Mama Gerbil

I love sites like I Can Has Cheezburger and Stuff On My Cat with their cute creatures, zany antics and funny captions. I am not all that creative (although I did get one caption on the front page of ICHC), so allow me to offer a few photos of animals. Just being animals.

Here is Mama Gerbil’s inaugural animal who is busy just being an animal:

Jackie …

… is half Jack Russel Terrier and half Chihuahua. She doesn’t really have an off switch. Or even a slow-down switch. Her turn-ons include chewing on shoes, going to the Renaissance Festival in a belly dancer’s costume, and chasing a flashlight beam around the living room. Turn-offs include being alone, pooping on the floor, and being told she is a bad dog.

A few days ago, my daughter called me, the sound of devastation apparent in her voice. You know that sound of sadness and fear? It is never something you want to hear from your child. Kendyl was at her father’s house and had just experienced the death of one of our gerbils, little Darcy.

On this day, I had just returned from my typical two-week stay in Connecticut and I hadn’t gotten around to picking up the gerbils, who usually live at my place.  Unfortunately, before I got there, little Darcy escaped from her cage due to a door that had not been properly fastened by a young visitor.

The little gerbil leapt to the floor and to freedom; however, my daughter’s little dog took notice and soon gave chase. Although the little dog didn’t catch Darcy, apparently, the event was too much for her as she lost the ability to control one side of her body and then died from what must have been a stroke.

Darcy was a senior citizen in the gerbil world at over two years of age, but that didn’t decrease the pain my daughter felt as she held her treasured pet in her hands and felt her die.  I heard that pain in Kendyl’s voice.

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