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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.
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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.
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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!