Wally

[Maz]

These occasional days or feelings can really get to us. I hope you do something nice for yourself today, for some comfort x But yes we do miss them. He was happy with you though, in his short little life. I think when they're so young it's very hard for people to process. But he had the best care possible.

 

[Member ID2]

When a hamster dies that young there is usually something far wrong which is too much for their little bodies to handle.

My Clarissa died at only ten months old and she had been seen by the vet who surgically removed a tumour but she died six days post op.

The what if thoughts are part of coming to terms with losing a hamster. I get them every time i lose one, irrelevant of the circumstances. Some of those thoughts can appear as quite irrational like my regret for not giving Rodney the piece of cucumber he was looking for before i took him to the vet. I was going to feed him after but when he came home he was no longer alive. I buried him with a piece of cucumber but felt like i had let him down.

You probably feel like that now but reality is that Wally died suddenly and unexpectedly and didn't show any real symptoms of an ailment. How would you have known, you couldn't have known.

Scales aren't always accurate and hamsters can feel quite round bellied. Clive does and i wonder if that's normal but it's not enough of a reason to take him to a vet.

It's only been a short time since you've lost Wally but i very much doubt that there could have been anything you could have done to prevent it from happening.

 

[Hamster Haven]

Firstly - big hugs. Secondly - it was nothing you have done or could have done. It is actually a normal part of the grieving process to feel you could have done more or "what ifs". But the reality is - he showed no real sign of illness. He just passed in his sleep. Sometimes their tummy's do feel a bit distended normally - it was massively so, you'd have noticed. He didn't feel different when you held him so more likely the scales weren't reading properly. If a hamster lost 10g it would be really quite noticeable.

It is such an incredibly hard thing to process when they are so young but in hindsight (for me) maybe he never was 100% - he did hide away a lot and wasn't that active. It is more likely he was born with a heart condition x

Thanks I think I needed to hear that again.

I actually had thought about that last thing you wrote. He had had many periods (which you all know from my Wally thread) where he wasn't as active as most young hamsters, but then he'd come out of it, or he'd freeze like many of them do from time to time when they're assessing a potential threat, but he'd stay frozen much longer than I thought was normal, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was wrestling with a condition from the start. And that makes sense about the weight and stomach, too, it was so subtle that it could even be me looking for an explanation now as I'm going through the grieving process.

 

[Hamster Haven]

These occasional days or feelings can really get to us. I hope you do something nice for yourself today, for some comfort x But yes we do miss them. He was happy with you though, in his short little life. I think when they're so young it's very hard for people to process. But he had the best care possible.

Thanks- that's how my husband has reassured me, too, about how happy he was.

 

[Maz]

Words aren't enough sometimes - Wally was very special and gentle and it is terribly sad. But your heart will heal x And then you can remember the fun bits and the nice memories.

 

[Coco61]

It is perfectly understandable that you are having a hard time processing what happened so suddenly to Wally. When a beloved pet is so dependent on the owner, a loving and caring one like you, will question yourself and want to answer the ‘what if’ question. You know that there is not always an answer, but such a common sense answer cannot always deal with emotions.
You know that many of us here have been down this particular road ahead of you. My own little Jeeves, at 4 months old, had a vet appointment after I noticed his apparently swollen tummy. It was for the next morning but he did not make it through the night. So whatever was wrong, took him in very swift time. As Maz said, they are so small that their little bodies can be quickly overwhelmed.
Your husband talked to CC about hamster heaven. A lovely idea. There is also the rainbow bridge that many think of as the crossing point for a departed pet. On the other side, they are restored to full health and play happily there with those that have gone before. It is a comforting thought and strangely, many of us, including myself, have seen a rainbow in the sky soon after, as if a message of comfort is being sent.