Mr. Mouse RIP

[inulro]

What the title says.

Mr. Mouse started being non-specifically unwell a couple weeks back. With small rodents, the first sign is that they start sleeping in the wrong place. This is usually terribly cute, but it's still a bad sign. With Mr Mouse, first it was his dish, then his wheel. Then they get a characteristic hunched-up posture.

In the case of mice, the next step is that they start to scratch incessantly like they have mites[1], which makes them very miserable little characters indeed. He was obviously pretty distressed despite still being lively and interested in his surroundings, so unfortunately he had to go on a one-way trip to the vet. I didn't notice till we got him in there that he'd also lost some weight.

We didn't have him long, but he was a very sweet little character who quite quickly went from being very scared of us to very tame & friendly (even after the incident with the kitten). He will be missed.

[1] The vet just told me that most of the time it's not actually mites, but some weird systemic thing that makes them itch.

Comments

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

It's not been a good new year for pets so far. =:-/ I suppose you must be somewhat hardened to it, what with having had so many rodents over the years, but I'm sure it's still not very easy, and especially so when it's an animal that has some character!

[inulro.livejournal.com]

It's the time of year, I think. Last year we lost Snuffles and all three gerbils just before Christmas. They were all old and everything, but still. Snuffles in particular had been old for a long time.

I tend to differentiate between the ones that are properly "my pets" and the ones that I bring home from the shelter because no one else would ever want them, to do the best that I can for them in the short time they have left, in that I get a lot less attached to the latter. Mr Mouse was a bit of an exception. Maybe it was because I've not had a mouse before & didn't know about all the cute things mice do.

[kekhmet.livejournal.com]

not a good season at all. I'm sorry to see that Nermal's gone. I lost my Kekhmet kitty too - right before Christmas. After 14 years, my other cat Theo and I are having to readjust to life without her :-(

[kekhmet.livejournal.com]

:-(

the main reason I stopped keeping rodent-friends is that they just don't live very long & I couldn't take it :-/

[quercus.livejournal.com]

I think that if rats lived longer, I'd have a couple.

Lost my (shared) cat recently too 8-(

[inulro.livejournal.com]

I'm normally OK when they die, it's the being ill & in pain part I don't handle at all well.

Unfortunately my life is such that I can't take on anything with a longer lifespan because I never know that I'll be in a position to care for anything long term, so cats, dogs & chinchillas are out. Bunnies were not wise.

[aeia.livejournal.com]

I felt the same with the rat. It was more upsetting seeing her ill, though I was upset after she'd gone. Other one seems to be doing OK, though I'm worried she's a bit lonely now. She seems to spend most of the time nesting in the bedding.

Oh and I will come and bring the carrier back and collect the food. I've just been feeling crap all week.. grr.

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

I'm really sorry to hear that.