Survival Update

The world is yours

Adopted Dog Turns Out to Be Giant Rat!

Can your dog be your best friend, even if it turns out he is not a dog at all?

You may recall the story from a few months back, where a family in China, bought a “puppy” that turned out to be a bear cub! In a story, equally, or maybe even more bizarre, a Boston woman adopted a “stray dog” that was in reality, a giant rat!!

Jenny Nixon was a dockworker in Boston. It wasn’t unusual at all for Jenny and her co-workers to see stray animals scurrying about the docks, many simply passing thru while others decided to stay. Such was the case with what Jenny thought was the cutest little dog she had ever seen.

Jenny and her co-workers fed the little white dog every day, in fact he seemed to be very healthy, gaining weight and getting bigger. No one was sure what kind of dog it was but Jenny sure did like him.

With winter coming soon, she was concerned about how the little dog would handle New England’s typically brutal weather. After giving it considerable thought she decided she would take the little dog home.

Jenny got the dog home and gave him a bath, which he seemed to enjoy, and weighed him, 20 lbs, he’s doing great she thought. The happy “dog” stayed with her every moment and she thought she had made the right decision.

As it got later in the day, it was time to make dinner, she had a taste for hamburgers and she fired up her outdoor grill. She wasn’t ready to let the dog outside just yet but, as she peaked at the house from the backyard barbecue, there he was sitting at the screen door watching her every move.

Then as she was finishing her meal on her patio, she glanced at the screen door, the dog was no longer there. She got an odd and disturbing feeling and went into the house.

To her right, she saw a wet brownish spot on the carpet and a trail leading around the corner. Peeking into the hallway she saw a horrendous sight. Horrified, she was confronted with the gruesome sight of a large spot of blood on the floor and all that remained was her cat’s almost skinless skull sitting nearby.

Not knowing what to do she went back outside and waited until the dog showed up at the screen door. Jenny slipped past the dog and cleaned up what was left of her cat just as the dog returned to the scene of the crime.

Thinking that the dog must have eaten the cat’s bones, she got the dog in the car and headed to the veterinarian. As soon as they arrived a vet tech took the dog into an exam room but returned just seconds later with the doctor and a look of disbelief on her face.

What Jenny had brought home turned out not to be a dog at all. It was a 20 pound white Cambodian rat. The rat was so big that it looked like a small dog with a little snub tail. It must have hitched a ride on a ship in Asia that eventually ended up in Boston, where he met his new best friend, Jenny.