Our hamster died suddenly yesterday. Came home from work to find her twitching in the bottom of her cage. She died about half an hour later with one of my daughters holding her. I feel like I’m being daft and melodramatic but it has really upset me a lot. I think the children are dealing with it better than me. There were a couple of times last night and this morning when I had to just go off to another room and have a good cry.

We are going to bury her in the garden today and plant something there.

It is upsetting but you’ll get over it. The kids will bounce back almost immediately.

Our garden would scare the shit out of Stephen King.

We’re on to  burying the  assorted pets of the fourth generation of our family.  Running out of suitable plots.

I’m just glad we don’t have horses.

If you need a cry have a cry mate! We lost our Dog a couple of months back (he was only 4 no warning, he got ill I rushed him to the vet within 30min he was put to sleep 3 hours later) I was inconsolable for about three days (we got him just before a really tough time and he was a big part in all our lives) then things get a bit better as you go along.
Mi still miss him terribly especially when I get in from work or just generally as he’s not around but you do start to remember and smile at the nice memories.

Kids are amazing they process some things quickly it’s ok for them to know you’re upset, it’s good for them to see how you can still carry on despite that.

Perfectly normal, just let the feelings out.

My Stella is buried on White Hill in the Pentlands.

As a kid I remember my hamster dying and it was devastating at the time. I guess it was my first realisation of death and what it was and meant. I got over it after a few days though. My kids have experienced something similar recently when one of our two Guinnea Pigs died. Completely unexpectedly, only about 3 to 4 years old, just came down one morning and it was lying there, so was a bit of a shock, no signs of anything before hand, was bright as a button the day before. The kids are older than I was when the Hamster went to the Rotastack in the sky, but were still pretty upset, but again got over it pretty quickly. Was surprised that I felt a bit low for the day as I’d looked after it as much as the kids so you become attached to the little blighters.

Now we’re going to be getting a dog soon I guess the stakes will be raised a fair bit when the dog dies, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Our garden would scare the shit out of Stephen King.

Yep, so would mine. Been in house for 20 years and always had a lot of animals. I find that makes it a bit easier as having a single animal and it dying seems harder to deal with than 1 of 15 dying.

We lost our old, much loved cat some months back but got lots of support on here. Losing a pet can be devastating but time is a healer.

We now have 2 new young ladies from a rescue centre that seem to like lying in the sun next to the Old Girl’s grave.

Our cat died on Thursday, had her seventeen years. its always just been Mrs Kilo, me and the cat all the time we’ve been in this house and I really miss her.

Thanks for the replies everyone. They do help.

Im sorry to hear about your cat kilo. We only had our hamster a couple of years. After seventeen I can’t imagine what it must be like. They may be small but leave a big impact in our lives.

I posted this on a similar thread, but I’ve had my first ever just over a year now (he’s 16 months) The thought of him not being here (current averages say I’ll outlive him by 40 years) makes me feel sick to the stomach. Pets are such a massive part of any family to me.

A couple in my local pub constantly talk about losing a loved one. I just assumed it was a person, it turned out it was their dog. They are very nice people, I’ve never really had a pet but for many people the connection is very strong.

Are you Richard Gere? If not, MTFU.

Two years is considered a good life for the average pet hamster, all four of ours from 2006-2013 (two Dwarf Russian brother Piggy & Eeyore; Syrian male Chilli; plus Syrian female Ruby who completely changed my perspective on hamsters in a positive way) all died aged approx 24-30 months old.

Ruby’s sudden death from being put to sleep at the vet after a very sudden prolapse hit me surprisingly hard, but then she loved coming out pretty much every evening and loved being handled (unlike the previous three). Just writing this has reminded me of how she used to love descending and then climbing the stairs to scuttle over to either of us before heading back down again! 😀

We’ve had four guinea pigs die since buying the first two in late 2009 (Pepper, Pumpkin and Coco all lived to 4.5-6 years, plus Hazel who sadly died quite young at ~3 with a huge tumour) and still have two girls now aged ~8 and ~6 (Rocket & Pepsi). Pepper’s death hit me the hardest, I suspect because out of all of them she loved “lap time” with me.

