Friends Ask After The Mice...

David our friend from the UK asked after our mice...

Mabel, the patriarch of our mouse clan, is getting old. That said, he is still very much the top mouse and gets treated thus. Daily he is held, stroked, petted, pampered and loved by Christopher and I. Recently, we found out he adores having his cheeks and chin gently stroked, and I swear he is smiling and goes into a kind of ecstacy as we do this. We have even witnessed his tale twitching up, then down, with each stroke. His little front paws with draw up in response, also. His fur is so soft, and he even sometimes rolls slight on his side, a sign of great trust since it exposes his most vulnerable area, his tummy. His left eye now has some gumminess that Christopher tends to with a cotton swab daily, which Mabel puts up with but definitely does NOT like. When he is taken out of his cage in the mornings, he does much more squeeking and chirping than he did in his younger days. I'm not sure if he's complaining because he has more aches and pains as an old mouse, or he's just a bit more talkative nowadays. It can be quite a funny site listening to him and watching him as he goes on and on.

Our old mother mice, Puddin' and Belle, are showing signs of age, also. Puddin' has had bouts or 'spells' where she appears to be having a seizure, and sits very still and makes funny squeaky cries, and later snaps out of it. Lately, she doesn't seem to have many, thankfully. Belle we suspect may have had a slight stroke, or at least something that affected her balance - she walks slightly wobbly, but still gets around quite well for the most part. A regular daredevil when walking around my shoulders and neck, we watch her closer now so she doesn't take a tumble onto the floor. She's still my cuddlely one, though, and still tickles my ears to heck with her long hair and whiskers!