It is what it is. But am I the only one disturbed by this? At first I thought this person was doing it as a ritual out of love and respect for a beloved pet, but the more I read it, the more I felt she was doing it as an artistic experiment only. While I found it fascinating to read about, I felt bad for the rat...
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Mummy Rat
It is what it is. But am I the only one disturbed by this? At first I thought this person was doing it as a ritual out of love and respect for a beloved pet, but the more I read it, the more I felt she was doing it as an artistic experiment only. While I found it fascinating to read about, I felt bad for the rat...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hi there. I mummified Beavis. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. I already saw a few I'd like to tackle, though.
My rats do go to the vet when they need to. (Animal Ark Vet Clinic, in northern Chicago. Although if any Chicago-area people have any recommendations for better rat vets, I'm open to suggestions.)Beavis died about an hour before his appointment, literally in the pet carrier I use to take my rats to the vet. We were getting ready to leave the house and catch the train when it happened. Bad scene.
As for the joking and name-calling, well... any joking at Beav's expense was done affectionately. I own three (live) rats now, and I call them names, too. Fatty, Dumb Blonde, Dumbo, Stinky. It doesn't mean I don't like them. And I liked Beavis. I wouldn't have gone through the trouble of mummifying him if I didn't. Some people see it as disrespectful, but I live in the center of Chicago, in an apartment building.There's no yard to bury him in, here. I suppose I could've interred him in the dog park, but you can bet your ass he wouldn't have STAYED buried, there. So it was really either mummify him or put him down the trash chute.
I can also understand the reflexive revulsion at cutting open a pet you care about. But this was something I really wanted to do, so I essentially just muscled past that. After the first slice, you get over
it. I don't consider it defacement, because it was an act of preservation and respect.
And yeah, I probably should have been wearing gloves. But, eh. Didn't have any. And the body was fresh.
That's pretty much it.
If you want to see a picture of Beavis when he was alive, there's a good one
here -
he was a real sweetheart. One time, I gave his a Hershey's kiss, and he ate half and fell asleep on the rest. It melted.
That was the cataylst for his first and only bath in life. Oops.
Spike
Post a Comment