama cat’s abdomen to increase the flow of life-supporting liquid. As with Pavlov’s dog, drooling at the sound of the infamous bell, the kittens learn to salivate in synch with their tiny paw manipulations which expurress their ultimate reward, i.e., the milk! Such anticipation!
I’m wondering if something about the plague rat reminded Domino of her mama, or of me. It certainly had her saliva glands flowing! You can see the results of this torrent in the last picture, where the ratsie (now covered in cat hair) is surrounded by a number of large, and still furry wet stains.
So, in essence the plague rat is actually the antithesis of the scourge it has long been made out to be, and is, in fact, an instrument of our salivation – or, in the least, Domino’s salivation!
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