The Case of the Suicidal Rat
My son was entering his teens when he visited my brother in Colorado. Upon his return home he announced that he was in love….with a pair of pet rats! He was adamant that we should add them to our family. Rats make good pets: they are intelligent, playful, affection and clean.
I resisted. He persisted. For three years. He finally won out, and my son became the proud owner of an adorable pair of sister rats (no, we were not into breeding!). Oh, and did I mention, we already had two pet cats!
You are wondering, “well, how is that going to work?” It didn’t and not for the reason you might suspect. You see, our cats knew that our new furry friends were not lunch and therefore off limits. This might be hard to believe, but we let the sisters out of their cage daily, in the presence of our cats. To do otherwise would have been cruel as rats are high energy and need lots of play and stimulation. Trusting in our parenting skills and our ability to create boundaries, we allowed our cats to sit quietly watching the show.
Then the unthinkable happened: one of the sisters jumped on Tamia’s (our female cat) nose and began to vicious bite her. Of course, we quickly separated them and returned the sisters to their cage.
Unbelievably this went on for several days. At that time I had a successful practice as a Brain Gym consultant, helping clients improve their learning and achieve outcomes. As I reflected on the behaviour of the attacking sister, I could only conclude that she was suicidal. Or perhaps it was a hormonal imbalance!?! Or something else!?! I had no way of knowing, but decided I had nothing to lose; I would do a treatment to see if it would help.
What came up was Frontal Occipital Hold. Three minutes later and she was a changed critter. She no longer went on the attack and took on the more typically rat-like behaviour of avoiding our cats.
The change in me was even more profound. From that day on, I began to treat our furry friends of all stripes and sizes. That was over 25 years ago. Over the years I have been sought out by family and friends in time of need: a pet suffering a debilitating illness can be made more comfortable along with gaining an improved quality of life. A new furry friend adjusts more readily to their adapted family and new environment. A nervous pet made to feel calm and secure, dropping the need for aggression. A pet at the end of life, helped to transition in peace to their benefit and that of their family. Please check out my new services and training videos in support of pets.