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Re: Pipsqueak - a tribute
Posted by PHRottn on November 11, 2002 at 20:41:01:
In Reply to: Pipsqueak - a tribute posted by robmalo on November 08, 2002 at 14:03:09:
Wow, I'm so sorry that little "Pipsqueak" couldn't hang on. It's amazing that these small little creatures can touch us in such a huge way. I think what you did was beautiful, and the fact that you cared so much says bunches about the kind of person you truly are.
PHRottn
:I don't know what people may think, and I don't actually expect any responses, but I just felt that I had to put this into words. This may get a bit long, but please bear with me.
:My fiance and I are avid cat lovers, and have two wonderful cats in our apartment, one of which is a mouser. He's fast and has great hearing. On Tuesday morning, at about 4AM, I awoke to the sound of clanging metal from the kitchen. Believing the cats to be messing with pots and pans, I turned on the light. My cat, Gabriel, had a mouse in his jaws. Not just any mouse, but a baby mouse. Back when the weather was a bit warmer, we would free the mice from my cat, and set them free back outside, but it was now too cold and the darling baby mouse would not have made it through the night. With no other options available, we setup a makeshift cage for the mouse, and really didn't expect him to still be with us in the morning.
:That next day, my fiance Kelley stayed home due to other appointments. When we opened the box, the mouse was still alive. He appeared to be hurt by his capture and release from our cat, but otherwise not too bad. One eye was shut and his leg didn't seem to work right although no external damage was noticeable. All day Kelley, and later I, checked on him, feeding him bread and milk. He couldn't have been much more than a few days old. We didn't know too much about mice, and started looking on the web for info.
:We thought we were doing right, but he seemed to get ever weaker. His appetite wasn't all that great, and he didn't move too much. We were pulling for him hard, though, and prayed he would make it. Wednesday we bought him a tank, heat rock, castle, and named him Pipsqueak. I tried playing with him and let him sleep on my chest for a while after getting home from work. Not being really familiar with mice, we really enjoyed his antics, and we couldn't stop checking in on him.
:But the next day he seemed weaker still. We didn't know what to do or what was wrong. I couldn't leave him like this and figured I would do everything I could to help him. I packed him up with some supplies, and took him to my place of work. I don't know for certain, but it seemed like the car ride took something out of him. He seemed a bit out of it, I don't know what else to say. I picked him up and tried to feed him, and he started to perk up a bit. Once he seemed to come around, I made a "pouch" out of my shirt and started carrying him around with me. He dozed for a while, and I would feed him whenever he got up and started scurrying around. Eventually, he found the warmth of my hand much more comforting to my shirt pouch. If I tried to put him in for a while, or hide him from my boss, he would start climbing out until he found my hand, where he would lay down and sleep between the crack of my fingers or curl into a ball in the palm of my hand. I wound up carrying him the whole day through. I worked on computers, typed, and ate with one hand while I held him lovingly in the other. I would play with him whenever I got a free moment, and checked this site for any info I could get. He made me laugh and accepted me as part of his family.
:That night when we left together, I didn't want to put him in the box, and drove (and shifted) with one hand so I could hold him in the other. By the time I got home, he was barely moving. His breathing seemed to be a bit slower and he was mostly unresponsive. My fiance and I rushed him to our pet shop, and the owner felt that he may have gotten milk in his lungs, but I don't know. In a last ditch effort, we propped him up and tried to get him to evaporate the milk or get over whatever was ailing him. Within the hour, he passed on. We built a little casket for him, buried him near our patio in the back, and put up a little cross to send him back to God.
:Why, then, am I writing all of this? In less than three days, we came to love this little baby mouse we called Pipsqueak. On that last day alone, he made me laugh and cry like a young boy again. It's hard to believe that someone so small could make such a difference in our lives, but I write this now with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. Whenever I hear a scurrying of feet and a squeak in the night, I will always think of my baby angel, Pipsqueak.
:Picture borrowed with respect from Alicia Gangi, Rodentfancy.com
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