First things first: the last of my hamster went over the rainbow bridge sometimes in December.

When I noticed that there were blood droplets in Pinky’s bedding, I brought her to the vet. Turned out that, it’s none other than the evil tumor. For awhile, I thought that Pinky was doing fine. I guess with her age and her past illness, the lump from before did return and that tumor or cancer was inevitable. The vet was honest to me and said that her chances were not good, considering that in December 2010, she was almost 2.5 years old (quite old for a dwarf).

With a heavy heart, I decided that it was time for her to go.

I managed to get her paw prints. She’ll always be remembered as the runt who didn’t let that bother her at all.

The vet’s diagnosis was good and bad. Good in a sense that DH didn’t have cataracts, it was merely his eyelid that folded over his eye, giving that white cloudy look; bad in a sense that his overall condition was deteriorating because most likely he was old. The vet explained to me straightforwardly that it was almost DH’s time & that his body would eventually give up. What relieved me was knowing that DH was not in pain, but he was merely uncomfortable.

At the end, it was not easy for me to have DH put to sleep. As usual, I always wondered whether it was the better choice in comparison as to giving him another chance or letting him take his own time.

Here are some photos of my last moments with DH at the animal clinic:

DH was sleeping throughout the vet visit

His fur was always so soft

He is laid peacefully on this beautiful rolling hill where some of my hamsters are currently resting.

On a more positive note, I was surrounded by dogs during my 2-week vacation:

Walking alongside the Sg river & Tinky stopped by to smell the flowers (or another dog’s pee)

And we saw a monitor lizard bathing on the rocks

Joey getting older & becoming a sleepy head

Not to mention I also stopped by House of Chinchillas, a pet store specializing in chinchillas that is located in Serangoon! Even though it’s a small store, it houses lots of cute & fluffy chinchillas! To my surprise, these chinchillas (that were all born in the tiny island) are considerably smaller than the ones (of the same age) who are born in the US. According to the storekeeper, it’s because they don’t need all the excess fat to keep them warm because all they’ve known is the tropical weather. Well, that’s a logical explanation .. But when I ask her whether they are of pet or breeding quality, apparently they are all of pet quality. At least I now know where to buy chinchilla supplies as they stock Mazuri & chinchilla housings (& maybe more chinchillas hihihihi!).

When I returned to State-side, it’s good to see the chinchillas and the one & only hamster (Pinky) I have left are all healthy. More posts on them later

ps: sorry for the poor photos, they were all taken by my phone as my camera is too bulky to carry around.

On Friday, the 21st of May, I saw that Joy would not stop running around in circles (warning: I find this video rather disturbing & you may too). I couldn’t see the vet until the following Monday. Throughout the weekend, I know it was a struggle for Joy to get around in her cage, not being able to control her movements & everything. I had to make sure she was eating & drinking, I occasionally syringe-fed her with water because I could tell she was losing weight.

On Monday when I finally saw the vet, the vet explained that the tumor that was previously removed from Joy’s tummy most likely came back & it had spread to her brain, causing her to experience vertigo. At that point, the vet recommended putting her to sleep as Joy would eventually die from wasting her life away, not being able to eat & die a slow, painful death. I really wanted to give her a second chance, so the vet said that there’s another possibility as to why Joy was running in circles: a bacterial infection. There was no way to test whether Joy had cancer or a bacterial infection, because to test for that would require a blood sample & having blood drawn from such a small creature would be deadly. Joy was prescribed with Enrofloxacin (0.05 ml for twice a day) & the vet told me that I should see an improvement within a couple of days (no improvement means that her illness was definitely cancer).

Unfortunately, Joy passed away in her sleep on Tuesday, the very next day after the vet visit. I guess the cancer has progressed too far & the fact that she was getting older also didn’t help.

It’s really sad to see that most of my hamsters pass away because of cancer. Yes, I know that by purchasing some of my hamsters from the petstores, I have contributed to the inbreeding of hamsters because of consumer demand. I know better now & I don’t want to repeat my mistakes; seeing these hamsters in pain while in your care is not fun, nor it is fun for the hamsters to die this way.

Joy sleeping in the digging tower

Joy in her glory days, while still sharing a cage with her sisters & still fat

I started with 4 Roborovski hamsters, now I don’t have any more Robos I’m very sure that it’ll be awhile before I bring home another Robo hamster.

