I can't believe I'm writing this. Fluffy hamster left us tonight. I found her at 9pm lying in her favourite corner, next to her wheel. She liked to sit there looking out of her cage while waiting for me to come and see her. She looked very peaceful. I stroked her lovely soft fur and told her I loved her. She can't have been there long as I'd been in and out of the room all day. I wish I'd been there when she woke up so I could have had a few more minutes with her.
We don't know for sure how old Fluffy was. She was a rescue hamster that came to live with us on 22nd August last year. She was so pretty with big ears and a little foxy face and when we first saw her she was trying to climb up her water bottle to escape. We thought she might already be an adult as she was already big but she continued to grow for another couple of months so I'm estimating she was 4 months old when she came to stay. I based that on hamsters stopping growing at 6 months old, but I'm not sure if that's true or not.
She lived with us for 1 year 1 month and 2 days and I've loved everyone of them. I've lost so much sleep staying up to play with her but I've not minded that at all. In the last few months she had slowed down a lot. She was only awake for an hour or two each night and she didn't ask to come out to play every night. She could no longer climb the stairs. It was amazing to watch her do that. She to get to the top of the stairs in less than a minute and then she'd like me to take her back down to the hallway so she could do it again. Her record was 7 climbs in one night. She didn't ask to come out to play every night either
I have so many wonderful memories of Fluffy. She loved me to carry her around the house so she could see all the rooms. She would tell me where she wanted to go. Until June this year she lived upstairs in the study. She moved downstairs when the weather became to hot. We made the room hamster proof (which took a lot of defences including blocking up the bottom of the radiator as she was a very determined hamster) so she could run about on the floor. She was so inquisitive and wanted to touch everything. When she wanted to leave the room she would run to the door and chew at the carpet until I picked her up and open the door. Then we'd go on a tour of the house. If she didn't want to go into a particular room she would turn around in my hands and try to walk away. If she did want to go in her ears would prick up and her nose would twitch and she looked so excited. She liked to run on the landing and the hallway, and on all of the beds and the dining room sofa.
We tried to introduce her to a hamster ball when we first got her but she was terrified of it but about 6 months ago she walked into an open hamster ball that was lying on the floor and since then her playtimes were a mix of free running and playing in the ball which meant she could play in the rooms that weren't safe for free ranging.
I knew she was feeling her age since she was sleeping more and more but she never lost her inquisitiveness and playfulness. I've been making the most of every minute I had with her. I even bought a baby monitor so I would know as soon as she woke up.
Last night we had a fantastic playtime which started out with her playing on the sofa in the lounge. She's not done that before but my husband and a friend were sitting on the sofa watching a film so I let her play on the sofa with them while I got her toys out in the hallway. She loved it so much. Then she had a play in her hamster ball and explored the whole downstairs of the house. We followed that up with free ranging in the hallway and her playcage which sits in the hall. She had a good run in the wheel and then a nap, before collecting up the food that I scattered in her playcage. Her playtimes always finished like that. She loved to be fed while she was out to play. When her pouches are full she trotted over to me and asked to go home by standing on her back legs and reaching up to touch my leg, so I scooped her up and gave her a cuddle and told her I loved her and popped her back in her cage.
It was a perfect playtime and I'm so pleased she was able to play in a new room. Maybe she thought it was ok to leave us now she had conquered all of the rooms in our house. I'm pleased that she had such a peaceful end and she stayed happy, healthy, active and inquisitive right to the end of her life. I wish so much that she was still here. She would be almost ready to come out to play now. For the last year I've spent 1 to 3 hours a night playing with her and she has left a huge hole. I still can't believe she's gone.
I love you Fluffy hamster. Thank you for sharing your life with me. You were a wonderful friend and I will never forget you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Goodbye Fluffy. I will miss you forever.
sleep well, pretty angel! *hugs!*
Every day it made me so happy seeing her waiting by the door of her cage to come out to play. In the last couple of weeks that had been enough for her and she would go straight back to sleep after her playtime and cuddles.
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