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| I
was very much unprepared for the complete desolation I felt with Abbey’s
passing. ABBEY
was my fifth hamster, but her death affected me substantially more than
the previous four. It has been the norm for me to wait several weeks
before even considering adopting another hamster. However, for some
reason, I was unable to stop crying over Abbey. And I made the decision
only five days after putting her down that I would return to Aardvark and
begin my search for a new baby. Abbey was such an incredible hamster
that it seemed almost a tribute to her that I could not bear to be without
one of these creatures. Past experience had shown that it would likely
be a month or two before a short-hair would be available. Therefore,
you can imagine my surprise when I walked into the shop, with no expectations
of purchasing anything or anyone that hot August afternoon, only to be
greeted by a little girl who would come to be known as Brandy.
The hamster house had been
disinfected and placed away in storage, which necessitated a call home
for Vance to retrieve all the parts and rinse them down while I was on
my way with the new animal. I had purchased a FRESH
TRAVEL UNIT for Brandy and the owner of the
pet store placed some wood shavings from the store cage into it, along
with one small CRITTER
BLOX. Brandy sat comfortably in the
small enclosure, falling fast asleep during the drive. It took over
an hour and a half to reassemble and outfit the cages to make Brandy’s
home. And when introduced to her new environment, she immediately
set about exploring every nook and cranny, leaving the wheel to the very
end. She took to the exercise equipment like all the others, but
added a new twist - Brandy took a Critter Blox into the wheel with her.
And it makes the most incessant noise! I purposely keep the S.A.M.
unit so that I can use the SPECIAL
WHEEL for the hamsters as it sits outside
the cage, is the least likely to cause an injury, and is totally silent
in operation. Except for evenly spaced air holes located on the side
of the unit, it is completely enclosed with no openings that could catch
a little toe or foot. But if a hamster takes anything into the ball
with her, then it rattles around and makes the most annoyingly loud sound.
Given these little animals are quite sensitive to noise, it amazes me that
they would even tolerate all that racket.
We spent some time on the
bathroom floor, getting acquainted, and she rolled around in her ball for
a bit, and then returned to her new home. Her first night was an
extremely busy one. Brandy must be the reincarnation of an engineer
or an interior decorator as when I checked on her first thing the next
morning, she had removed all the aspen from the S.A.M. Palace, transferred
it all to the Hagen Space Station, taken the toilet paper from what was
supposed to be her bed, and made a nest on the bare floor of her cage,
immediately outside of her wheel. Food in wheel, bed/nest next to
wheel, some logs to climb on, food dish (empty), water bottle close by
– my new baby’s environment, as designed by Brandy. |
| October 11, 2008:
At just over 11 weeks of age, Brandy has settled nicely into her new family.
She is a very social little pet, preferring to stay in the same room with
me while in her ball. It took her quite a while before she would
sample any "wet" food - fresh vegetables and fruits. She would take
small tastes of the food items offered and then throw it away, but now,
carrots have become her favourite snack. |
| June 6, 2009: 10 months
old - where did the time go? Brandy is still a very active girl.
One of her favourite games is to climb onto my arm, and then leap into
my open hand for a "ride" back down to my lap. She will repeat this
little adventure over and over, until my arms are too tired to continue.
I thinks she believes I am just a human incarnation of her wheel.
We haven't quite mastered the art of sitting quietly in my hand for extended
periods yet, but then she's still pretty young. That will come in
time. She is so incredibly fast (seems almost quicker than the others)
that it's difficult to have her free in open spaces as she scrambles out
of reach almost immediately.
Brandy has added broccoli
to her menu, and of course, like all the others, continues to enjoy her
popcorn once or twice a week. Every morning, before I leave for work,
she pokes her head out of her bed and waits for one-half of a Vitakraft
Bonbino - a crunchy little treat containing beetroot. But her main
diet consists of the Critter Blox and HAGEN
GOURMET SEEDS. Sweet baby Brandy ...
I hope you have a long, healthy, and happy life. |
March 21, 2010:
Brandy will be 20 months old on the 24th of March. Three
weeks ago, she began to exhibit almost the same hair-loss pattern that
Abbey showed just prior to her diagnosis of skin cancer.
As both
hamsters came from the same breeder, I whisked Brandy off to the vet
right away. Her initial examination indicated that she did not
have skin cancer, but there was definitely something else going on.
Her new doctor, Dr. Stockburger at McPhillips Animal Hospital,
examined Brandy very thoroughly, and surprisingly, the little creature
tolerated the whole procedure extremely well until the vet began poking
around in her mouth. Even this, she allowed for approximately a
minute, before finally showing she had endured enough prodding by
nipping the doctor's finger. Brandy has never even so much as
chattered her teeth, let alone bite me, in all the time I've had her.
But then, I don't deliberately stick several fingers in her mouth
at one time.
A skin scraping was taken, along with several
hairs, and cultured to see if Brandy had somehow contracted a bacterial
or fungal infection. The results came back negative, which is
good, but we still don't know the reason for the patchy hair loss over
her scent glands. Dr. Stockburger did some research and came back
with a couple of probabilities - ovarian cysts, Cushing's Disease,
overgrowth of the Demodex mite. Apparently these microscopic
mites live within the hair follicle on mammals (including humans), and
can overgrow when the immune system becomes compromised. I
suppose that can happen as a hamster ages, so Dr. Stockburger started
her on Ivomec, just in case. And Brandy has been taking her
medicine every evening now for two weeks, tolerating it very well.
In fact, I do believe she thinks this is just another treat that
she's being given. The hair from the right side of her body
appears to be filling in once again, so maybe we're on the right track.
Only time will tell.
One of the disadvantages to treating
hamsters is that most people don't bother to have these tiny animals
examined when they come down with something. They are so
moderately priced that unfortunately, most are left to succumb to
whatever besets them, often dying alone and abandoned by their
caregivers. As a result, the treatment of hamsters is still in
largely uncharted waters. It makes me very sad to think of those
little souls, isolated and thrust aside, at just the time they most need the
care and companionship of their owners - at the end of their lives.
But
my little Brandy will not be left to that sorry fate. She's
sleeping soundly next to me as I type this latest entry. Her most
recent photos, taken at the beginning of March, can be viewed HERE. |
Born - July 24, 2008
"Any glimpse into the life
of an animal quickens our own and makes
it so much the larger and
better in every way." -- John Muir |
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