Sweetie

[Catherine]

Quote:Yes I do have mixed feelings about her getting old. Even though I knew it would happen, just not quite prepared for it, you know? I guess I thought that Sweetie would stay the little minx she's always been. She appears to be really slow now and I'm wondering whether she has arthritis. No, she hasn't got white hair but it seems to have thinned out quite a lot giving her the old haggard look.

Captain, on the other hand, has always looked scruffy and haggard, he still looks the same and he still dangles from the top bars most nights. He tends to get about easier than Sweetie at the moment.

This is the sad thing about pet hamsters. They are sweet and wonderful and charming and sometimes real characters, but they have such short lives. You can really see how she went from young Sweetie the Destroyer to Senior Sweetie. She might be a bit arthritic. Certainly her sight and hearing are not as good. Her fur is thinning because of her age. It is so sad. We expect our pets to age, but hamsters do it so quickly.

I think that is why hamsters live so intensely. Sweetie lived the way she did because in some way she knew she had to do it all as fast as possible. Keep an eye on her teeth. Hamster teeth can get brittle as they age and then they can break. If they do that you have to trim the remaining ones so they do not over grow and prevent her from eating. I hope she has some happy senior hamster time. They are cute when they are old.