sophia: ze ratteur

One of the problems of living in the city is that in most of the metro's biggest cities, rats and cockroaches lurk relentlessly in the darkness. It's unavoidable. The houses are cramped together. No one has time to clean. Who has time to sweep the crumbs off the bed at 3AM? Voila! Our houses have become playgrounds for rats and other pests.

(Come to think of it, it doesn't even matter how pristine your house is. You can scrub the floors all you want but the ratties and roachies are here to stay.)

A few months ago*, my sister had a close (and expensive) encounter with Mickey Rat. Dear 'ol Mickey is really fat and really ugly and is said to be a far relative of the lovable Disney character. I haven't heard anything from Mickey lately and I finally understood the reason why.

I met Sophia on a day like today. It was slightly cloudy and every few hours, the heavens would shower the earth with immense amounts of (dirty, perhaps acidic) rain. She was really young and was meowing 'till kingdom come. We didn't let her in. We just ignored her. God knows where this strange creature came from. She could have a string of diseases we couldn't spell, let alone treat. She ignored the fact that we shut the door. She just kept meowing and meowing and meeeeeeeeeowing!

Segue to two days later. Sophia was seen with Mickey Rat. The latter was undeniably (not to mention disgustingly) deceased. I have no idea how this little kitten managed to take on a rat almost double her size. I suppose these are questions that are better left unanswered. I don't really want that visual in my head.

Because she saved us from leptospirosis and a plethora of other rat-related diseases, we decided to pseudo-keep her as a pet. It started with little bits of fish until one day, Sophie had her own bowl and everything. So far, things have been awesome. We don't keep a schedule. We just feed her when she comes. Lately though, she's been keeping track of my schedule. At 12:30 (which is the time I usually wake up), rain or shine, Sophia is always there- clawing at the screen door, meowing as loudly as the day she first came into our lives.

Last weekend, I decided to help Sophia exercise.

"Ratters need great upper body strength." I said to her. I lifted her tiny body off the floor and guided her up the screen door. I let her hang there for a few seconds just to see if she could take it. "Very good!" I added, convinced that she and I were succesful. I gave her the remainder of my brunch and played with her for a little while.

I should've seen this coming.

It was so cute. I just had to take a video. I was eating lunch this afternoon and on the dot, Sophia showed up. I was ignoring her because I was busy multi-tasking- eating lunch while checking my email. I noticed that the meows were getting louder and louder. When I looked behind me, I almost fell of my chair. See for yourself.

For your ratting and various extermination needs, call 1-800-SOFIRAT. Our representatives are available 24/7 and will be more than happy to assist you.