I noticed that a couple of months before Almond left forever, the fur around her legs were almost gone, exposing her skinny legs. I knew that she was getting older, but I expected that Roborovski hamsters could live up to 3 years of age. Besides, Almond was still super active, running on her wheel all night like. My other Roborovskis passed away early because of illnesses, so I was hoping that Almond could make it until she’s at least 3 years old. Almond was brought home in May of 2008, so she was a little over 2 years of age when her body gave in.

In general, Roborovski hamsters are super timid, but Almond was the one who was not scared to sit on the palm of my hand; Almond wouldn’t run away when I tried to pick her up, nor would she jump off when I held her. I rarely blog about Almond, but she’s one silly girly who happens to not be camera shy:

Almond scratching herself

Peacefully sleeping

Almond tired herself out & fell asleep on the wheel

I had her body cremated. This time around, I went to another funeral home because I personally don’t like the funeral director at the funeral home I was previously a patron of. Of course I had to have her paw prints done.

The poem reads:

I know that it must be different, now that I am no longer here.

I realize how much I was loved, and how all of you did care.

I know it will be hard at first, when you look around for me.

Expecting to find me in my bed, or beside my favorite tree.

Some days you will begin to see, although it’ll take some time.

The happy times you shared with me, the memories are yours and mine.

I’ll remember you my family, and how much you meant to me.

So please don’t grieve and be sad, it was just my time to leave.

Author unknown~

I started with 4 Roborovski hamsters, I can’t believe now I’m down to 1, Joy (who just underwent surgery, more on that later). The place is quiet without the sound of Almond’s wheel ….

My 2009 didn’t end so well. On 31st of December morning, I found Kat lying outside of her nest. Her body was already cold & stiff. I saw that this time there was much more bleeding & that could be the cause of her death. I called the same funeral service that had cremated Baby Hamster & Brain & they were nice enough to pick Kat’s body up from my place that very same day. I wish that Kat could have held out a little bit longer & celebrate 2010 with me. But considering her condition, she held out long enough.

Sadly, I came home only to find out that Baby Hamster had passed away in his sleep. Even though my animals were left in the care of someone I trusted, I just kept thinking that maybe I could’ve comforted him during his last moments, and the fact that I went away makes me feel that I was the wrongdoer.

I brought his body to the only pet cemetery around here and the funeral director was very understanding and kind. He understands that there’s a different type of pet for everyone, not just the traditional ones (i.e. cats & dogs). Baby Hamster and Daddy Hamster were the first hamsters I’ve ever owned and I think that they, especially Baby Hamster, will set the standard for all other hamsters I own in the future. Baby Hamster is one (Daddy Hamster being the other) of the softest, cuddliest, & friendliest hamsters of mine. Despite his old age (I originally thought he was about 1 year & 8-9 months, but his sudden death made me suspect that he’s older than that), he still loved to run around & can tackle my whole apartment if I ever let him. His love for freedom is apparent on the many scratches found on his Habitrail cage; if he wanted to be let out, he’d let me know by scratching endlessly on his plastic cage.

The funeral director was sweet enough to have this done for me:

It’s BH’s paw prints on clay. I think that I will have this done to all my hamsters from now on while they’re still around.

The decision wasn’t easy for me to make; I had sometime to think about it & I hope that it’s the best decision for her.

This past Friday night, I discovered that some of the bedding in Brain’s cage was red. She was bleeding again. This time, it was worse because part of her intestine was sticking out, too. This happened during the weekend when the vet clinic was closed & all I could do was syringe feed her & hope that she would last until Monday to see the vet. She stopped bleeding after a night, but she still wasn’t herself — she was very lethargic & stayed in her house throughout the weekend, which wasn’t normal at all.

I finally got an appointment with the senior vet, not the vet who diagnosed Brain last time. The senior vet agrees with the previous diagnosis that the lump is cancer. The reason why the intestine prolapsed is because Brain’s reproductive system has been strained. Even if the intestine was put back in, that’s not the underlying problem. In the classes that he teaches, the vet uses hamsters of all stages of life to study cancer & he explains that the chance of Brain’s cancer to come back is high even after it’s been removed. Not being able to see her anatomy, he suspected that the cancer was either in the urinary tract or in the reproductive system, since both empty out through the urethra where the blood was coming out from. I didn’t want to surgery performed on Brain to remove the cancer if the cancer was going to come back, unnecessarily forcing Brain to undergo repeated procedures. The vet mentioned that Brain’s hunchback meant that she was in pain. After hearing all the options, I didn’t immediately decide for euthanasia. The more I weighed the options, the more conflicted I became, especially not knowing how Brain truly felt.

She will be cremated and her ashes will be spread onto a local pet cemetery ground. I think I will visit it next week.