Danny

Yesterday was a very sad day for us. Danny, our hammie, passed. This isn't going to be a funny post - I know that some may feel a hamster is a disposable pet, and honestly we struggled with the cost of things that we needed to do to find out what was wrong with him. He was our pet though and we realized also part of our family and was worth the cost. I was taken by surprised how much he had touched us. When it was obvious the medication wasn't helping him in any way we scheduled to have him anesthetized and the doctor was better able to diagnose him. As we all suspected once the growth became larger, it was cancer. He had cancer in his right testicle and then it metastasized to his face causing a tumor that was more obvious there. Although he was still eating (less, but I was putting fresh fruits and veggies in to entice him) and moving around easily - he wasn't running in his wheel any more and he was sleeping much more. The growths were causing him pain and the doctor said his quality of life would change quickly and he was in a great deal of pain. He suggested that it would be better to let him out of the pain then let him live out his days. So that is what we chose to do.

Once the kids were home from school I sat down with them and talked to them about the illness and the choice that BigGuy and I had made. We talked about cancer and what the medication would do for him in releasing him from his pain and ending his life. They cried, I cried. We had an appointment for the procedure later in the evening so they took some time to make cards for him (we are a card making family) and talked about how they wished he could have grown to be a grandpa. Once BigGuy was home we headed to the hospital and spent some time holding him. The kids choose not to be in the room, but we could hear them in the waiting area talking about him to other people. At one point they were telling a man there about what was happening. He asked them if they would be getting another hamster and there was a pause and you could hear Spidey say, "No, he was the only Danny there was" - so it is nice to know that they valued him as a family member and he wasn't a disposable pet. SuperStar asked me to promise that when we go to heaven we will buy him from the pet store for our family. Of course I made that promise. I heard her telling Ben that he would be going to the children's part of heaven to make someone without a pet happy. We did a lot with him - hamster races, he watched tv with us sometimes (more before Jake - who totally loved Danny), he watched me craft and he would chew on spare pieces of paper, he escaped his cage and hung out in the corner of the basement, he was so huge that he would burst his hammie tubes, he was just a sweetie.
Two summers ago we spent months eating enough Ben & Jerry's (it was a struggle) so that we could make him a habitrail using the pint containers. Turned out pretty cute. When he was in his hammie ball walking around the house he would follow me around. It was funny - then he would just stop at my feet and hang out.
So we will definitely miss Danny. He was more my sweetie then anyone elses, but Danny was also very much the kids baby too. No one is asking to replace him - so that sends a message to us that they see him as a family member that can't be replaced and that is a warm thing to us.
Danny the Hammie ~
Delivered by the Easter Bunny 4/2006