Peter was my first hamster. He was, I like to think, my soul mate. We had something special. When he was young, he ran EVERYWHERE and at the speed of a bullet-train. The first few weeks, we had a blast.
Then time passed and I lost interest a little. He was in this pathetic, tiny little Petsmart starter cage. The bottom is plastic, so it made for easy cleaning, but plastic absorbs odor and so the cage really started to smell. As he got older, he began to chew on the barred door. He wore the paint down. I didn’t like that he was eating paint, so I decided to maybe look into buying a new cage. But like I said, I had lost interest. For maybe a month I avoided him, just feeding him when necessary and making sure he was still alive.
But then we started to become friends. I would open the door to put food in, and he would crawl out onto the door. He was a skydiver, that one, and he LOVED to jump. Especially when he wasn’t supposed to. He jumped off of my chest of drawers one time and landed on the carpet. He actually BOUNCED. I was just trying to get his food bowl out of the cage! He was a maniac. (But cute.)
Peter was a Winter White Dwarf hamster, so I decided to get him in winter, when their coat is white. Then I would be surprised when his color came back. And I was surprised, alright. Because he stayed white. His natural color was white. That frustrated me a little, but I also had a good laugh over it. I got him in winter to be surprised, did I not? He showed no signs of being achromatic (or “albino”), and he seemed exactly as the others. Black eyes, pink ears, and pink little feet. (His tail was a little white nub and it was just the cutest thing…)
We had a good run of time, I think it was at least two-and-a-half years. He was very active and although I tried very hard to train him, he couldn’t resist nibbling on me every time my skin was accessible. He rarely went potty outside of his cage, though, which was definately a plus.
Eventually I got him a new cage; a ten-gallon aquarium tank with a wire lid from Walmart. I also purchased extra fluff for backup, a new wheel, a waterbottle with a stand, a new hut, and toys. He. Went. Wild. I definately recommend glass aquariums for hamsters because 1) it is much harder to climb the walls and escape. 2) They are very inexpensive and don’t soak up odors, so won’t likely need to be replaced. 3) They allow a little extra room for your critters and 4), when they bury themselves in fluff, they often dig to the bottom. Which means… IF YOU LIFT UP THE TANK, THEIR FLUFFY LITTLE BUNS ARE SQUISHED AGAINST THE GLASS. It is the CUTEST THING EVER.
I’ve owned a lot of pets in my time alive, but hamsters will always hold a place in my heart.
And all because of a hamster named Peter.
Now, You may be thinking, “He sounds like a normal hamster to me. He ran around, he had a cute fluffy lil butt, had an average lifespan, and then died. So what?”
Let me tell you what was so special about him. I have never, EVER had an animal touch me the way he did. When he got old, he stopped exercising so much. He still ate a lot, and his favorite treats were sunflower seeds. I’ll go right out and say it, I wasn’t a good owner. I didn’t do as much research as I should have. I didn’t know that hamsters need fresh food every day. I didn’t know that a tiny 10-gallon tank wasn’t enough. I didn’t know that hamsters could get SO FAT. Like, he was obese on a GOOD DAY. He was SO. FAT. y’all. Near the end, he calmed down a tiny bit. He HATED taking his medicine, which I had to give twice a day orally. He would twist and squirm and try to push the bottle away, and I would cry a lot because I hated doing it to him. Eventually it got really bad. I was always finding him flipped over on his back in his cage, and I panicked because I thought he couldn’t turn over. Then I discovered that he was on his back because he had a tumor growing on his leg. It hurt too much to lay on his belly. He was the sweetest thing, but he was also in a lot of pain and neither of us knew what to do. I’d taken him to my friend, who’s a vet, and we had come out with meds and good-luck wishes. But nothing was helping. He also had a tumor below his chin for a little bit, but it was very small and ended up falling off with the medication. It wasn’t long then.
I had him in my lap and he was waving his little arms at me, going nuts because he couldn’t really walk. I cried for a long time that night, because for a long time Peter was the only one who was never-failingly there for me. The only one that I could trust with any secret, no matter how big. He was a great listener. It broke my heart at the thought of losing him. My dad even woke up to sit with me for a while. He reminded me that Peter wasn’t only in my care, but in God’s. That was a very hard night, but a miracle happened. For the first time ever, Peter fell asleep. Right there in my lap, vulnerable and weak, he fell asleep. I kept telling my dad that I was so scared he was going to die, but dad said that it was all in God’s timing and Peter wasn’t allowed to go anywhere until Jesus came to get him. (I’m not sorry if you believe differently then me, but I’m not trying to offend. Jesus is a part of my story as well as Peter’s. A big part. It would be criminal not to include Him.)
I think it was only a few days later that we realized it was time. Peter had been suffering for a long time, and it had taken me far too long to see it. All those days that Peter would nibble on seeds while hanging out in my hoodie pocket, all those days catching him when he skydived off my bed, all those days I fed him treats and watched him close his eyes in contentment… all the good days… they had all led up to that bad day. It’s been a while now, but still I’m shaking just writing about it. My dad drove us to our vet. Since we are friends with the Doc and dad had called to let them know what was going on, we didn’t even sit down in the waiting room. I wish I’d had those few extra moments. I cried the whole way there, and I cried the entire time sitting there. (I also cried the whole way back.) The Doc was busy, so his son (also a vet) took his place for the procedure. He gave Peter a shot of morphine, and I got to hold him as he started to feel better. For the first time in a while, he wasn’t restless. He sat there, calm as a cloud of fluff as I held him. His eyes were sunken, and he refused treats. But he felt better. It almost killed me to watch him fading but I was also so, so relieved. He wasn’t suffering.
I got to hold him for about fifteen minutes before the drug would start to wear off. Then Doc Jr. came in, trying to stay calm, and asked to take him back. What they have to do to put a hamster down isn’t something any parent wants to see, so I couldn’t be there when Peter was put down. Even Doc Jr. hates what has to be done and he was near tears. I was crying, and I was just about to hand him over. And then
Peter opened his eyes. And he looked at me. And then he winked.
And then it was over, and he closed his eyes again. I have never been so touched by anything in my entire life. (Crap, and now I’m crying again.) I could see in his eyes that he loved me. He loved his mommy. It called me back to all the times that he was restless and squirmy when strangers, or even my family, held him. I was the only one he willingly tolerated. He loved to nap in my pocket, or play on my desk, or just watch me from inside his cage. He would sometimes run around frantically or try to climb the cage to get my attention. (Or he would just sit there, sometimes with his paws against the glass, staring at me like a creeper.) I lost my soulmate on March 3rd, 2019. Maybe one day I’ll meet my guy, and maybe we’ll fall in love and have a home and kids. But no human, lover or even a child of my own flesh and blood, can take the place of my Peter. My parents were my first love. Peter was my second. If you’re my true love, just be aware.
You’re going to have to live up to Peter’s legend.
Thanks for reading! I hope that if you are a pet parent, you will not make the same mistakes that I did my first-go at motherhood. (Or perhaps it’s fatherhood for you:) ) He could have lived longer if I had done more research. I will be posting another blog on Winter White Dwarf hamsters hopefully in the near future, that will include more information about the species and breed. Stay tuned, and I hope you enjoyed today’s entry! ~Shortie <3
