Dom Davis (The Blog)

Thud. Poor little pinky had fallen. She wasn’t well. The Zozo found her that morning huddled in the corner of her car, face on the floor. She wasn’t eating and was very wobbly on her feet. Since then I’d had Pinky out and fed her some chocolate cake. This had perked up a little bit but was still wobbly. Now, unable to stand properly or walk straight, she’d obviously slipped off the ledge in her cage. Watching her make her way back up again was distressing. She was wobbling so much she could barely walk up her ramp, needing several attempts to make it. Clambering up the various bits of her cage was a struggle, the risk of falling again ever present.

Sadly we knew this was it. Pinky was 2, which is very old for a mouse. She’d outlived the other mice by a long way and she’d survived long enough to meet Willow. That night I gave her a final stroke and said my goodbyes.

At some point during the night Pinky passed away. I think she had a happy life. She certainly bought us more joy. I spent the morning packing away her home and cleaning down where the mice had been. At some point over the next few weeks we’ll put her, and the other mice, into the Cristal box and cremate them. What with Willow to look after I think it’ll be a while before we get any new pets.

She didn’t found an iconic company that went on to have the largest market capitalisation in the world. She didn’t give us the worlds best operating system. She didn’t invest the iPod, iPhone or iPad. She wasn’t admired, or even loved by millions. But she was loved by us and we’ll miss her.

R.I.P. Princess

I woke this morning to the discovery that Steve Jobs had died. This sad news was delivered to me via email on my iPhone and confirmed by the BBC News app on the same device. As President Obama said “Much of the world learned of his passing on a device he created”. Not something many people can claim.

I’m also waiting to hear about the fate of Princess, one of our two remaining mice. She was ill last night and I haven’t seen her since about 7pm. I worry she too has passed and only Pinky remains. Today may turn out to be a sucky day.

We lost another mouse last week. Buttons, one of the second batch of two we bought, died rather suddenly during the day. We weren’t aware that she was ill so The Zozo wasn’t on hand when the end came. Apparently when she was found the other two had rather snaked on here. I’d kind of expect that behaviour from Princess, but I can’t help but be a little disappointed in Pinky as I thought she knew better.

This latest bereavement means we’re down to two mice. Princess was the other mouse in the second batch and so is the youngest. Pinky, who we thought would be first to go, is still hanging on in there and is a real old lady now. The Zozo suspects she’s now deaf, or at least hard of hearing and she’s getting a little clumsy, falling off things from time to time but I’ve got a sneaking suspicion she’ll outlive all the mice, and maybe even survive long enough to meet Nubbin.

Daisy, one of our mice, has not been well of late and The Zozo has been fearing the worst for a couple of days now. At some point during the day yesterday she died. Arrangements for the cremation will be made later. Please send donations to our house fund in lieu of flowers.

With the departure of Daisy we have only 3 mice remaining: Pinky, Buttons and Princess. Pinky is the last survivor of the original 4 mice, which is surprising as we’ve been worried about her since before The Brain died. She’s obviously a fighter.

Ever since The Brain died I’ve been worried about pinky. Of the 5 remaining mice she’s the smallest by far and she always looks like she’s on her last legs. According to Wikipedia fancy mice live for 18-30 months in captivity. According to The Zozo (a much more accurate source of information with things like this) and anything past 18 months is bonus time. We’re well into bonus time and our little mice are now old ladies. In order to get closer to 30 months than 18 months Pinky often gets special treats and hand feeding on The Zozos lap.

The mice holiday at the Zoo when we’re not at home for any length of time and last week was no different. Being at the zoo means they’re under the watchful eye of at least two keepers every day and ensures they’ll be properly looked after. This time we left the mice with instructions that they were old mice now and if any of them, especially Pinky, didn’t see the week through we’d understand. After all, it’s horrible to have a pet you’re looking after die on you.

Thankfully for the keepers, and happily for us, all 5 mice were alive on our return however, sadly, not all of them were well. This time it wasn’t pinky, who’d received special attention all week and was looking bigger than she had in months. No, it was Mrs Jingles had become ill and, on Saturday, The Zozo texted me to bring some special medicine for her. 10 minutes later Mrs Jingles died. The Zozo suspects kidney failure and I like to think Mrs Jingles held out to say goodbye to her mum.

Unlike The Brain, who was unceremoniously dumped in the bin, Mrs Jingles was put on ice. Yesterday The Zozo and I said our goodbyes and Mrs Jingles was cremated. I worry that the coming months will feature 4 more burials.

R.I.P. Mrs Jingles.

Bootnote: For those who were unaware, Mrs Jingles is named after Mr Jingles, the mouse from The Green Mile. We had hoped, a little optimistically I know, that Mrs Jingles would somehow be like her namesake and live to a ripe old age. If you haven’t seen The Green Mile go rent it now. You’ll understand once you’ve watched it.

Pinky, one of our mice, looks like she may be going the way of The Brain next. She’s been thin for a few weeks now, but then she is old. The other mice are fat porkers so Pinky often gets taken out of the cage for a little hand feeding. Normally this involves putting a small pile of sunflower seeds somewhere for her to eat which she will shell and then devour. Apparently, however, she gets bored of this. Or at least that’s what The Zozo tells me as she’s shelling the sunflower seeds for Pinky to just eat. Whatever the reason she’s certainly trained The Zozo to do the work for her. I’m just impressed how many sunflower seeds such a little mouse can eat.

I was greeted last night as I crossed the threshold into the house by a not quite full bin bag containing assorted kitchen waste and the body of one ex-mouse. Said bag was unceremoniously dumped in the bin outside ready for collection by the bin men. Not quite the memorial I had in mind¹ but The Brain had at least picked the day before bin day to die.

It would also appear that bereavement leave doesn’t apply to small pets which is a shame, mainly because if I could swing a day off for a dead mouse then perhaps I could also blag days off for dead cockroaches. Not that we keep cockroaches as pets mind you. No, they are food for the spiders. As such they don’t really have names other than “no, not you” and “yes you!” as the great hand of doom looms over the box they call home to select one to it’s fate. Nor could we really argue any great sadness at their passing. I remain indifferent while The Zozo emits great squeals of delight as various arachnids attack and kill their prey with quite frightening speed. What we do have with the roaches is frequency of death. I could phone in several times a week with “boo hoo! Little Yes You the 26th passed away last night, I’m too upset to come in”. But no, they’re not buying it.

¹I wanted proper burial with headstone, 21 gun salute performed by the Royal Artillery while overhead a Lancaster and spitfires in missing man formation did a flyby. Perhaps a short speech by The Queen. Nothing fancy, just something fitting.

The Brain died at 4pm today. Message ends.

Today’s original post has been cancelled. It required a bit of fire in the belly to write and was shaping up to be a doozy, however, things have fallen a bit flat this morning.

Both Pinky and The Brain have been ill recently. They were two of the original four mice we got and so are among the oldest of the six we have. Each time they’ve looked a little wobbly The Zozo has nursed them back to health.

This morning we went downstairs to be greeted by 5 happy faces. The Brain was nowhere to be seen. The Zozo found her curled up in her bedding looking very thin and bedraggled. She spent breakfast on The Zozos lap asleep and while she has perked up a bit I’m braced for the worst when I get home.

Now I know what you’re thinking, but they’re not just mice, they’re our mice, they’re part of the family and losing one will be very sad.

“~/o inside everybody cries / inside everybody melts o/~”