Mouse Saviour to the Rescue!!
Jill will groan when she hears that I just labored not to slaughter but to save a poor little mouse. I was in the living room this evening when I first heard Cheeky my cat make a funny little yowling noise. Usually means something's up. A little later I heard what I thought was a bird, but it was kind of an odd sound. So I stepped out back to see what was up. Sure enough, there was Cheeky crouching on one of the stepping stone next to some little hapless creature. He always leaves his victims on concrete areas where we're most likely to see them. His victims are usually shrews, so I was surprised when I looked closer and saw it was a tiny little field mouse. Of course Cheeky, being the well fed puss he is, merely plays with a creature till it stops moving and offers no more amusement. I groaned in sympathy as I saw him bat the poor thing around. At first I was going to leave it to its fate, but something in me decided to take mercy. He looked like he was still in pretty good shape but scared stiff. So I swooped him up and he huddled terrified in the palm of my hand. His eyes were closed tight and he looked like he was just waiting for the next claw to strike him.
I held him for awhile and tried to reassure him all was safe. Gradually his eyes came open. When I put him in a box I discovered his right hind leg was broken or something and he was dragging it behind him. It made me want to cry! When he suddenly made a scramble out of the box and nearly escaped into the kitchen, I decided he was well enough to put outside (sudden visions of an escaped mouse in the house ran through my head!). I released him and watched him hobble cautiously off, and yes, you can laugh, but I prayed for his safety and long life! Then I made sure Cheeky was inside to give the poor critter a chance to get to safety. So I guess I'm a hero to someone tonight, even if it's only a wee little mousey!
I held him for awhile and tried to reassure him all was safe. Gradually his eyes came open. When I put him in a box I discovered his right hind leg was broken or something and he was dragging it behind him. It made me want to cry! When he suddenly made a scramble out of the box and nearly escaped into the kitchen, I decided he was well enough to put outside (sudden visions of an escaped mouse in the house ran through my head!). I released him and watched him hobble cautiously off, and yes, you can laugh, but I prayed for his safety and long life! Then I made sure Cheeky was inside to give the poor critter a chance to get to safety. So I guess I'm a hero to someone tonight, even if it's only a wee little mousey!
posted by Kristi | 9:13 PM
7 Comments:
You must be my sister, Kristi. Your tenderheartedness seems familiar. :) Last night, the neighbor's kitten, who makes himself at home in our house, sauntered through our house while we were watching Pirates of the Caribbean. I thought it had a big cobweb on its whiskers. I'm like, "Does that cat have something in its mouth?" And it was one of those GIANT, nasty housespiders--an eight legged freak--that we see this time of year. When the cat dropped it, it was still LARGE AND IN CHARGE!!!Luckily, it was right in front of the open front door, so I got the spider out there. Next time I looked, he was quite incapacitated. But, as you know, I am not tenderhearted to those monsters, and in fact, a "bisah" that size is more likely to get me to do a girly shriek than a cute mouse!
Some people's children......... I sure hope you disinfected your hands well afterwards. Mice and their excrements can carry some pretty nasty viri that humans can catch.
Like hantavirus: http://home.earthlink.net/~slcunningham/id14.html
Or Mouse Hepatitis Virus (MHV).
Or Mouse Rotavirus.
I could go on... But I don't want to be too boorish.
I would hate to hear that you'd come down with something because of your 'mercy.'
So, if in the next 1-5 weeks you show these symptoms, don't forget about the mouse and tell the Dr. at the emergency room about it.
The hantaviruse can cause fever, fatigue, severe muscle aches 1 - 5 weeks after exposure. After a few days, many people are ill enough to go to the emergency room. They may develop headache, dizziness, chills, nausea and vomiting, and diarrhea.
Are mice cute? Not in my book.
Thank you, Jeremy, but I'm well aware of the germs mice carry. Which is why I scrubbed my hands with soap very thoroughly after handling the mouse. It's not the first mouse or rat I've handled and I'm still alive to tell about it!
Yeah, Lori, spiders are a different story. I drowned one in the shower with very little compunction. I'm so glad we don't get those giant spiders in this house!
I'm very glad to hear that. (And am not at all surprised---in fact the reverse would have been true.) :~)
I relate to the mercy. I had a plague of mice in my men's dorm room (see Jill's blog), and I did everything I possibly could to catch them alive. I just wanted to let them go out in the woods somewhere. I wouldn't have had to touch them, either, so clever were my traps. But none of them worked, so I resorted to the instant death neck-breaking (and finger-breaking!) ones that did the trick.
Oh my word, I can't believe you SAVED a mouse--and that you actually picked it up! I definitely don't have the same genes you and Lori have when it comes to feelings toward animals (except when it comes to spiders, and then all three of us are wusses!). It's a good thing you haven't been around here lately. Next time you come to visit we're going to have a little talk about mice and what we do with them when we find them.
What, slam their heads in cupboard doors?! Nothin' doin' sis!
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