Several months ago my nine year old daughter was given two mice to raise as her own. She had been asking for a pocket pet of her own for a year. I thought she was ready to have her own pet and be responsible for them, so was very excited for her when she received them.
We went over extensively the daily routine of checking food and water and every two weeks cleaning their cage. All seemed well and she was even gaining their trust to allow her to pet them. I would check on them every few days and make sure she was taking good care of them and they seemed quite well.
Last week she came downstairs crying hysterically that one of her mice had eaten the other...we were of course confused and shocked at this news. It had only been a few days since we last checked to make sure they were doing good. Once we calmed her down a little, we made her stay downstairs while we went and took care of the poor mouse and investigated the situation.
Upon looking into her cage, we found the poor mouse almost completely eaten. We removed the remains and noticed to our horror...the water and food containers were completely empty. I looked immediately at the remaining mouse and noticed she looked noticably thinner. I was very upset that my daughter had been ignoring the care of her pets she had been trusted to care for...(we had just asked her the night before how their food and water was).
It seems a child of nine should be able to handle the responsibility, especially since she has been raised in a family with pets all her life, yet with the death of one of her pets...it raises a big concern. Is there a right age? Is there a certain maturity level that we missed? A loving child of nine who loves animals and has talked about her dream to be a veterinarian when she grows up, forgets to check her pets water and food....
Long story short, we nursed the remaining mouse back to health and she is doing quite well, but it made us question seriously what age was old enough to carry the responsibility of their own pet.
I'm really sorry to hear about the little mouse. I'm glad the other one is doing okay. Though I'm sure the answers to your questions will vary from child to child, I think children of all ages, no matter how responsible they may be or seem in some areas, are prone to being forgetful/neglectful at times, especially when they don't realize the consequences until it's too late. Even my 14 year old sister needed occasional reminding that her rat cage needed to be cleaned, or their food bowl needed refilling. She did enjoy having them as pets, and handled the responsibility fairly well, but sometimes homework, her developing social life, or more "fun" things would come before taking care of the pets. There were probably several times, that if we hadn't reminded her or checked for ourselves, the rats would have gone without food or gone too long between cage cleanings. Unfortunately, it sounds like your daughter had to learn the hard way what happens when important responsibilities are neglected, or put off, for too long. Do you think it will cause her to be more attentive and responsible with the remaining mouse? I think your post does bring up important questions that need to be considered and discussed before/when a child gets a pet, whether it's a mouse, puppy, or any little critter.
Hugs to you both, and the little mouse.
Thank you so much for your reply. Both my daughter and the mouse are doing well. Alexis has gained a hard lesson and is putting forth a lot more thought on being responsible with her remaining pet.
After this situation I thought it a good idea to write about the experience, maybe to help other parents think before buying a pet for their children...if nothing else, I hope it brings an active forethought to children and pets.