Our family is sad

[MINE!!]

Legolas.. our hamster is very sick... I thought he was going to pass away a few days ago... he is a strong little sucker and has held out. I have a case of the guilts.... If i has thought he was going to last this long I would have been more agressive. We only tried to keep him comfortable and warm. I tried to make him drink and provided soft food for him. But he has just plugged along. he is not eating.. I do not think he is drinkng... I JUST TODAY (see I am feeling guilty) have put some pedilyte in his water bottle. I am sooo sad. People like me I roll my eyes at... but I am a total sucker for my rodents... I am sad.. my girls are sad... we all are sad.. but most of all.. watching him suffer is sad. I do not want to wish for him t die.. but he is so weak... I want him to die so he will not have to struggle so hard anymore. I think I must point out that he is about 3 and a half or more years old.. which is a long life for a little one. But we are very very very sad here...

 

[MrsFrk]

Ohhhh. ((((((hugs)))))
That is a ripe old age for a hamster.
Y''know, weak does not=pain. Keep doing what you are doing, Legolas has lived the life of hamster royalty, I am sure.
I always had guinea pigs, and when they died it just broke my heart.

 

[AndyRosse]

Oh Mine, I am so sorry!

You and your family are doing the best that you can. Making him comfortable is the #1 priority.

If you are concerned about him being in pain, is it possible to bring him to a local small animal vet to have him humanely put to sleep? I know when my parakeet was sick, I spoke with my vet to make sure that if the time came, he would be able to take his pain away. Unfortunately (and thankfully at the same time) he passed away quietly on his own accord. But I felt better knowing that there was an alternative if the time ever came.

 

[Mara]

i agree with rascal, sometimes the most humane thing is to send them home...quality of life...it would be very hard to do of course but i could not stand to see my beloved pet in pain like that knowing there was only one end, assuming i had exhausted all avenues to keep her well of course. it may do your children good as well to not be watching the end come.

this may be a silly Q but are there vet''s for hamsters? if so, can you take him?

 

[Kaleigh]

Oh I''m so sorry. I had hamsters growing up. I did take one to the vet and he gave him some medicine which helped. Let us know how it goes. I''m sure it''s hard for your girls to watch this. Call your Vet tomorrow. Good luck.

 

[mrssalvo]

Oh MINE, i''m sorry. I know the pain of loosing a pet or sending one home all too well. We had a cocker spainal when I was growing up. We had to put send her home when I was 24 and I swore I would never own another dog because the pain was so great when the time comes to say goodbye

. I did however recover and now have Zoe

. Prayers and thoughts going your way.

 

[MINE!!]

My little man left us this morning. He was a good little boy.. we all loved him. People do not think that Hamsters can really have personality. When we would come home fot the day he would wake up and runover to the side of the cage and wait till we talked to him. If we didn;t he would chew on his bars until we paid attention. If we put tunnels on his cage he would sleep in his tunnels all day and would get FAT...LOL.. we would have to take them off so that he would get his little butt up and run on his wheel a little. He was loved on, kissed on and snuggled on... And in all the 3 and some years he was with us he NEVER bit... not even when I would flip him on his back and check to see if his little teeth were alright. I feel ike such a sucker.. but I really loved him a lot.

Yesterday we went to Michaels and bought him a little wooden box. We decorated it and my daughter chose little wooden things to glue on the box that represented us and Legolas. We have a soccer ball and a snowman. We have a little angel and a really nice one that says My Friend. Today we are going to line it with some of our favorite cloth...and put some sunflower seeds in there with him (they were his favorite). We are going to put him inside, close the cover and we bought a huge wooden heart to go on top.

We are moving (buying) to a new house In April.. and we don;t want to bury him here and leave him behind. So we are going to put the box in a plastic bag and into a tupperware container and put him in the storage area outside... so when we move we are going to take him with us and bury him in his own special place in his box.. in our backyard. Then we are going to plant a tree there, to celebrate him and our new home.

I suppose what makes this so difficult is kinda what he represents. We got Legolas at a time when we could not even afford to buy ourselves food, more less a hamster. But we did cause we needed to have something else to love and take care of. He was spoiled rotten too. We are finally in a time of our life (my daughters and I) when things are not rough... when we have made it through the rough spots, and we all... including my little rodent baby, made it through.. and it is only now that he was willing to leave. So he is like a passing of a time, but we will miss having him in our new time... It''s silly, I know.... But it is still hard and very very sad.

He was such a good baby...

This is hs "pre-diet" pictures.. LOL.. his fat moments...

 

[MINE!!]

And here he is... eating and getting fat...LOL...
I wish I had other good pictures... but these are all I have on the computer.

Thank you everyone for your kind words and thoughts... I was planning to take him to the vet today if he did not leave us last night.

 

[MINE!!]

oops forgot the picture..

 

[hlmr]

Hi Mine:

So sorry to hear about legolas! Sounds like he was well loved by you and your family.

My DH and I had budgies as our first "babies" and it was soooo hard to say goodbye.

Take care,

Heather

 

[blodthecat]

Sending hugs your way.

It is absolutely heart breaking when you lose a member of your family.

Blod

 

[AndyRosse]

Oh Mine, he was adorable! And your story about him brought tears to my eyes...

But I''m glad he is no longer in pain, and I am glad you and your daughters are making it through this tough time okay.

 

[AndyRosse]

Date: 2/19/2006 11:59:00 PM
Author: Mara
this may be a silly Q but are there vet''s for hamsters? if so, can you take him?

