In mid-April we went to PetSmart and bought two mice. Justin had wanted some different pets and I finally caved and agreed. We bought the darker one because he was running around all over the place and wouldn’t stop running on the wheel in the store. Due to all my running we named him Kevin. The other one Justin wanted because he looked different from the rest of the available mice. We named him Jason. A few weeks later we ended up having to take Kevin back because he had some hair missing on his back. PetSmart ended up keeping him separated and just let him be and without even doing anything he was actually OK so we bought him back.
Unfortunately, last weekend things started to take a turn for the worse for Jason. I noticed that he wasn’t really active anymore. In fact, he would let you touch him and pet him and wouldn’t run away. We decided that he wasn’t doing good because he was weak and that he needed to have food/water more easily accessible. So, we put him in a smaller travel-type cage with food and water easily accessible. On Sunday we went to PetSmart and got some medicine for what’s called wet-tail. Apparently it’s like a diarrhea but if not treated very early on it can quickly result in death in mice. We went home, got a bigger box and gave him a wheel, food, medicated water and house all very easy to get to so he didn’t really have to work for it. He seemed ok given the circumstances as he would drink but he was still very weak.
Monday we both checked on him before we each left for work and although weak he was still going. However, when I came home from work I checked on him and it was pretty sad. He had tried to get some food but just didn’t have any strength left and collapsed into the little bowl. I had gently tipped the bowl over to see if he was still with us but alas, he was gone. Even though he’s just a mouse, it was still pretty sad. We ended up taking him to a local park later Monday night and buried him. It is sad as both the mice were somewhat analagous to ourselves – the always-running Kevin and the active but always-there Jason. When sleeping they would always sleep with each other – usually one on top of the other.
PetSmart had suggested to not get two male mice as they generally fight but they had gotten along quite well. When we get back from an upcoming vacation, we will get another cage to link to our main one and will get Kevin another friend.
RIP Jason. We’ll visit you often.
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