No Respect

A fellow mouse lover wrote on a mouse list today,

Rodents are like the Rodney Dangerfield of pets: they never get any respect. Even some of my friends who were very supportive of me during my dog and cat years can't understand how I can possibly love feral little ghetto mice. But, my mice remind me of a quote I read by Mother Teresa: "We cannot do great things on this earth, we can only do small things with great love." Somehow, taking care of somebody so much smaller always makes me feel closer to Somebody so much bigger. And you're right about what an antidote to depression that is.

So true. You out of yourself when you have responsibilities, even if they are to God's smallest creatures. Everything has a purpose, whether we understand it or not.

Another list member shared this, about what happened after one of her mice died recently...

Today I walked past the girls' cage and (I swear to God this is true) the door of their cage flew open and I was hit on the side of the leg by one of their wooden toy blocks. One of them managed to wack the door or hurl the block hard enough to open it just as I was walking past. The 2 of them were then sitting in the doorway glaring at me as if to say, "You forgot about us!!!!!" They really made me laugh, but I'm also reinforcing their door. And paying more attention to them.