I asked Rascal''s vet that last year and to my surprise, he knew of a vet who specialized in hampsters, guinea pigs, etc. and small birds (i.e. parakeets). I called him up about trying to get an appointment for my sick parakeet, and he had a three week wait for non-emergencies he was so busy!

 

[Mara]

Sorry to hear about the passing, but at least he''s in a peaceful place now, MINE! My co-worker has mini-hamsters (I can''t recall their names) and she says they are great, loving pets, sometimes she brings them in so they can be with her in the office.

Rascal, good to know...learn something new every day...I had never thought about that before...aka a small animal vet!

Imagine how surprised I was to find a vet that specializes in animal dermatology (Westies have skin issues so I wanted to be prepared in case we ever had to take her in) local to us...I guess there are all kinds!

 

[princessv]

Aw your little hamster was so adorable!

Yes, there really are vets that specialize in small animals. I had a gerbil that I adored even though she was a little witch at times and would bite me. Anyway, she was suffering so after 2 1/2 years and I noticed she had a huge belly. She wouldn''t eat or drink or sleep. She would just sit in the corner and cower. I took her to the vet who did xrays on her and told me she had a huge tumor in her stomach and recommended to put the poor thing to sleep.

Btw it''s not cheap to have xrays done on a small animal..it was like $200 bucks? Ouch.

 

[movie zombie]

sorry to hear about Legolas, Mine.



movie zombie

 

[Kaleigh]

Oh I''m so sorry MINE. That''s very sad.

 

[Lorelei]

So sorry to hear of this Mine. I used to have a pet hamster and I adored him and cried buckets when he died. You did so well with him, over 3 years old is incredible for a hamster and a testament to the great care and love your family gave him. I believe the average lifespan is around 18 months. My vets are quite funny, most do mixed practise here but are terrified of hammys! I haven''t ever been bitten by one, have been bitten by a ferret though and that was very painful.

Sending best wishes to you and your family, he looked like a dear little chap, bless him.

 

[Libster]

MINE,
I''m sooo very sorry about your loss. I know how much animals mean to us. I can relate to him being a symbol of time for you and your girls. When my husband and I had to put our first dog to sleep I felt like I''d lost a part of our marriage as we got him 8 months into our marriage and then lost him 14 years later.

Hamsters are such adorable little things. I had one growing up and they do have such personalities.

Sounds like you and your girls gave Legolas a wonderful home and life.
(((hug)))
Libby

 

[MINE!!]

Thank you everyone for all your wonderful words of encouragement. We are doing better this evening. We were laughing about him over dinner tonight and ,y youngest daughter said "Tonight Legolas gets to run on his wheel with Lancelot (his brother....) and sleep all day with Jesus" She couldn''t have said a more perfect thing for all of us.

Thank you again everyone!!

 

[larussel03]

Hi MINE!

I know your pain, I too am a hamster owner and lover and it''s so hard to see them go! 3 and 1/2 years, that''s a really long life!! We usually keep dwarfs and they usually only last about a year and a half. Our last one went suddenly--he got really sick and in visibly terrible shape (I wont gross anyone out with the specifics) literally overnight. A nice vet my FI works with gave him a syringe to sort of OD the hamster on pain meds so that he''d go to sleep and pass on because the vet said there was nothing that could be done. It was so sad and hard for FI to put down his own pet, and it was hard for me knowing that the hamster was probably suffering all day before FI got home from work to do it.

At least you know that Legolas is no longer suffering, and I''m sure loved his long life with you and your family.

 

[crafftygrrl]

Mine,

I am sorry for your loss. I never had hamsters, but I had gerbils growing up.

Legolas was very cute.


(((((((((Hugs))))))))))

 

[Blue824]

Aww, Mine, I''m sorry! Pets, no matter how small, are hard to say goodbye to!
In college I took in a dwarf hamster since I wanted a pet, but not something big or high maintenance. She ended up getting tumors and I felt like such a fool, but I took her into the vet and even had her on antibiotics, hehe, along with other treatments she needed. I took her in to be put to sleep after there was one day I looked and new there''d never be anymore good days for her. (However, that was 7 months after her tumor got infected and 4 months longer than she should''ve lived in just a natural life, let alone so ill. We were shocked!) Funny thing, it was the worst pet ever, so mean, bit me all the time, but it was still hard to make that decision and to say goodbye. Someone can say, its just a hamster, but for me, taking in the free hamster still meant I had to do all I could to make sure her life was as pleasant as possible and you do get attached...sounds like you did everything you could for your hamster, and you shouldn''t feel guilty about anything! I think the way you''re burying him sounds sweet, and I''m sure your daughters appreciate being able to say goodbye and commemorate their pet.

 

[AmberWaves]

Mine, I am so sorry to hear about that, poor Legolas.

I had a hamster, too. My BF and I picked her out for my birthday in 2004 (November). She was so sweet, our little Smudge. (That was her name). When we brought our puppy home the following January, she had passed on, and we don''t even know from what.

I cried so hard over it. I don''t think that''s silly at all, and I really love your burial idea.

 

[selflove]

Oh I have tears in my eyes reading about your little box from MIchael''s and bringing him to your new house in April.

It''s never easy to lose a pet...they touch our hearts in such special ways...it''s devastating.

((((((((HUGS)))))))))))

 

[MissGotRocks]

Oh, I am so sorry for your loss. I know first hand how heartbreaking this can be. I am glad to hear that you and the girls are able to remember him fondly - sounds like he is still bringing smiles to your faces. How lucky he was to have been loved so much!