A rough day for everyone

This weekend was great. We hung out with friends, ate at Chipotle, spent Saturday at the beach, and had lots of relaxation. Just to shake things up, Ninners had to go and break his little foot.

This is what chinnie hind feet look like normally. They are long and kangaroo-like.

Here's what happened: I had his cage open (like I often do). The door folds downward into a ramp. He came out, and I tried to hold him. He got scared and tried to run back into his cage, but his long little foot got stuck between the bars in the ramp. His fright was exponentially increasing, so he pulled really hard, and his foot broke (picture it like it now has an elbow; totally bent).

I immediately started crying and being hysterical and calling animal emergency rooms. Meanwhile, Ninners was handling it like a champ. He never screamed or winced if I touched him. He totally knew how he should handle it. Conrad convinced me that it wasn't my fault, and that chinnies break their legs all the time, even just from jumping.

Anyways, we went to bed, and I hardly slept at all. I kept dreaming that something else bad happened to Ninners. In one dream, he ran away because he didn't want me to be his owner/friend anymore because I broke his leg. This morning my eyes are stinging because I cried so much last night. I'm telling you, I develop a weird attachment to animals.

The good news is as follows:
- There is no open wound, so it won't get infected
- Ninners is keeping his leg very guarded against the cage so nothing bumps it
- He still allows us to pet him
- He is still able to move around. He can get to his food and water, but he limps like the Hunchback.
- He doesn't show how much pain he's in (though I'm practically dying of guilt since I think he's in a lot of pain)
- We think that if we don't hold him, but keep petting him and keep him used to human contact, that his leg will heal and he'll be ok. That's how it would be in nature, right?

I woke up and have just been really sensitive all day. Any mention of a pet, and I well up. I think I'm being a bigger wuss about it than Ninners.

Pray for Ninners's foot so he can keep living a pampered, well-fed life in our home! No infections!