I have a smelly new friend, and his name is Mr. President.

When I was younger, I wanted a pet. I mean, what little kid doesn’t want a loyal dog or adorable kitten? Unfortunately, my parents didn’t think the same way.

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It’s true that having a dog is a big commitment. They live a long time and require a lot of care! Even as I grew older, though, I still wanted a pet. My IQ drops at least 100 points every time I approach an animal.

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I still wanted a pet by the time I reached college. But my parents had a point: owning a dog or a cat is no joke. They cost a lot of time and money. Was I responsible enough to have a pet like that?

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I just wanted something cute and fuzzy to play with! Is that too much to ask for? I kept obsessing over the idea.

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This went on for months until my birthday rolled around. This year, my sister bought me a special gift.

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She had bought me a pet cage! And some pet bedding! In other words, the first steps to getting my own pet mouse.

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I always joked about getting a pet, but I never thought that it could become a reality. Now, the possibility was there. I wanted a mouse. I needed a mouse!

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So, a few days later, my sister and I drove to the nearest PetSmart. There were only two mice in the rodents section.

The first mouse was white with brown spots. He was sleeping peacefully, curled up into a little ball of fluff.

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The other mouse was black and lean. He was frantically running on his exercise wheel like there was no tomorrow.

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You can guess which one I chose.

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Even the PetSmart employee wasn’t convinced.

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It was too late. I had already fallen in love with the hyper mouse. The PetSmart employee opened up the cage to transfer the mouse into a box…

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She was right. Soon after getting my mouse, I noticed that he had some interesting quirks.

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Male mice, like many other animals, have a habit of marking their territory. This behavior increases when the mouse feels nervous or threatened. This particular mouse is one of the most nervous, high-strung creatures I have ever seen. Accordingly, he pees constantly.

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To make matters worse, mice usually like to pee and poop in the same location in their cage. My mouse chose a problematic area as his toilet.

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Yeah. All night, my mouse will poop in his exercise wheel. Then he’ll run in it. By the time I wake up each morning, the wheel will be caked in a layer of trampled poop. Every day, I have to wipe it off.

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And that smell. He really likes to mark his territory. I stuck boxes of baking soda around his cage. I bought air fresheners. I opened all the windows. Finally, I resorted to drastic measures.

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Even with the air filter , the smell has only been reduced and not eliminated. I wash his cage weekly and remove the dirty bedding every day. As soon as I do, he makes a point to poop and pee immediately after.

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What’s even dumber, though, is my mouse’s name.

When I got my mouse, I pondered over what to name him for days. Finally, I consulted my friends for advice.

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Then, my dad came along.

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Although I rejected my dad’s suggestion, my dad continued to call the mouse Obama.

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Then, my mom caught on.

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Finally, my sister picked it up.

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Out of all the names I considered, this was the one that stuck the most. A few weeks later, I moved back to school and introduced the mouse to my friends.

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Thus, nowadays I regularly say stuff like this: 

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And stuff like this:

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Thanks, Obama.

5 thoughts on “I have a smelly new friend, and his name is Mr. President.

  1. Hahaha, oh my gosh, this is super cute. 🙂 It’s a good thing you and Obama are still together despite everything!

    Although, cats aren’t that hard to take care of, while dogs generally cost a lot more in terms of food and maintenance. I once had a hamster, but it died. Of loneliness, apparently. I didn’t even know that was possible. 😦 And for the longest time, I wanted a rabbit so bad, but now… I can’t take care of one since I already live near my university. My dad says there’s no grass for it to eat here. *sigh* Who knows, maybe someday!

    • Someday, for sure! It’s tough to keep a pet when you live in the city. A lot of landlords don’t allow pets, and there isn’t a yard for your pet to run around! That’s why I chose to get a mouse– he doesn’t need quite as much space. 🙂

      That’s interesting; I didn’t know hamsters were social animals! The pet store I bought Obama from advised me to house male mice or hamsters alone. I’m sorry to hear that it didn’t work out for your pet 😦 I’m sure you’ll get a chance to have a pet soon!

  2. Obama’s cuter than he sounded like.

    My first pet was also a mouse. My sister and I both had female mice, but my sister’s mouse was pregnant when she got her, and had ten or so babies. Then we had to separate the mother from her babies because she kept eating them. My mouse was fine with them though, and she had a little kink in her tail. She was kinda dark like yours as well, whereas my sister’s was white.

    As far as your family naming your pet same thing happened when I got a cat. I wanted to call her Chloe, but mum named her Socks because although she was a black cat, she had white paws. I always like to name pets human names, but Socks was the one exception.

    The only male pet I ever had was a rabbit named Aaron, who ran away after a week.

    We’ve had two dogs. The first was called Maggie, but she had quite bad behaviour, including chewing wires, licking her own poop, and once stealing mum’s dinner. The second dog (which is much better behaved) is called Missy.

    My sister also has a husband whose first pet are two medium (but big to me) dogs who chew everything and are rather rambunctious. They don’t take great care of them, they always have fleas, and my sister’s husband never really takes responsibility for them. He’s said he wouldn’t do it again, which is to say get dogs again. I agree with him.

    • Looks like you have a lot of experience with animals! Obama’s my first pet, so this has all been a learning experience for me. Do you have any advice on how to take care of mice?

      And it’s a shame that your sister’s dogs aren’t well taken care of, and it’s especially bad that they have fleas! I recently found out that Obama has mice lice, and the poor thing’s been scratching himself raw. 😦 I hope those dogs get treated soon.

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