[Tazius]

Hi everybody,

First time coming to this section of the website. Sadly, we had to have our Syrian, Faolan, put to sleep today. Over the past few months, he had to develop a lump on his chest which we made the decision not to operate on due to his age in line with the vet's recommendation and chose to keep him comfortable. In the end, the lumps spread to his side, he couldn't walk properly and was just sleeping all the time. He couldn't hear or see anymore so we felt it was the kindest thing to put him to sleep.

He was just over 2 and a half years old so had a good life in a nice, big cage and lots of love. He had such a strong personality as well - always so confident and a little bit bolshy - which is why we picked him (and for his black colour!). As a baby he loved running in his wheel non-stop, and when we redesigned his cage as he grew older you could always hear him launching himself out of his Sputnik, onto his grass mat, and then down onto the floor! We've had him in the past 4 houses we've lived in and he was the reason we joined this forum. He taught us so much about hamsters and we tried to give him the best life possible. We even had him before we got our rescue dog, and they've certainly had an interesting little relationship with each other!

It's the first hamster I've ever had that has become ill and needed to be put to sleep so it was very hard, but we're glad he's not in any discomfort anymore. It'll be so weird without him but we're glad to have had such a nice time with him while he was alive.

Thank you so much for everyone's help throughout his life.