An answered prayer

Update: Cotton was nibbling on a piece of strawberry when she suddenly fell over and couldn't get back up. My daughter took her to the vet. He seems to think she has suffered a puncture wound from the cat and it's become infected. He is treating her with a steroid and antibiotic and seems to think she will get well and recover. I certainly hope so.

Last night, I had to have a serious talk with Jesus over my baby girl, Cotton. We've had Cotton for a little over a year and she is the sweetest thing.



I know ... some of you are shuddering right now. Trust me, I used to feel the same way. This is the ONLY member of the rodent family that is allowed in my home.

Anyway, there has been a handful of times that our cat, Baby D, has snuck into the room with Cotton and pulled her cage to the floor. This is Baby D, by the way:

She looks pretty innocent in that picture but I'm not liking her much at the moment.

Back to my story ... about a week ago, Baby D managed to knock Cotton's cage off again. She seemed to be okay so I didn't think much of it. Well, three nights ago, one of her eyes started to water. It was then that I realized she wasn't moving around as much as she normally does. It's part of her daily routine that she will "monkey bar" across her cage and is pretty active throughout different parts of the day. I started watching her closely and saw that her appetite wasn't the same .. she wouldn't take her favorite pumpkin seeds from my hand and eagerly crack them open. Her condition seemed to worsen each day.

Before going to bed last night, the boys and I huddled together for our nightly prayer. This time, the focus was on Cotton. I couldn't stand the thought of her hurting. I prayed for Jesus to heal her or let her go to sleep and never wake up. I went to bed with tears streaming down my face (those of you that shuddered earlier are probably thinking I'm acting ridiculous at this point). Both boys came to me at different times later crying .. it was real mess. I reminded both of them that I had done all I could do.

I woke up this morning and checked on her .. she was inside her igloo and wouldn't come out to greet me like she had in the past. Things were not looking up :( We left the house (I started a new job ... I'll post on that later) and returned after lunch. I made a few phone calls and found a local vet that was willing to work her in today and not charge me a small fortune. As we were headed out the door with her, she came out of her cage and I saw that her eye was back to normal! It was a miracle! I headed down the road with her since I wanted to make sure her legs were okay too. While I was driving, she started climbing up the side of her cage!! I knew then that God had answered my prayer so we turned around and came home. I feel like Cotton is back on the road to recovery and will continue to improve each day. I'm so thankful for answered prayers .. even when they are for the tiny creatures in our life.