****don't read if you can't handle sad animal stories****
When I got to work this morning, there was a cute little mouse lying in the middle of my office floor. I thought he was dead and decided to take a picture of him.
The sound of the shutter snapping woke him up! Still, he was dragging and clearly was sick or dying. I know they recently had exterminators here they probably set out bait. Thinking instead that maybe he was just dehydrated or hungry, I put him in a box with an orange and some water. He did a great job on the orange and after about an hour was running around the box trying to escape.
Thrilled, I decided that I would go by the pet store after work to get him everything he needed to become a member of our family. My bosses wife had a terrarium she said I could use for the day, so I headed over to their house and made him a temporary home. For name suggestions, Eric said Mighty. I liked that since he came back to life. Laney (my bosses' daughter) put colored scraps of material in his terrarium and wanted to name him Rainbow. I used to have a gerbil named Ginger, so I wanted to name him Fred. Meet Mighty Rainbow Fred!
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| snuggled up in his new bedding |
While we sat around cutting up patches of painted material that Laney made for her band, Fred once again became lethargic and went to sleep in his bedding. He then started breathing hard. The right side of his body stopped working. It didn't look good for him. Over the next couple of hours his breathing slowed down and his moving stopped. It took forever for him to die and was so so sad.
I felt like a little kid with all of the curiosity and intrigue at this process, yet was saddened by the thought that it's something no one is immune to. I know, I know, it's just a mouse. But we bonded and he was alive and I watched him die a slow death from eating poison. What a depressing day.
At least we made these pretty patches for Laney's band Lobo Marino ...
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