Ya gott love a woman like that...
Uh,,,oh, "candy is dandy, but liquer is quicker
Vikes we all like, but big lugs love drugs in refillable mugs!
i know, the cadence just threw out your tongue! too bad.
<sigh>
I can't be anymore blunt here. I wrote down what happened below before I wrote this... and it's depressing. If you read it, you'll probably figure out that I was pretty upset.
You did an incredible job telling that story. Just incredible.
I repeat NOT for children.
Sure it is, if the kids names are Damien or Regan.
Here goes.
First week of January she's at the pet store and sees a rescue hamster and falls in love, again. She buys him.
I know I'm stepping into the grounds of insensitivity here,,, but I've never heard of a "rescue Hamster". I'm picturing this little thing with a keg around his neck,,,,,holding maybe a shot of Christian Brothers brandy.
..................................................
"My hamster's dead! My hamster's dead!"
Yes, it's when they hold it in their hands that ups the "awww" factor into the stratosphere.
So what am I going to do with this? I can't just toss it in the trash, for obvious reasons.
Kay mentions that she might have a shoebox... she can't find it.
Um, ok. So what then happens to the shoebox?
I take the hamster in the kitchen and decide to wrap it temporarily in paper towels. I drop the hamster onto the paper towel and it sort of stretches it's legs out momentarily.
St. Vitus' Dance?
What the heck?
I stare at the hamster for a bit and after about 10 seconds it draws a deep breath.
Oh, carp... it's not dead yet. What do I do?
Ruby comes around the corner and sees me staring at the hamster.
"What are you doing?"
I whisper, "It's not dead yet!"
Ruby asks, "Should we tell Elle?"
How could we keep it a secret? Should we?
Wow, no doubt, a predicament.
Elle comes around the corner and wants to know what's going on. We tell her.
While Ruby and Elle are checking out the hamster, I quickly do some Google searches.
Absolutely. When you need to know who won the 1964 Kentucky Derby, you need to know right THEN!
I find that it's possible for hamsters to go into a torpor.
Oh, that kind of search. Never mind.
Similar to a hibernation. Except if they're not brought around they'll die.
Sounds like a typical teenage boy.
By 1am he was able to stand with some support and even ate a little bit.
Around 1:30am I sent Elle to bed. She was over the moon with happiness.
Oh, you're killing me Smalls. I can just picture her face, and we know how this is going to end,,,,in a way,,, so glad I didn't have girls. And she got up with you early that morning so you wouldn't have to go by yourself,,,even though she was so tired, like she said she would in Hawaii,,, and,,,
By 2am I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. If I left him for a couple of seconds, he'd drop his head and seem to fall asleep. If I picked him up and bugged him, he'd move around and only appear a little uncoordinated.
At 3am I followed the web's (and the vet's - I called an emergency vet around 2am) instructions and let him finish his recovery in his cage.
You are not going to like this, but in our house at the same kids time period, the solution would have been pretty simple.
Hamsters are like Rib Eyes to Corn Snakes, who usually only get to eat mice,, and,,well, it would have been quick the snake would have been happy for the next couple weeks,,and,,, this isn't going over well, is it?,,
He explored his cage a little and settled in with his head down again. I watched him for a while and his breathing seemed good and he'd chew or shake himself once in a while.
I went to bed around 3:30.
I DO believe you, and you truly are an amazing Papa.
At 6am I got up to check on him and he was back to square one.
Breaths every 12 seconds or so.
We decided to take him back to the pet store where we got him (there's a vet there) when it opened up.
Yes, old war stories always cheer up hamsters.
( I'm sorry, really, I just can't help myself right now,,my face and stomach are hurting so much,, it brings out my inner snarkiness, please don't take it personally.)
I went to lie down for a few minutes while everyone got ready to go. I went to check on the hamster and Elle already had him out on the heating pad and was trying to warm him.
By 8 he was dead.