My hamsters

This is the last Pita's photo. You can see the
tumor on her ear ):

Since I was a kid I always wanted a hamster, but my mom said "rats stink". I asked a thousand times and I gave up. So on my 16th birthday I asked again and to my surprise, my mother said "okay." I bought a pink cage and a small Chinese hamster. She was named Pita. Pita was very exciting. She jumped from the second floor of the cage like it was nothing. But she wasn’t eating much. I cleaned her cage once a week and rarely I had to put food for her twice. She was gentle and liked to walk around my room. I bought her in July and my boyfriend bought a boy in September to the next year. His name is Tom.

Last year, at the end of May I realized that Pita was thinning. She scratched his ear a lot. A few weeks later a small ball appeared inside the ear. I thought it was not serious because it looked like a cone like that when we grate the knee. In mid-June I realized that it wasn’t only a bruise. Pita was thin and the little ball turned a big ball. In Brazil a veterinarian who serves hamster charges a consultation around R$150/R$200. So I asked for help to a boy, he is a veterinary student. He said he would talk to the teacher and I sent him Pita’s pictures. The next day he answered me. He told me to buy a spray and an antibiotic. How it was July the University Veterinary Hospital was on vacation. The vet teacher only returned in August. Pita had a query and was free, but we had to wait two weeks.

This is Jujuba

Pita didn’t survive until her query. The remedies helped because I realized she wasn’t in pain, but the ball just grew. It was a tumor. She died on the coldest day of the year. She was by my side, curled up in my cardigan with a lamp to stay warm. I looked at her and she was looking at me. A few minutes later I went to look at her again and she was exactly the same. Then I realized she was dead with her eyes opened like she wanted to say “thank you, but now I need to go”. 

I was very sad, so that week my boyfriend took me on a farming to buy another hamster. I definitely felt better. Jujuba (in English Jelly Bean), my new hamster, decreased my sorrow. This year she made 1 year old. Pita died at 2. The life of a hamster is usually below 3 years old. Tom’s coming in the second. They (Tom and Jujuba) live with me and my boyfriend in Blumenau.

This is Tom

Yesterday were the day to clean the cages and when I got Tom I saw he's sick. One eye is all white and puffy and the other has a very small white spot. I guess that is cataract. Today I called the University Veterinary Hospital and I asked to an urgent care. The man said he will need to talk to the vet teacher, but he thinks they have a time next week and he will call me back to confirm. If it’s cataracts Tom'll become blind. Of course I don’t want it, but I'm hoping that it is, because I'll take care of him, blind or not. But if it is a tumor he will live only a few weeks.

I'm hoping for the best and praying that the vet will have time next week!