I had a dream early this morning that is nearly the same as one I had about a week ago. Both were at my Dad's house where I grew up and both involved a rat loose in the house which I went after. I wouldn't share this if it were not for having had the same basic dream twice. In both dreams I ended up crying uncontrollably for what happens to the rat but it had to be. (In real life I just used a catch and release trap for a little mouse that now resides outside somewhere in an open local field. I love animals.) I'll tell the one from this morning first.
 
In this second dream I saw the rat while I was sitting on the bed in the bedroom. It was in the closet up on a shelf  behind some stuff and I jumped up and grabbed a stick or something and chased it from there when it jumped down onto the bed and from there to the floor. Sorry but this gets graphic so warning: I began to whack at the rat and disabled it quickly and thought that I had killed it or that it would soon be dead so I went to get some newspaper or paper towels or something to remove it and bury it outside. But when I went to pick it up, it was not dead and it tried to bite me. My Dad was there watching all of this but not really participating but I was acting on his behalf since it was his house and I was wanting to rid this thing for him. (My Dad went to heaven in 2003 but he still shows up in my dreams often or I dream of being at his house where I grew up not far from where I live now.)  
 
Well I dropped the still living rat and began to hit it again surprised that it was not dying and hating that I was having to do this until I finally realized that I was not going to be successful and I was overcome with pain and regret over this creature. Also by this time the thing had turned into a rabbit. It had become a mess all over me and the floor and finally my dad came picked the rabbit up and with one decisive blow ended its misery. But by this time I was sobbing and weeping for it uncontrollably. I felt such regret and sadness for it but still knowing that it could not be helped as though it was getting the consequence of its own choice but nevertheless I hated having to do what I had done.
 
In the previous dream, I was also at my dad's house and there was also a rat in the house. The rat in the dream above was gray like a typical wild rat with a white underbelly and when it turned into a rabbit it also looked like the wild kind. But the rat in the previous dream of a week ago was not the wild looking kind but rather looked like the kind in pet stores. It was black and white. But it was wild nonetheless and was very dirty and foul. I remember thinking, if only it had been a good pet instead of a wild dirty thing, this wouldn't be necessary and it would be safe and happy. I caught it in my hands and carried it alive outside and was talking to it and explaining to it that there were animals outside in the back yard and I was going to deliver it to them and what they did would be its fate. I let it go into the backyard and it ran out to where these two large animals were waiting. One looked like a cow and the other looked like a hippopotamus. The cow began to hurt it first and would not kill it but kept hurting it and I was wishing it would just get it over with but it would not kill it. Finally the hippo, sensing my grief that it was suffering, took the rat in its large mouth but as it did so, the rat changed into a small dog like a Pug or something, very pet like, and the hippo got it into its huge mouth and very decisively closed its powerful jowls on it killing it. Again at this sight, I wept uncontrollably and was full of regret and sorrow for the creature and as with both dreams here is where I woke up.