In Loving Memory of Yuki Hamster (Departed 23 April 17)

Yuki arrived fat and lazy, a hulking and slow snow white mass sleeping in a plastic take-out box, her hamster mix all around her. Her previous owner had kindly passed her on to me, as she had too many other hams to take care of . There was water condensation on the lid of the plastic box, I remember. And she slept soundly through the long journey from east to west. For several days she was wary of her Habitrail cages, coming out only to literally grab a bite or steal licks of water. We also discovered that she was very, very good at hoarding food, with seemingly bottomless cheek pouches that she could stuff full of lab blocks. She also, surprisingly, smelt like poo. 

As with all things, as time passed we slowly warmed up to each other, and she started to enjoy leaving her cage, and credit to her she was never a biter. She seemed to understand that violence and fear were a last resort, always either languidly contemplating her surroundings or a woman of action, ready to rush off to the next adventure. She enjoyed running in her ball (but never her wheel), and could go for 30 minutes without resting. She also liked going to the corridor garden, sniffing at and chomping on the vegetation there. 

She made great and daring escapes twice, both times travelling great distances across the living room to one of the bedrooms, and expertly shredding whatever paper or cloth material she found to make a soft cozy bed for herself. She was able to enter wardrobes, climb into drawers, sneak and hide behind bookcases and somehow, because she had wormed her way into your heart, you had to marvel at her daring do instead of getting mad at her. 

Given her manic energy, I moved her into the double storey condo unit, and she would travel up and down repeatedly. Sadly, she developed a bar biting habit late in life that made her teeth slightly wonky. 

She was very bright and very interested in food, pouching anything she could find to add to her stash to nibble on in peace later on. She was fairly calm and not a biter---in other words a good starter Syrian hamster. What I remember best about her is how plump she was and how she never bit any of my friends nor fidget much.

In her last days, she lost weight while her stomach stayed bloated. Her movements became lethargic, and we moved her food and drink closer to her, as she continued eating, drinking and cleaning herself, just much more slowly, and spending most of her days sleeping. I got to stroke her head and say bye right at the end, when it was obvious that it was taking too much effort to stay alive. Goodbye Yuki dear...thank you for sharing part of your life with us. You weren't my favourite hamster, but you were very easy to care for and get along with, and I really enjoyed your spunky and unexpected behaviours. I bet your cheek pouches are bloated everyday at the Rainbow Bridge :)

cross-posted on www.welovehamsters.com