Let me explain.

When I take Pikku out of her cage, I will hold her in one of my palms and she walks around. Maxine comes up to check out what's going on, and proceeds to rub up against my hand. For those of you who don't know, she's not actually being affectionate, but rather marking her territory (using the scent glands located on her chin and in front of her ear). But to the common person, it looks like Maxine is rubbing up against my hand in an effort to "pet" Pikku.

I showed Dad. I don't think he found it as amusing as I do. But that's not the point of this entry, now is it?! I let Maxine rub up against my hand (with Pikku on my palm) quite a few times. I stood up again and put Pikku down on the chair that Dad brought over. Maxine walked away (well, out of sight anyways). Pikku ran around on the new surface while Dad asked if she'd fall off. I said, "She might Kamikazi, but she'll be ok." (Or something to that effect).

I turned my back to do something. Maxine came out, and had those big Japanese anime eyes. The hunt was on. Maxine threw her big (extra-toed) feet up to hit Pikku. Dad said, "Now it thinks it's a toy." I turned and watched a bit. Maxine being all playful, Pikku not even concerned with anything.

Maxine swatted Pikku off the chair's edge. I saw it in slow motion! It was so creepy! Pikku landed on her right ear with a dull thud. She didn't move.

I ran and picked her up immediately. Maxine ran off. I looked at Pikku and just tried to hold her still. She was frantic! Then I noticed a tiny... (I must emphasize here that Pikku's name means Tiny in Finnish and she's less than an ounce, so even though it was a tiny amount, it was like a cup to a human) ... "drop" of blood. I said, "Oh no. I see blood." Dad looked and didn't even see it at first. I started looking all over Pikku's body to see where it was coming from.

I haven't been this panicked about anything in a long time. This was really scary! Pikku! No! I looked at her ear (that she fell on). I couldn't see any fur clumped up or anything. It was so hard to hold her still enough to look anywhere else. I noticed another tiny fleck of blood on my palm (not as much as before, but still it was more).

She sneezed. It was the first time I've ever heard a noise out of her. I was literally freaking out. Looking frantically all over her little head to see if I could see some clumped fur. No luck.

Then I noticed her nose wasn't as light colored as usual. That's where I discovered the blood was coming from. She had sneezed to get some of it out. She was definately alert, but I was scared. What if she rattled her brain and had internal bleeding and it was coming out her nose?! What kind of pet owner am I?!

I grabbed a napkin and tried (and I do mean tried) to wipe up some excess blood off her nose. I finally blotted it a little bit, but was afraid I'd block her nose and she wouldn't be able to breath. She's so tiny that my finger would have easily covered her nose and mouth, and her breathing is so quick that she could die much quicker than a human from lack of air.

I put her back in her cage. I figured me holding her wasn't helping her cope, let alone me jamming my big ole fingers all over her little body to get a look at her.

I tried my dammdest (sp?) to make her feel as comfy as possible. In fact, all night long I kept giving her little "treats" because of my guilt. It doesn't look like she's in any pain now, but I will be closely monitoring her behavior for the next week or so.

I just want to say that because this was such a scary thing for me, I wrote this entry the fastest I think I've ever wrote an entry. I couldn't slow my fingers down. It was like I was reliving the event, and wanted to get to the "okay" part as quickly as possible.

Carisa

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