Dilemna

marie-p

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I think I'm failing my Fostering 101 class
I swore I would be able to foster without adopting any animals...


Here's the story:

I have been fostering some mice for a few weeks now. I originally had 5 but 2 of them just died, killed by one of their cagemate, I assume.


In order to figure out who the guilty party was, I had to keep a close eye on all the mice and find a way to tell them apart, since they are identical (I gave two of them a little hair cut). Well, I did find out who the bully was and isolated him.

I also spent a lot of time with the another mouse because he was a little bit injured and I wanted to make sure he was ok. Turns out he is the sweetest little mouse!
He has no problem climbing on my hand and staying there... or wandering around on my lap or on my book to "help" me study. He's also very gentle when taking treats and never accidently bites.
I named him Benjy (after one of the mice on Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

So now I don't know what to do. I don't want him to go anywhere but here's the problem...

First, there is a chance that I will be moving overseas next year. I already have to figure out what to do with the cats (don't worry! they'll be well taken care of no matter what) and I'm not sure if I should adopt any other animals.

Also, keeping only Benjy would not be ideal because he does get along with other mice... so for the rescue, it will make more sense to keep him with a group of mice. They already have enough problems with male mice that have to be isolated.
If I want to keep fostering him, I'll probably end up with a fairly large group of mice again.

The chances that Benjy will be adopted by anyone else are slim... the shelter has many male mice and they don't get adopted easily.

What should I do?
 

pushylady

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That's a tough call. I know I'd be keeping him. The chances of him finding a good home sound slim, so you'd be doing the little guy a favour.
I heard that rats and mice don't live very long anyway, so maybe that won't be an issue for moving next year?
 
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marie-p

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Originally Posted by pushylady

That's a tough call. I know I'd be keeping him. The chances of him finding a good home sound slim, so you'd be doing the little guy a favour.
I heard that rats and mice don't live very long anyway, so maybe that won't be an issue for moving next year?
Most websites say they live 2-3 years but I think it's usually shorter than that. I've asked the woman at the rescue if she knew how old these boys were.
 

pushylady

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I don't know much about them, but a friend of ours always has pet rats. He gets them from pet stores, and they always die after a year.
I think that has something to do with how they're breeding them, his ones always seem to get tumors and stuff.
I think it'd be great if you can keep looking after the sweet mouse.
How are the cats taking to your new fosters?!
 
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marie-p

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Originally Posted by pushylady

I don't know much about them, but a friend of ours always has pet rats. He gets them from pet stores, and they always die after a year.
I think that has something to do with how they're breeding them, his ones always seem to get tumors and stuff.
I think it'd be great if you can keep looking after the sweet mouse.
How are the cats taking to your new fosters?!
Most of the rats I had lived to be around 2. One of them was a little over 2 and a half when she died.
I think mice live shorter lives than rats, I'm not sure.

The cats really like the mice, of course. They always want to "play" with them
 

lokismum

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Don't know about mice, but my kids had a progression of hamsters when they were little - usually only lived a couple of years (unless a cat managed to pick the door on the cage and spring them to a very brief freedom - and I mean very brief - kitty usually had a new toy when that happened).
 

neetanddave

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I'd keep him. Sounds like a sound decision based on what you said about male mice not being adopted much and he already has your heart!
 
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