We have a number of fish tanks and lots of fish, partially thanks to one tank solely being a community of a not so common livebearer (Ilyodon xantusi). With having so many fish, some of which I’ve had since 2010, deaths are inevitable (although some of them could be hopefully be with me for another ~20 years). But with all but my old quartet of Hoplo Catfish, there’s very little physical interaction and very little emotion when they pass away.

I’m sorry for your loss, but you can be rest assured that you and your family gave your hamster a good life for her to be be with ~2 years.

We had a cat aged 10 that just jumped off the bed and died of a heart attack. Just like that. Gone. Boy did we cry. Then we cried some more.
We buried her under the lawn, and even now – 20 years later – there is still a patch of grass above her that is greener than the rest of the lawn.
Every time I see it I think of the cat. Still miss her and would have her back in an instant.

Don’t worry about being upset. If you love the hamster enough to cry over it when dead then you will have loved it in life. That’s all anyone can ask.

We buried her this afternoon. We’re all going to miss her and the little things she did.

Thanks again for all the messages of support.

Maybe this will cheer you up !

think more of our dog aged 14 than I do of some close family members.

I was a bit upset when the hedgehog that had adopted the sleeping quarters I made last year died earlier this year. But there are still four others eating me out of house and home, so I’m not too broken up about it. Having lost both parents and a step-dad, plus grandparents, as well as various pets, I have a sense of perspective when it comes to mortality.

My son aged 4 wanted to dig up our dead and buried hamster and show it to anyone who came to the door – heartless b’std that he is. Whereas my step daughter insisted of holding a proper funeral with mouth organ tunes when hers died, she even dragged the hungover lodger and her mate out of their bed to attend said ceremony 🤗 we all deal with losses in different ways.

We lost our Border Terrier, Molly, 2 months ago. She got to just over 14 and it hit me harder than any relative, they really do get under your skin. Left a big hole in our lives, I couldn’t go into our garden for 2 weeks as it just felt a strange empty place and we still find that we just don’t know what to do with ourselves sometimes. They become a big part of your lives because you care for them, feed them, walk them, spend a lot of time with them. We miss her so much, it does get easier.

We lost our dog nearly a year ago. We think that, as a result of a much larger dog jumping on him, that there was some spinal damage. Over the 8 months following that he went from a slight back leg wobble to most days dragging his legs. We made the decision to have him put to sleep as it was only going to get worse and he was getting frustrated, and probably in pain, but it’s difficult to tell.
Really hard thing to do, we’d had him for 8 years, mentally he was bright as a button and the day we’d arranged the vet to come to the house and do the deed, he was walking about mostly normally. He’d been through a lot with us, we’d resued him from an abusive home, he’d helped us through autism diagnoses and severe depression to name but a few things. He was a constant wet nose under our hand. An excuse to take time out and walk.
It felt like we’d killed our dog, it was horrible.
You’re not being OTT, these little creatures we choose to shre our lives with attach themselves to us, through responsibility and co-dependence.
We still struggle with the memories, we’ve still not managed to find somewhere to put his ashes.

Both me and my parents were more relieved than sad when my hamster died (a long time ago…), dogs and cats I’ve cried over though (had to go into work straight after having a dog of 14 years put down, that was a tough day).

Having lost both parents and a step-dad, plus grandparents, as well as various pets, I have a sense of perspective when it comes to mortality.

I agree. If the death of a hamster causes that much upset you’ll be screwed when someone close to you dies. Which is inevitable.

Hamster buried in the garden, about 6 months later the girls decide to dig it up to see what it looked like, it’s re-buried now but I’m expecting it to be dug up again sometime soon.

We lost a 1 year old Ragdoll (cat) just over a year ago – got run over. We had another cat at the time. The raggy was a bit too boisterous for the old girl. We’ve now got a 2 year old rescue ginger ninja, and 2 new Ragdolls that have turned 1 recently. 4 argh !! Fortunately, the 3 youngsters leave the old cat alone.