opatennant

This morning I buried my little furry friend Hami who died an unexpected and
tragically unnecessary death. I made a nice little sanctuary for him under a
tree in my garden and planted a moss rose on top of his grave, which I then
watered with my tears. It was the last flower in my garden, one that had hung
on long after the others had died, just as Hami had hung on to life so
valiantly for ten days after the horrible accident occurred. In fact, on the
last day of his life, when I knew he was going to die, he clung to me tightly
that night as I held him against my chest, my hand cupped around his cold,
emaciated little body, his little forepaws clinging to my index finger and his
head resting against the warmth of my fleece pullover. I could feel his little
heart beating against mine and the slow measured rise and fall of his labored
breathing. I cried like a baby, like a little kid who had lost his first pet,
cried the whole night as I held him close, so that he would not be alone when
he died.

I have had many pets throughout my life but Hami was my very first hamster and
he will always have a very special place in my heart. I never imagined that I
could grow to love such a tiny little creature so much, but I loved that little
guy with all my heart. We were so closely bonded that he became the whole world
to me, lifted me up whenever I was down and put my life back into perspective
whenever the outside world became so ugly and overwhelming, thanks to man's
inhumanity to his fellow man and to other living creatures, as has largely
become the case these days. Hami was always there to greet meet when I came
home and was so full of life, curiosity, and playfulness. I miss him so
terribly much now. I know that I will give another little hammie a home soon,
but not right now, not until this huge hole that my very first little Hami left
in my heart heals over.

Hami had a very short life. He lived for only ten months, but at least I know
that he had a good life with me. I gave him all the love I had and spoiled the
little guy rotten. He literally had every creature comfort imaginable and
enjoyed them all. But most of all, he loved it when I took him out of his cage
and let him ride around with me on my shoulder or in a small pouch that I wore
slung over my chest and hip. At other times he would sit washing himself
meticulously in my lap (an activity I never tired of watching with the greatest
pleasure and amu*****t) or would just lie contentedly in my lap, looking up at
me with those bright, curious, and beautiful eyes of his. Sometimes, he would
even climb all the way up my chest and then, stretching full length, would
reach up to touch my nose with his, as though to let me know how much he liked
me.

Then there was his favorite time of all, his nightcap, as it were, when I would
take him out to the kitchen and let him choose his bedtime treat from an
assortment of goodies that I would lay out on the counter: a piece of cheese,
an apple, a piece of veggie, or a small piece of cake or bread. He knew that he
was only allowed to have one and used to make a game of it. He would choose
something, then I would start to reach for the remaining items, at which point
he would drop the first item and make a dive for one of the other treats. That
would go on for quite a while, until he tired of the game and chose his
favorite for that evening. To tell the truth, I would have let him have all of
them, had it not posed a danger to his health. As it was, I already violated
the rule stated in all of the hamster care books, namely, to give them a
special treat only once or twice a week.

In closing, I want to post a WORD OF WARNING to all of you hamster lovers out
there. Hami died from a terrible accident and I don't ever want to lose another
hamster that way or for anyone else to either. I had him out of his cage one
night, letting him run free on my desk, on which I had a paper towel, a Viva
towel, to be more precise. Before I knew what had happened, Hami had grabbed it
and was halfway through ingesting it. I tried to wrest the towel away from him
but was only able to get about a third of it, as he was determined to have that
nice soft towel to line his nest with apparently and had already pouched or
eaten nearly two-thirds of it. I was terrified because I knew that those towels
can be deadly if ingested.

Anyway, the next morning I knew that it was all over for Hami, although I hoped
against hope that he would be able to survive the incident. But then when he
strenuously attempted to defecate, nothing would come out. It was obvious that
his little intestinal track was completely blocked. Moreover, the paper was
apparently absorbing all of his moisture content as well, because he began to
consume vast quantities of water. Had it not been for the fact that he had been
an extremely healthy and active little guy before, with lots of body fat, he
probably would not have survived for more than 2-3 days at most. As it was, he
survived for ten days as I watched him slowly waste away before my very eyes.
Fortunately though, he did not appear to be in pain or suffering and took
solace in my efforts to comfort him as much as possible, so he did die a
peaceful death.

In short, the message I wish to pass on to you is to NEVER use paper towels,
especially the more expensive brands, for bedding, NOR leave them lying around
where your hamster can accidentally ingest it. For bedding material I use soft
toilet paper, which Hami loved and which is safe, since it is biodegradable.
Viva towels are definitely NOT biodegradable, nor are many of those so-called
bedding materials sold in the pet stores.

May Hami sleep forever peacefully in his new nest in the ground that I prepared
for him, where he now lies wrapped in his favorite hand towel inside a little
wooden box.

To see a photo of Hami, click on the following website:

http://community.webshots.com/photo/123294826/124555037twsrNC

Krisztina


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Sometimes it's the smallest things in life that have the greatest impact
on our soul..
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villager45

I'm so sorry for your loss.
My heart really goes out to you especially after seeing the picture of him.
We have lost three hamsters in the past year and we loved each one of them.
We currently have 7 in residents here plus my nieces' who is on holiday with
us at the moment and every little one is loved so much.

When you do decide to get another try getting one totally different from
Hammi which is what my niece did when her first one died.

My thoughts are with you during this sad time Kate************xx

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globalconcerns

Thank you so much, Kate. It is comforting to know that there are some people at
least who understand how I feel and why Hami's death had such an strong effect
on me. My friends all think that I am a bit batty for reacting so strongly to
the death of what they perceived to be such an inconsequential little creature,
and a rodent at that.

