Vegan Mofo: Make a New Friend

Alright, I'd planned a post where I was gonna share pics of all the awesome vegan friends I've made over the past couple years — Susan, Nico, Melissa, Megan, Katie, Dana, pretty much anyone I've met through Vegan Drinks, our Vegan Meetup group, or blogging over the last 24 months. I'm blessed to have a ton of vegan friends, old and new. And because I'm involved with so many vegan social activities, I meet new vegan friends all the time. I feel like I have more vegan friends than I can really post about without leaving anyone out. Not to mention all my long-time vegan friends — Sheridan, Drew, Greg, Cassi, Stephanie, Pam, Vaughan, Nicole, Kristie & Adam,  the list goes on.

But, on Friday, I made a very special new friend. And she's not exactly vegan, but she's mostly vegetarian. While she may not be fully veg herself, she certainly further inspires my own veganism. And bonus — she's fuzzy and adorable. Meet Mable.

Yep, we rescued another baby squirrel! In case you're not familiar, last summer, Paul and I rescued an orphaned squirrel from the grips of our pittie Maynard. His name is Herman, and we raised him up until he was fully grown. We released him last October, and though he lives outside, he comes over to visit often. Here's Herman, all grown up and eatings nuts a few weeks ago!

Well, Ms. Mable fell from the same tree as Herman. And yet again, Maynard was ready to make her a snack.

I mean, she is pretty darn snackable!! She's so cute, I could just eat her up.

We think Mable had been lying in the dirt in our yard for sometime. Paul heard her cries the day before we found her but mistook them for a bird. It wasn't until I heard her scream the next morning shortly after letting the dogs out that I found her lying in the dirt under our tree. Maynard was pawing at her pretty hard, but other than a small cut on her side, she was uninjured.

Mable was covered mud and little worms, and later Friday afternoon, I discovered that she had parasites in her tiny ears. They started bleeding, and I had use tweezers to pick the parasites out. I'll spare you the deets in case you're squeamish. Thankfully, I can handle just about anything bug-related. On Saturday morning, I went to the vet and got some meds for parasites. She's doing very well now and, as far as we can tell, she's parasite-free.

Having raised Mr. Herman from the same tiny size, we pretty much know what to do now. Hey, maybe Mable is Herman's kid!!! It's possible. She fell from the same tree. She eats Esbilac puppy formula every three hours, so I have to take her to the office with me. My co-workers don't mind having an adorable squirrel around.

Esbilac isn't vegan, so technically, I'm cheating with this post since she's not a vegan friend. But I wanted a chance to introduce her before Mofo is up, and she is my newest friend. Plus, taking care of tiny critters just reinforces why I'm vegan in the first place.