About 5 years ago Matt decided he needed his own pet. I decided I didn't want to change animal cages, but you know how that goes. The first pet Matt desired was a ferret. He read books on ferrets, examined ferret web sites and became a general ferret expert. There was no way he was ever going to get a ferret, since I had been in the odoriferous home of a multiple ferret owner and eventually Matt moved on to guinea pigs. He then amassed an ungodly amount of guinea pig knowledge, and finally realized that there would be no guinea pig either. His next animal focus became the hamster, which he researched with even more fervor than the other two. Eventually he wore us down, and three years into the quest for an animal he finally got his hamster.
Matt got a panda hamster, known to be gentler and less likely to bite than the other breeds. He named him Doodles. I call him The Dood. He is a good hamster. He has never bitten. He has never escaped his cage. His late night exercise no longer keeps Matt awake. Matt is very attached to his hamster. He loves The Dood.
Tonight I was helping care for The Dood while Matt cleaned his cage. Then Evan came into the bathroom and I let Evan hold The Dood. Then came the worst sound known to a hamster loving family. Whop. The sound of hamster hitting the tile floor from the dizzying height of 8 year old boy chest. Time froze as the three of us turned in slow motion to see The Dood lying motionless on his side on the bathroom floor.
Time resumed as Evan began to scream and Matt began to wail in heart broken agony. I knelt down beside the stunned Dood and noticed him beginning to move. I gently scooped him up, praying his back wasn't broken and turned him over to see if he could walk. You have no idea how pathetic it is to see a little four legged critter unable to use his front paws and walking like a seal on the bathroom rug. The sight of this made Evan scream louder, I kicked him out of the bathroom, and scooped The Dood up again and headed down stairs for the phone. I commanded the boys to stop their panic so I could call the vet and find out what to do. I dialed the phone number wondering just how to describe the situation while still sounding adult-like. While I was explaining the situation to the vets answering service I noticed that I could feel The Dood pushing on the inside of my hand with his front paws. I carefull placed him on the kitchen floor and he tentatively began to walk. I "never-minded" the vet's answering service and we got The Dood back into his clean cage. He seems fine.
The funny thing I noticed was that when Evan, the hamster dropping boy, was beside himself he kept screaming "Why me? Why does this always happen to me?" which I thought was interesting since he had never dropped and crippled a hamster before today. This must mean something. Shouldn't he have been wailing "OMG- I hurt The Dood! I didn't mean it!"?
Goodness how traumatic! Whatever consolation it is my youngest (8) also screams "Why does XXX always happen to me?" We always all look at each other quizzically since usually whatever it is has never happened to him before. I'm so glad the Dood was okay.
Posted by: Debbie | December 19, 2005 at 04:52 PM