Little Critter Update

Well, as you may have noted on previous blogs, I lost my beloved companion (Double-Yellow Headed Parrot) of 29 years last Friday. Interestingly enough, last night the dogs were acting strangely at one point near the house. Upon investigation, a little bitty creature, a new born, was found, making all kinds of little noises. Luckily, the dogs listened to their commands (very unwillingly) and let the little critter alone.

Hoping against hope that the mother would come back to collect her lost baby, we left the mouse/gopher/rat (wasn't sure since we didn't want to get too close) alone for a few hours. Before heading off to bed for the evening, we went out again to verify that the mother did indeed collect her baby. Unfortunately, the little critter was still basically where we had found it earlier in the evening, except now it wasn't making any noise.

Since there is no way in this life that I can ever let a little helpless creature just stay exposed to the elements and sure death, we collected the little critter and brought it into the house. Now, under the bright lights in the kitchen we could see that this critter was either a mouse or rat (gophers don't have tails). Despite the rodent status, we were now committed to helping this helpless creature. So... time to figure out what to feed this little one...

Ended up creating a concoction of powdered milk, honey and ST-5 (a nutritional product), heating it up and using a little syringe (without needle) fed the little fellow. After much coaxing, the little one did swallow some of our mix. We did this a few more times last night, then found a warm towel, some tissue paper (aka toilet paper) and an empty ice cream container to create a safe place. This was then placed on a heating pad to try to keep the little guy warm.

I wasn't sure how it would survive the night, since we didn't have the proper foods for a mouse/rat baby, but there was a little bit of fur, it wasn't all pink, so I knew we had a chance. Waking up in the morning, we still found the little critter alive and more hungry. Fed him/her more of our strange mixture until the pet stores opened.

We have subsequently purchased kitten milk (for abandoned newborn kittens, and apparently mice...strange...feeding a mouse kitten milk) and the little guy is feeding much better this evening. It is now warm, and drinking almost 0.20 cc of the milk mixture every two hours. Hopefully the little critter will continue to get stronger and start to open it's eyes. Still not sure on gender, from what I have read, it is hard to determine if a mouse (best guess that we have a mouse) is a boy or girl at this age.

Anyway, there is now a new little critter in the house needing attention. The dogs are not entirely thrilled, especially since Yorkshire Terriers were originally bred to be ratters...., but this too shall pass. Hopefully this little critter will continue to eat and grow. I will keep you posted on the new Little Critter Update.

Proof positive, that no matter how busy your day can be, you can always find the time to be kind and helpful to God's creatures. The little critter has been named ZeeZee and I have been christened by ZeeZee (at least I know his bowels work well...), so I guess he/she is happy where he/she currently is.

Until tomorrow...