Goodbye Hammy

Our youngest granddaughter was born on our oldest granddaughter's sixth birthday. My son bought 6 yo a hamster on that day.

When my son and his young family went off to visit Debbie's parents in December Hammy stayed with me. I'd take him out of his cage every evening and I'd let him run around on the kitchen table for half an hour. I soon realised he loved my handbag and left it on the table for him to climb into and explore.

Last weekend I babysat my three grandchildren while John and Debbie took a group of men on a mountain hike. (you can read about their business and Debbie's lovely blog here), I checked on Hammy during the morning. His beautiful spacious cage with ladders, a house and a long tunnel which he loved, stood in my office. I was horrified to see that since the previous evening, when I'd had him out, Hammy had gone from a bright-eyed and bushy tailed little rodent to a stressed-looking hamster with crusted eyes and dull fur.

Together with the children helping, I gently cleaned his eyes with warm cotton wool and checked him over for injuries. I could find nothing and placed him back in the cage. We cut him two wheels of cucumber and a lettuce leaf: a great favourite of his. He nibbled on the cucumber so I left him thinking I'd take him out that evening.

This was not to be: when I opened his cage on Friday evening, Hammy was lying just inside his tunnel, cold and quite dead.

On Saturday morning early my granddaughter, grandson and I buried him in the flowerbed just beyond the large pond.

Goodbye dearest Hammy.

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