Scruffy from the start, we got you and Dusty shortly after my uni graduation. You were independant from the start, not really too worried about having left two friends behind. Dusty missed those two, and a day later you were reunited to be a foursome. While the other three sniffed each other madly, you were much too busy exploring to worry about saying hi to them. Then when you did finally take time to say hi, you stepped all over Bump as she tried to sleep. That sort of set the tone for the rest of your time with them, you were the one who always scouted a place out, made sure it was safe before you relaxed and played with the others.
The scruffy fur gave you your name, and over time we realised that how scruffy you looked depended on how long it had been since you'd had a sand bath - the longer you left it, the scruffier you got.
This was the fur that gave you your name
You were more independant than the others, at first it almost seemed like you were on a different page to everyone else, but you did love your cagemates. You liked to sleep with them and sometimes to run with them. You went through a phase where you always filled your cheeks with food, then went to run in your wheel. Then having your cheeks full seemed to frustrate you so you promptly emptied them and resumed running. So... All the food flew out, making a lovely racket and waking us as it did. Then after that you'd stop, notice it was missing, collect it all up and start the whole process over again. It seemed to keep you entertained for hours... If a cagemate wandered over to collect food you'd squeak at them, but it never got out of hand.
You once fought with Bump, you had a sand area and wanted to claim it for your own. Once we removed the sand area you were fine and friends with Bump again instantly. You always got on with Timmy, squeaked at her sometimes but clearly loved her. And then there was your relationship with Dusty... It seemed a bit love-hate at times, and you went through phases. Sometimes you were ok, maybe had the odd squabble, and other times you'd squabble six times a day on a good day. There was even a phase where Timmy and Bump started to wander over and you stopped squabbling once they gave you an audience. Despite the squabbles you and Dusty did still love each other, you just had a bit of an odd relationship.
It was really difficult to get a photo of all four of you together, but bribery let me get my first.
At Christmas I got more pics of you all, and this one shows that you and Dusty did get along really...
It was at Christmas that we also got the best photo we ever took of you, and your fur even looked less scruffy than usual for it.
As time went by, your group seemed to settle down and we thought you were sensible and mature now... You developed an eye problem, that we eventually realised was an allergy. It turns out the allergy was to the krill in your new hamster mix, and while you were suffering with the allergy Dusty really started to look out for you. Eventually she started attacking us on sight - she'd decided that our treatment wasn't working so we should leave her pal in peace. Fortunately you didn't mind the eye drops as much as Dusty seemed to
Then we took you off that food and you were fine, your eye stayed closed from habit but you were ok again.
While you had the allergy we had to split your group. We found blood in the cage and realised someone had bitten someone else... After hours of debate we put you with Dusty and left Timmy and Bump together. We knew you and Dusty were a possibly volatile pair but we knew it would've been one of you two who'd bitten someone, Timmy and Bump deserved to stay together, and then if separations did happen the two of you were those we thought would be best alone.
You and Dusty surprised us, you did really well together for a few weeks. One day we discovered that the end of your tail was missing and realised that the previous blood must have been from that. You and Dusty did fantastically though, stayed close friends for a while... Then one day we heard worrying squeaks and checked you both, Dusty had bitten again so we separated you that day. You seemed to miss Dusty so I made you a fleece pillow to snuggle instead. You dragged it into a nest and there it stayed, even long after you'd moved on from Dusty.
You were happy alone, loved having shelves and developed a hobby of kicking food out of your bowl, so we took it off a shelf and put it on a reptile cave. You became quite difficult to get good photos of, liked to hide in your favourite boots instead...
You had another vet visit, but some baytril cleared that issue and you were still doing well. Over time you lost weight and seemed to age younger than we thought but we assumed it was genetics and as you were happy we left you to it. You hated the vets and weren't going unless you needed to.
And then came last Monday. That night, I honestly thought you wouldn't live out the night. You had blood by your mouth, more by your rear end... You were hunched and not acting quite right. We took you to the vets as soon as they opened the next morning and were told you were constipated. I was so relieved I spent the day calling you a "little terror" for scaring us so much. We treated you and did our best, the vet had said you may not be absorbing food properly and we knew that may mean there was no easy recovery. We kept a close eye on you, and helped keep you pain-free and happy. You seemed to get better... But unfortunately it looks like what was wrong had stayed wrong. You passed peacefully in your sleep, just after reaching 18 months of age.
Rest well, our lovely little Scruff-pot. We'll always remember you as our mad, scruffy little duster
Scruff
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