One of my hamsters passed away this morning... I only found out about it when I was waken by my mum, dad and brother's loud voice at 6plus in the morning. Now I am left with 1 hamster. I am worried that Rafa will feel so lonely now that her younger sister is no longer there in the tank next to her. Today, whenever I went to take a look at Rafa, I will wonder if she knows that her companion is no longer around.
Remember that I blogged about one of my hamsters was sick? Actually this one which passed away is the other younger and healthier one... Unfortunately, while my first sick hamster (named Rafa, name also given by my brother) was about to recovere, my healthier hamster Nadal begun to lose abit of weight, dropped fur, started to itch all over as we noticed that she scratched alot... and also started to eat and drink lesser and lesser. 2 days ago, I saw some orange-coloured discharge on the bedding but my mum and I was unable to determine where the discharge came from. Only till last night my mum told me that she observed that Nadal has not been eating her food and seems to have difficulty stretching to drink the water from her water bottle tube... so my mum held her up to examine and realized that her under part of the body around the neck and mouth area was very red.
I told my mum and brother to bring it to the vet on the next day which is today and they agreed to do so. After examining Nadal, my mum put her back into her tank and she seems tired... she sat at one corner of the tank and rested quietly as usual but this time she looked very lethargic. For every few small steps or movement she took, she will then stop to breathe hard and then remain at that spot for some time.
I thought she was just tired and sleepy so I switched off the balcony light so that both my hamsters could rest. After I was waken up this morning, my mum told me that Nadal is dead... I did not believe and immediately went to take a look at the sick hamster, I rather think that it was sleeping... but my mum then told me look at her breathing... She was right, Nadal is no longer breathing... Immediately, I cried.
I feel so sad whenever I see the empty tank now.
But my mum said it is better for the hamster to die peacefully then to suffer in pain. I do agree but I miss my hamster's presence. I feel weird seeing only 1 hamster now.
My mum then picked up Nadal and placed her in a small plastic box together with her favourite bathing sand and cottonwool. She said Nadal's body did not feel as harden like it has died for few hours, which means she had just passed away not long ago. To represent something from me, I also added in a star pellet into the box, placing it just beside Nadal's head. This star pellet is actually the last item that I gave to her in her food tray last night but I guessed her mouth was too painful to eat it. After that my mum and brother then brought the box downstairs and buried her under one of the trees.
R.I.P.
My Family's Beloved Younger Hamster (Jan 2007 - 9 May 2008)
We miss you...
And my mum kept talking to Rafa - telling her that her sister has passed away... Hearing that makes me feel like crying everytime.
P/S: Apologies to all Rafael Nadal's fans... Unfortunately, my brother calls my female hamsters after Nadal's name, so I'm sorry if Nadal's fans feel offended by this... Weird I know... I think initially my brother just calls them that for fun but eventually, we just ended up using Nadal's first and second name to identify each of my hamsters. =p
