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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.
    Brandy at 5 weeks of age.
    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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