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Old 05-09-2021, 03:46 AM  
Pebbles82
Hamster Antics
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 23,533
Default Re: Our young hamster has died

Also hamsters need good loving homes. So many are just left ignored after a child loses interest. I realise though that she was your son’s hamster too and he may feel he wants to move on and have a different pet. There is no reason you can’t have both though. I truly believe that getting another hamster helps to prevent the grief becoming a trauma. We were all struggling with the loss of our first hamster- particularly me as I had fallen in love with him and done most of the care and he took a long time dying - I also had to have him pts. I ended up having counselling with the blue cross by email (they are absolutely brilliant). Some people get another hamster straight away. I couldn’t- it was too raw. But within a couple of months we did and the efffect was immediate. Our new baby hamster healed us - he made us laugh and he needed us to bring him up! Train him and give him a happy home. It was literally like a big black cloud had lifted abd the missing part on our family was there again. He was a completely different colour, I did a completely different cage set up mostly with new items and in a different location. In time some of the old items stopped being too painful and were given to our new hammy.

It also helps when you have had some kind of ceremony to say goodbye. A burial eg. I planted some flowers and put a bird table over the burial place. Some people do a pot burial in a large pot and plant something in it. There are also cremation services but they are expensive. That helps once you‘ve said goodbye. Going away for a few days also helps.

I read something once that explained the pain. That when you love and have a bond, you are attached by an invisible string that is attached to both your hearts. When your loved pet dies the string is broken and your string is left wavering about without an attachment and that leaves pain and something missing in your heart. But we have room in our hearts for more strings and more attachments and your string can grow into the heart of a new loved pet. It is never the same - it is different. But still special.
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