R.I.P. Gizmo (aka Cuddly)

Well, this blog entry has nothing to do with writing, but I wanted to write about this anyway.  One of my hamsters passed away last night.  Her name was Gizmo.  Cuddly Gizmo.  My girlfriend got me two dwarf hamsters for Christmas last year, and I couldn't tell them apart at first so I named them both "The Gizmo Sisters."  One of them was Cuddly, and the other Bitey (I'm sure you can figure that one out).  As time went on, I was able to tell the two apart.

Cuddly was starting to show some health problems this month.  She wasn't gnawing like she should, so her teeth were getting longer, and just recently she had something happen to her eye.  I took her to the vet on both occasions.  They gave me some eye drops to give her.  By the end, she was looking very frail and sickly.  I guess her eye was bothering her so much that she didn't exercise like she used to and she was even losing her appetite.  I was hoping the drops would help her within the next days.  Sadly, when I got home last night I found that she had died.  Her sister, Bitey, is still going strong.

It's one of those downfalls of being a pet owner.  You forget how much it hurts when they leave you.  While I am very sad about it right now, it does not outweigh the joy that Cuddly gave me these past 8 months, and 8 months for a hamster is pretty impressive.  I only hope that she enjoyed her life with me.  I'm sure she did.

R.I.P. Cuddly.