Hello again. I am sad to say that Hamtaro left us far too soon. We are not entirely sure what happened, just that he got sick suddenly and went downhill really quickly. It was not uncommon for us to not see him on the weekends because his preferred waking hours had become from about the middle of the night to early morning, so sometimes we didn't get up early enough on a Saturday or Sunday to see him. Unfortunately, this is probably why we didn't realize he was sick until Sunday night of last week. My husband mentioned that he'd seen him get up mid day for a drink of water and go straight back to his house, and while he'd had a passing thought that something seemed odd, he dismissed it.
Well, early Sunday evening he came out for a drink and then just sat under the water bottle and didn't look right. When I picked him up, he wasn't as responsive as usual. He seemed lethargic and his breathing was laboured. He also buried his head into my hand, which he had never done before. He died in my hands minutes later.He was just shy of a year old. We will miss our little friend who made the early morning hours infinitely more bearable. My husband made him a wooden coffin.
I immediately did some looking around online and found several sources that claimed hamsters can catch human colds and flu that can turn quickly to pneumonia. We had all just had a cold, so I suspect this might have been what happened. I feel awful knowing we may have made him sick. We sure loved that little guy. We were first time hamster owners, who hadn't planned on even having a hamster, so we were learning as we went.
Someone heard of our loss and had an "unwanted" hamster that needed a home. What is it with people buying pets on a whim and them changing their minds? Aaargh. Well, we definitely wanted to give this guy a loving home, so we took him in yesterday. I will post a picture soon. I'm giving him a little space to settle in and to recover from his, unfortunately, traumatic first 24 of being adopted by us. I've just learned another lesson the hard way and at his expense. Ugh.
My husband got up this morning to find Hamlet up in a top corner of his cage, with his toe lodged in a gap between the corner bars. We have no idea how long he was like that, and the thought of it breaks my heart. I held him while my husband pried the cage bars, and his toe was freed. It looked awful. I called the vet and they told me to bring him in. He had his toe amputated. He seems to be recovering well...he is eating and drinking, has been on his wheel a little bit, and has even climbed the cage bars. I noticed when I gave him a piece of carrot he dropped it a few times, but he managed. I'm sure he'll get used to his missing toe in time. My husband is bolting wooden blocks to all four corners of the top of the cage to make sure this never happens again.
But the good news is, we have a new hamster! He will be loved and spoiled rotten, and will benefit from us being a bit more experienced. For being an accidental hamster parent...again...I think I'm hooked. These little guys are sure fun and they sure steal your heart. Hamlet is a really sweet guy and is very laid back. Obviously, he's very resilient too. He likes to sit and watch us a lot, which is different from Hamtaro, who only paid attention to us when he was directly interacting with us. He also is completely unbothered by the dogs, which is good. We're glad to have this new little friend.
Re: New Hamster Parent
Re: New Hamster Parent
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