I know this is daft, but I think I'm maybe feeling a little sensitive after thinking my hamster had died/was dying this morning...
He was all cold and curled up in his bed. I called my mum and told her that Oscar may have died. He's been acting a little strange for the past week or so, we've sort of been preparing ourselves and accepting that hamsters don't live forever, but still... I was lifting him out of his nest and my mum was almost in tears. My sister poked her head around the door, asked my mum why she was nearly crying and then came out with that brilliant line of: 'what are you getting so upset for? It's just a hamster'.
I don't even think she meant it... Well, not entirely. She likes him a lot. I know that she can't always understand how much I love my animals, though. And it just seemed like a totally unfair thing to say.
I really, really hate when people have that attitude towards ANY pet, though. It annoys me doubly in the case of anything like a hamster or smaller, shorter lived pet. They're never 'just' anything. It just seemed so thoughtless and it's made me feel mad all day.
... anyone else ever had this happen?