Puppet (pictured here) is the Hopson’s dog. She is a very fussy eater. I knew this when I agreed to take and keep her while the Hopson family is in the USA for their furlough. But I didn’t realize how fussy she is. I was told to feed her meat and rice, since she won’t eat regular dog food. I did that. I even found some cheap (and smelly- ugh!) sausages to feed her. She loved them. So I was saving money for the Hopson’s, but she kept getting ill. Apparently she can’t eat much pork. Okay, so switch the menu to burger meat (I HATE spending money on this, even if it is the Hopson’s who are paying!). She is doing fine so far. But in the midst of so many other dog owners giving me tips on what to feed her and not have the hassle of cooking anything special ...“she is a dog and she will learn” is what they say… I’ve also learned that she is very stubborn. I learned she will let herself starve versus eat anything remotely resembling dog food. So I stopped trying to vary her diet, only to discover that she eats- get this- geckos- and sometimes right after I've fed her! The stubborn dog won’t touch dog food but she’ll eat creepy crawlies! Come on! Well, to top it off, she ate rat poison.
On Sunday morning a few weeks back, I’d gone to the kitchen early (it wasn’t quite light outside) and reached to turn on the light above the stove. But something moved in the dishes drying on the counter. Hmmm. It ran and hopped across the counter and stove and onto the floor, where it jumped into the back of the stove. Ugh. It was fast, and dark, so I couldn’t quite see what it was, but I thought it might be a rat or a really fast frog or bat. It was dark people- I really couldn’t see!
It turned out to be a rat. On Sunday I put rat poison out, and did NOT cook in my oven (or on top!). I put poison in 3 places inside and also back behind the washer (it sits on my back veranda- only place for it) outside. On Monday, still not cooking, I had come home from school for lunch. While eating lunch and reading the newspaper, Susan, my house helper, says “Madam, did Puppet eat this?”… and she showed me the empty container where the poison had been not half an hour before. I had JUST checked it as I was petting Puppet and giving her a dog cookie (she does eat those). So… the dog ate the rat poison, and seriously, how did she squeeze behind the washing machine? The space is only about 4 inches wide! So… off to the vet we went, Puppet the stupid dog and me. Okay, she is not stupid, but I must say I was NOT happy, I felt HORRIBLE about accidentally poisoning the Hopson’s dog, and dagnabbit, she is fussy so why eat geckos and rat poison but not normal dog food?! Grrr.
Well, now Puppet is better, the real rat did eat the poison within a day or so and promptly died in the back of my stove. After the electrician serviced, cleaned and replaced the stove insulation the rat had messed up, I am back to using my stove/oven, and Puppet is back to eating (I hope) only burger mixed with rice. No more adventures with Puppet (or rats) please!
As a P.S. to this entry, please note that Peter, my day guard (we have 24/7 watchmen for security here and it IS a MUST), helped get the dead rat out of the stove. I asked him to put it on the ground so I could get a picture of it, and stand near it to show the size of the rat. He actually put it touching his foot (double ugh) and I snapped away. Don’t you just love that I’ve put a picture of a dead rat on my blog? Gross.