This week was a difficult one for me. It went by really quickly and ended up with two deaths. (One being my grandpa and the other being one of our little ones.)
This was my first time experiencing the death of a pet and I didn’t realize how hard it was. I think what was the hardest part was the fact that I didn’t realize how attached I was to the little hammy, especially since hammies aren’t necessarily the most social or affectionate creatures.
A lot of the sadness comes from feeling like we could have done more. Twitch really depended on us and there was just so much more we could have done for her if we knew more about how to take care of her.
I am grateful for the moments I did spend with her, and she kept me really busy. If you follow my pet blog you know that I spent countless hours researching how to properly take care of a hamster and I ended up making a number of toys for her to chew since she had the terrible habit of chewing her cage. I also ended up making her a DIY enclosure because I wanted to give her much more space than the cheap enclosure we found her in.
K keeps telling me that I did more than we both thought I would when we first adopted her. He says that I went above and beyond expectations, but it still doesn’t completely feel like that. We both feel so responsible, but we’re just glad we got to spend her last moments with her.
Oddly enough, when Twitch was passing Beau let out a huge wail as if he knew she was dying. I mean, he must have known since he used to hunt small animals and would probably be used to the sounds they make and such.
I think one of the weirdest parts of Twitch’s passing is the fact that we always expect to hear her. Whenever I come home I think I’m hearing her chew on her bars or I think I’ll hear her running on her wheel, but it’s just phantom noise. Odd, especially as we didn’t have her for a terribly long time. But hey, that’s life… and that’s the way my mind is working right now.
On Saturday, after the dust had settled with all of my grandfather’s funeral we headed to my mom’s backyard to give Twitch a proper burial. It felt oddly wrong to throw her into the garbage as she did in fact become part of our family. We made her a simple grave marker out of wood and decorated her grave with some planters we hope to grow flowers in next summer. I know, kind of childish for an adult, but we thought it would be sweeter, especially as it was something K’s family used to do when he was younger and something I have never had the opportunity to experience (as I didn’t have any pets growing up.)
I’m glad we had a chance to have the little one in our lives. I miss her dearly, especially whenever I close our office’s curtains (as her cage was right by them.) I have learned a lot from her and if we ever decide to adopt another hammy in the future we will do 1000x better.
If you’re interested in reading more of our adventures with Twitch feel free to check out our archive here.
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