Attack of the Chipmunk

Okay...so I was babysitting the boys yesterday for Jeff and Elizabeth. When I got to the house, Jeff tells me that there is a chipmunk loose in the house (note: their killer cat, Missy, loves killing chipmunks, moles, bunnies, and other various critters in their yard). I was not worried about it at all...what harm could a cute little chipmunk do?

Random chipmunk picture

About thirty minutes or so later, Missy wanted back in the house from a morning excursion and I forgot to check her before she came in. DUH!!! She's been known to bring animals in the house (and she already did it that morning). But she had caught yet ANOTHER chipmunk and it got loose in the house too. So here's the count...two children, me, a cat, and two chipmunks in the house by 9:15 a.m. What an exciting morning. We still at this point had not found the first chipmunk. But we (Adam and I) knew where the second one was. It was hiding under the computer table. Adam, being the brave little boy that he is, got me his toy sword to scare the chipmunk out from under the table. At this point Missy is trying to recatch her prize and in the process getting in my way. I finally got chimpunk #2 out and grabbed him with my bare hands. Who knew that a chimpunk would BITE you!!! Well, I sure did not! That sucker had some sharp teeth!

Missy...the killer cat

After I got him out of the house, I went to the bathroom and washed my finger (just in case...I mean it was a wild animal and I know to wash the area with soap and water). I called Elizabeth at work cause I could not find the anticeptic spray. I finally found it and put some on the "wound". I really wanted it so I could see if it stung or not (I figured that this was a surefire way to see if the critter had broken the skin). It did not (which made me happy).

In the process of cleaning said "wound," Adam is digging in his bath toy bucket and thus found chipmunk #1. It jumped from the toy bucket and fell into the toilet. LOL. I thought twice about reaching in and grabbing it with my hand this time (yeah...learned my lesson...I usually do learn them the hard way). I ended up closing the toilet lid and getting a cup to scoop him up into. Adam had the very important job of opening the door so I could get the chipmunk out of the house. Once out, I decided to call Jeff to tell him that his house was chipmunk free now. I also mentioned that the one had bitten me. And thus starts the rest of the excitement for the morning.

Sheesh...how many people do you have to call in order to find out if you have to get a rabies shot or antibiotic shot from a chipmunk bite? I called my PCP and they told me to call the Urgent Care. Urgent Care told me to go to the emergency room (apparently the lady who answered the phone at Urgent Care had never had anyone call her about my particular problem before). I do not know how long I was on the phone between 9:30 and 11:30 but it was all bullshit cause I never got ANY answers.

I called Matt at work and talked to him about it. He looked up rabies + chipmunks on the internet and found that chipmunks VERY RARELY carry rabies. That was a relief because I knew it had not broken the skin and I knew I was okay. I called Elizabeth to update her and tell her that I was going to watch the said "wound" for a few hours to see if anything happened...if anything happened, I would then go to the emergency room. Elizabeth looked it up on the internet too and found some information and she was satisfied that I was not concerned about it (I did not want to go get a shot anyways).

So all is well and I now know better than to pick up a chipmunk (however cute they are) with my bare hands.

Well, that was my Tuesday...I wonder how the rest of the week will go.