Hmm.. I don't know where to start.
Let me introduce Almond first.
This is Almond.
Almond was adopted on March 11, 2015.
She was a sick little hammy in a pet shop, so no one wanted her for over 5 months.
I was sick and tired of my life back in the day when I was in college, so I decided to adopt a hamster, hoping it to brighten my life.
I found her lying without strength in a little corner of the tiny acrylic cage.
When I saw her, I thought I had to take her or she will be abandoned.
This one little sensitive hamster, that couldn't even open a sunflower seed, grew up bigger and bigger
(Please turn on the CC to see the English sub. and also for the other videos below)
and she became an almighty warrior with so much endurance and amazing jump ability lol.
Since she was so weak at the first place, I had to watch her health more carefully than other hamsters I had.
I was so proud of her when she finally became super healthy.
Whenever she was in a hamster ball, she followed me everywhere.
She always listened to me.
I could tell that she really loved me so much
and we lived together happily.
However, we had to face the misfortune all of a sudden....
Like, really, all of a sudden...
During the super hot summer time in 2016,
Almond's health got worse in such a short time...
She was eating and running around last night,
but she woke up every 5 min during her sleep time.
She couldn't have a deep sleep anymore.
I realized it's not just that she was being sensitive to the hot weather.
But I couldn't take her to the hospital right away...
Hamsters can get stressed out easily and that can threat their lives.
I was so worried that she would get so much stress if I take her out since she's super sensitive
She didn't even know that she was being carried around because she was so sick :''(
I had to take the emergency service because the hospital didn't let me make an appointment for the next 3days...
She was in a terrible condition.. and had to go see a vet asap...
My baby was dying...I didn't care about the extra money for emergency service :''''(
The vet and her assistance treated Almond in a bad way because they were afraid of being bitten... =_=
I told them several times that she's super nice and never bites people, but they got so scared every time when Almond gets scared of their hands >:'l
They said they couldn't recognize anything from the x-ray because her body is so tiny.
But they told me there's a high chance that she got a pneumonia or congestive heart failure....
Pneumonia and congestive heart failure are deadly diseases to hamsters...
It's almost impossible to be treated...
They said it costs $600 for one night hospitalization...
$400 for emergency service didn't look that big,
but extra $600, total $1000, was too much for me as a student who got no money at all...
I felt like the world was coming to the end.....
There was no choice for me... I had to just bring her back and take care of her on my own....
I hated myself and cried so much..
I was a bad owner who couldn't afford $1000 for Almond who was being suffered by so much pain.. :'''(((
I had to give her two medicines every day..
I also had to give her eye drop because she couldn't open her eyes since she stopped grooming herself...
She hated the medicine so much...
This is the video I recorded a couple days later after visiting Vet..
She was still sick...
She didn't have strength...
But she still got excited to see me...
It was the last day ever she welcomed me with joy...
I'm pretty sure she was super hungry because she couldn't eat anything due to the respiratory,,,,,,,,,,
But in the video, she stopped eating just to greet me :''''(((
She wanted my attention so badly
so jumped around with all her strength....:''''(
I thought she's getting better and the illness was gone...
I was happy....
About two weeks after getting an emergency service,
I found her lying on the floor, breathing heavily.
Some strange smell was coming out from her body also.
I had to take her to the vet again right away.
The doctor I met this time was super nice and gently took care of Almond.
After few minutes of examination, the vet spoke to me with a serious face.
He told me that I need to get ready to let her go...
I asked him several times if there's any way she could survive from this illness.
I didn't want to let her go
As soon as he said that she won't be able to make it,
so much tear came out from my eyes for about 30min :''''(
I left the examination room and went to the front desk to pay the bill.
This one guy who brought a cat with him slowly approached to me and said
"Hey, what you got there in the little box??"
He looked at Almond and then started laughing at me saying
"Ahahaha A hamster? You really came here just for that thing?"
WTF?
What's wrong with it?? What's so funny about?
How could you say such a bs if you are also a pet owner?
She's tiny, but that doesn't mean she has no right to be treated by a vet when she's sick.
Almond has such a small body, but she was very smart and nice girl.
She was literally a dog with hamster body.
To me, Almond was my pet and also a friend of mine.
She deserves to live longer and be healthier.... :'''(
This video was taken after meeting the nice vet.
I hated myself so much when I was looking at Almond.. :'''(
I failed to be an ownder
I let her get sick :'''(
I couldn't let her stay at the hospital because I was too poor :''''(
I wasn't encouraged to ask the vet for euthanasia although I was watching her dying in pain :'''''(
I was so sad :'''''''''(
All I could do was give her medicine, place fresh food next to her, and just watch her :''''''''''(
(This video contains a little part of Almond's dead body in the beginning.. Just letting you know because I don't want you to feel uncomfortable seeing it. I wanted to have everything recorded even at the last moment...)
She went across the rainbow bridge 3 days after visiting the vet....
I had to work for the whole day, so i couldn't see her leaving...
My mom told me that there was a weird sound came out from the cage. Some loud teeth clicking sound, she said.
When she checked up on the cage, she saw Almond was opening her mouth wide with so much pain.
And when she called Almond's name, she staggered to my mom.
She tried to walk out from her little house to approach to her, but she couldn't make it :'''(
:''''''''''(
Omg im crying again :''''''(
I couldn't stay beside her even at the last moment :''''(
I was gonna clean her body with a warm damp towel and give her medicine after work :''''''(
The day when Almond passed away, I asked my bf to look for a crematorium over night,
and we took her body to the pet crematorium the next morning.
I left home at 7am as soon as the crematorium opens to take Almond there.
I was wondering around outside all day and came back home at 1am at night.
I didn't want to go home because her empty cage would make me all depressed and sad all day long..:''''(
And she came back home 2 days later...