Whisker Kisses, one of our two pet rats, has come down with an upper respiratory infection known as mycopasmosis. It’s incurable but can be treated with antibiotics.

So the rats and I took a little trip to a new vet yesterday. As the vet listened to Whisker Kisses’ little congested lungs (sad!), I noticed that she kept speaking in first person plural, ie “Our breathing rate is fast, isn’t it?” When she brought me the RX for the antibiotics, she kept saying things like, “Our wheezing may not improve, but it’s our weight that matters. In a couple weeks our weight should go up a bit, and our energy level should return to normal within a couple days.” It was confounding. Was she being twee?

My theory is that no, actually she was empathizing so much with my little rodent that she was viewing herself and him as a team. Our lungs, our weight gain, our wheezing. I decided that was the mark of a good vet.