I love you Pine Mouse. Goodbye my friend.

by KleinA Mon 11 Jul 2022, 3:38 pm

I lost my dear friend and family member Pine Mouse July 10th, 2022.

I adopted Pine from the SPCA back in October and I liked his name so much I decided to keep it. The first couple of days we slowly got to know each other as I'd nervously put my hand into his aquarium with a tasty treat on it and he'd shyly inch up with eyes closed and blindly try to the grab the snack often nibbling a finger instead.

I've had mice bite me before and know how sharp their teeth are, so when I realized he was being as gentle and brave as he could be my heart melted and we quickly gained each others trust after that.

Our routine started at 5AM when I'd get up, turn the radio on, check my blood sugar (type 1 diabetic) and start making breakfast. I'd sneak a peak at his home while making breakfast and soon enough he'd hear the radio and be up making the rounds in his house and going for a spin on his wheel. I'd drop what I was doing, cut a raw pumpkin seed in half, change into my mouse pee friendly sweats and dip my sleeve into his home.

He'd run in the sleeve, do a 360 and wait patiently while I turned on some music and gave him his half pumpkin seed.

After eating his snack I'd put him in his playpen which was meant for rabbits. His playpen had all sorts of different sized boxes, all linked up like a castle, along with various toys and wheels. I also had in their a small plastic mouse habitat with bedding I'd previously gotten from the SPCA that I used as a travel cage. I put in a wooden hut in this enclosure but kept all the exits open so he could stop in there and have a drink from the water bottle if he wished.

While he played and searched for snacks in the playpen I'd spot clean his aquarium, change the water, and marvel at all the tunnels he dug and disarray he created with his toys and wicker ball.

When I was done cleaning I'd stick my arm down in the playpen and he'd run up my sleeve and then it was our playtime. He'd run up a sleeve, over my belly and come out the other sleeve and I'd be ready for him with a snack. He'd crawl around on my lap attempting to get on the carpet which he'd achieve on occasion immediately wizzing on it as soon as he hit it.

To avoid this I'd lay out some small boxes that I could connect and cut some entrances so that if he wanted to get off my lap he could go hangout in a box and wizz in their instead. We'd play for a little while until the 17th track of our music CD hit and then it was time for him to go to bed. During our playtime I'd take him over to the water dish in his playpen so he could have a drink from my sleeve which he'd happily chatter about.

He'd hop back in a sleeve and I'd put him back in his aquarium with one last snack. Almost immediately the gentlemouse would go into his favourite box where he built a nest and he'd seal up the entrance. Bedtime for him and work time for me.

After returning home from work I'd immediately clean up his playpen putting out healthy snacks in every hideyhole, changing his water dish and bottle, and then I'd make myself some dinner.

When Pine got up in the evening I'd be ready with his other half pumpkin seed. He'd enjoy his snack in my sleeve, and then I'd put him back in his playpen. He'd typically play for about 20 minutes and then take a nap in the wooden hut.

While he was napping I'd do my chores, and then make a snack platter for him which consisted of tiny, tiny, tiny cut up bits of peanuts, almonds, cashews, cantaloupe, watermelon, honey dew, and broccoli. I'd put this on a tiny tea plate.

Once he was up and about again I'd take the small mouse habitat out of his playpen so that I could sit in there, put his snack plate on my lap and watch him jump up on me and enjoy his snacks while I gave him some gentle pats. When he was done snacking and playing, he'd climb on a shoulder or sit in my hoody and give himself a groom. When he'd go on my hand i'd lift my arm straight and watch him run down the length of my arm wizzing all the way.

When our playtime was over he'd head back to the aquarium where new snacks were hidden for him to discover.

The last couple of days when we'd do our morning routine he decided that when I took him to his water dish for a drink that he wanted to go back to his mouse habitat with the wooden hut in it and have a sleep there. He'd literally run out of my sleeve directly for the hut. As I was home I'd let him do this and provided some extra shredded kleenex for him to make a proper bed which he did.

Our last morning together he decided to take a nap in the hut again. I was okay with it, so I gave him some extra kleenex to add to his nest which I left outside the hut. He stuck his head out and immediately grabbed all of it and pulled it inside. I had to laugh.

When he didn't get up that evening, I gently lifted the hut up and found him resting on his back half covered in his kleenex with his eyes closed. He looked peaceful, he looked serene, and my heart broke. I know if you have to leave, you couldn't do it any better than that. But I miss him, and it's hard to let him go.

I could have had him for a hundred years doing the same routine and I would have been content. No matter how much time you had it never feels like it was enough. Which simply means I love him.

He's the fourth mouse I've adopted from the SPCA since my dog passed on. My dog was my best friend and I wanted to honour her memory and my love for her by giving as much as I could to another animal.

I did have pet mice when I was a kid, but I did not expect to love them now as much as I have in the middle of my life. I guess it's true about almost anything, but the more you give the more you end up getting in return. My intention with the mice was to give as much as I could to these animals who were abandoned by their owners, to honour the dog I loved. And even though I may not be particularly happy at this point in my life, I could give them everything they needed to be happy, to succeed in their minds, and doing that gave me purpose and meaning.

What Pine, and the other mice i adopted taught me was, that if I could love a mouse as much as this then I should love and give meaning to all life. Life of all levels, intelligence, is a miracle, and it's to be cherished.

I can't think of a better gift Pine gave me.

Pine is now resting in a pot with a fern growing out of it. In passing, he'll continue to give to another living thing.

I love you Pine. Thank you for being my family and my friend.

To end this on a happy note:

I remember the first appointment I booked with our vet. The conversation for booking the appointment went something like this:

'and what is his name?'

"his name is Pine"

'and what's your last name for the booking?'

"my last name is Klein...............oh my god, my mouse is named Pine Klein.........uh actually his last name is Mouse, so I call him Pine Mouse....can you put that down on his file so I don't sound like a crazy person please?"