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08-06-2006 07:04 AM
My first blog entry ever.....
It's been a total bummer of a couple of months with all our hamster craziness these past few months. What started out as two "supposed" female Russian Campbel (Siberian) hamsters turned out to um, not be same sex, there was lots of hamster lovin' going on. Within 5 weeks, we had at one point 19 hamsters - all adorable, loving little critters. We were lucky in that the local pet store that has worked with the feline rescue work I've done was able to take in the pups once they were weaned, and we went from 19 of them down to 4 - two males (father and son) in one habitat, and two females (mother and daughter) in another.
For some reason unknown to us, both of the pups died within three weeks of each other. Neither appeared sick - they simply fell asleep and didn't wake up. It was heartbreaking as we were attached to them, and at least they didn't suffer.
About a month ago, the adult male, Newton, started looking rough - losing fur and was no longer the active happy hammy we'd grown to love. The vet gave us medication and instructions to help nurse him back to health, and for a while he seemed to be doing better - growing fur back and back to being bright-eyed and more active. Over the past week, though, he started getting worse, and the vet said there wasn't a whole lot that could be done.
I was gone all day today, and when I got home tonight, the worst had happened - the poor little guy had died. Not to go into gross details, but apparently his nether regions had prolapsed, and his little body couldn't take it. There's nothing worse than having to go out in the middle of the night and dig a small grave. Now I have to tell my daughter when she comes home from her dad's this weekend that Newton died, and she's going to be crushed.
Nellie, the adult female, on the other hand, is thriving - I've never seen a happier, healthier hammy, and out of the 19 that we had, she's the only one left.
I get so pissed off when I hear people say, "well, they're disposable pets, what are you so torn up about?" Fuckers. A pet isn't a belonging, it's a family member, and I don't care if it's a goldfish or a golden retriever.
My first blog entry ever.....
It's been a total bummer of a couple of months with all our hamster craziness these past few months. What started out as two "supposed" female Russian Campbel (Siberian) hamsters turned out to um, not be same sex, there was lots of hamster lovin' going on. Within 5 weeks, we had at one point 19 hamsters - all adorable, loving little critters. We were lucky in that the local pet store that has worked with the feline rescue work I've done was able to take in the pups once they were weaned, and we went from 19 of them down to 4 - two males (father and son) in one habitat, and two females (mother and daughter) in another.
For some reason unknown to us, both of the pups died within three weeks of each other. Neither appeared sick - they simply fell asleep and didn't wake up. It was heartbreaking as we were attached to them, and at least they didn't suffer.
About a month ago, the adult male, Newton, started looking rough - losing fur and was no longer the active happy hammy we'd grown to love. The vet gave us medication and instructions to help nurse him back to health, and for a while he seemed to be doing better - growing fur back and back to being bright-eyed and more active. Over the past week, though, he started getting worse, and the vet said there wasn't a whole lot that could be done.
I was gone all day today, and when I got home tonight, the worst had happened - the poor little guy had died. Not to go into gross details, but apparently his nether regions had prolapsed, and his little body couldn't take it. There's nothing worse than having to go out in the middle of the night and dig a small grave. Now I have to tell my daughter when she comes home from her dad's this weekend that Newton died, and she's going to be crushed.
Nellie, the adult female, on the other hand, is thriving - I've never seen a happier, healthier hammy, and out of the 19 that we had, she's the only one left.
I get so pissed off when I hear people say, "well, they're disposable pets, what are you so torn up about?" Fuckers. A pet isn't a belonging, it's a family member, and I don't care if it's a goldfish or a golden retriever.