Even when Hami was alive, most of my friends used to wrinkle their nose in
disgust, even shudder sometimes, at the sight of me holding Hami, and would
tease me about it, saying that hamsters are a children's pet, something which I
do not agree with. In fact, I would be very apprehensive about letting a young
child have a hamster unless I was absolutely certain that (s)he knew how to
care for it properly and would not tease or torment it, as children can
sometimes be very negligent or cruel with small creatures.

As for your advice regarding the next hammie I give a home, I think you are
right. It would definitely be better to get one that is very different in
appearance from Hami, because getting one that looked like him would only make
me feel his loss all the more. In fact, I may get a little panda bear hamster,
as they are adorable and are also long-haired and, thus, hopefully, have a
personality similar to that of Golden Syrians.

However, I know that, when the time does come for me to choose another little
hammie, it will be the first one who touches my heart, no matter what he looks
like. In fact, before I bought Hami, I had more or less made up my mind to buy
a black hamster or a panda bear one. Then I peered into a cage that held six
little Syrian pups, one of which was a beautiful black one. But instead of
merely choosing that one, I picked them all up one by one, and it turned out
that the homeliest little guy of the whole litter decided that HE was the one
who was going to go home with me. In short, he adopted ME. There was no doubt
about it: it was love at first bite! Actually, it was not a real bite, just a
little love nip because, when we got home, contrary to what most people advise,
I held him and talked to him right away instead of putting him straight into
his cage and leaving him for 2-3 days to get used to his surroundings, and we
bonded immediately. In fact, that photo you saw was taken only a couple of days later :-)


Again, thank you so very much, Kate, for your kind and comforting words. Krisztina


~~FAR AWAY IS NEAR AT HAND IN IMAGES OF ELSEWHERE~~

katgrrrrl99

I'm genuinely sorry you lost your furry friend.....


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vincent 6/27/01
Dorothy 6/4/03

" An oppressive government is fiercer and more feared than a tiger."- Confucius


- Remove Ranma to reply to my E-mail

opatennant

katgrrrrl99@aol.comranma (KatGrrrrl99)


Thanks, Kat. I thought I would be able to handle his loss much more easily than
I have, but I guess it was the unexpected nature of the whole thing that really
did me in, since I had taken such good care of him and he was so healthy,
happy, and active. I guess I felt cheated by the injustice of it all. Had he
lived a full life span, I don't think it would have had such a devastating
effect on me.

I finally learned my lesson though, in that the world outside a hamster's cage
is a very dangerous one and that one has to keep one's eye on them every minute
to make sure that they come to no harm.

In fact, one time Hami escaped from his roller ball and I didn't know it, as I
was out in the kitchen and had left him rolling merrily about in the living
room. All of a sudden I realized that things had become very quiet. I went out
to see if he wanted out of the ball, only to see him sitting in the middle of
the living room and no ball anywhere in sight. My heart sunk to my stomach, as
I feared that he might run and hide from me, waiting for the chance to escape
to the outside world or into some recess where I would not be able to find him.
But to my astonishment, when I walked over to him, he raised up on his hind
legs and allowed me to pick him up! I was so happy that I rushed out to the
kitchen with him and gave him a special treat right then and there. Anyway, I
should have learned even then never to let him out of my sight for even a few
secs while he was out of his cage.

Krisztina (aka Krissie-kat)

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Sometimes it's the smallest things in life that have the greatest impact
on our soul..
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opatennant

Hi, Kate!

I just noticed that I replied to your original message to me using a different
screen name. Sorry about that. I use this screen name normally for posting in
NGs and that other screen name for my work.

Today I cleaned all of Hami's things thoroughly and put them away, including
all those special little toys I had bought for him, which, of course, made me
burst into tears all over again. The house seems so empty now without him :'-(

Krisztina

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Sometimes it's the smallest things in life that have the greatest impact
on our soul..
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stephmond

Krisztina:
I'm very sorry for your loss. Your Hami was very special. I
fully understand your feelings. I, too, am an adult and I have fallen
in love with my daughter's hamster. Our Hammy, a syrian, is her first
pet. (According to her, her fish don't count because she can't pet
them.) Like you, never in a million years did I think I would ever
adore a rodent (much less touch one), but every night my daughter and
I never tire of watching Hammy. We happily sit at length just to
watch him groom, drink water, build his nest, run on his wheel,
pouch/unpouch food, and even sleep!
Your next hamster will definitely be one lucky hamster to have
you for you care very deeply. Thank you for sharing your touching
story with us.
Stephanie

opatennant

Yes, it's truly fascinating to watch those energetic and fastidious little
creatures. I really loved to watch Hammie groom himself. especially when he
scrubbed behind his ears. Wish I had gotten a pic of him doing that. And he was
at his most adorable when he raised up on his haunches and held his forepaws up
towards me, indicating that he wanted me to pick him up.


Tthank you, Stephanie, for your kind comments. The pain of losing Hami is
beginning to ease a bit now, and I am beginning to entertain thoughts now of
giving a new little guy home for Christmas.

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Sometimes it's the smallest things in life that have the greatest impact
on our soul..
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mihosweeti

FYI, the panda bear is just the same as any other Syrian, just with different
colors. I believe these are the black banded Syrians. They come in both the
short haired and long haired variety


christine miho
http://community.webshots.com/user/miho176
http://community.webshots.com/user/hamsterhaven

globalconcerns

Thanks! :- )

Actually, I am very tempted to get another golden one that looks like Hami, but
somehow that would seem disrespectful to Hami. Besides, having one that looked
like him but was different would probably make me miss him all the more.

Krisz

~~FAR AWAY IS NEAR AT HAND IN IMAGES OF ELSEWHERE~~