I’ve always thought of myself as a hard-hearted bitch. But early today I was proven wrong by a hamster which reduced me to a state of tears…

It was 2am when he came into the room and gravely mentioned one of the hamster is dying.

We peered into the tank wondering which it was, Chip or Dale. We recognised that it was Dale and he seemed to be in much pain. Almost immobile and confined to a spot, he was so weak that each time he tried to get up, he would slump back down.

It was heartbreaking to see him in such torture and watching him in this state reduced me to tears.

Honeybee tried in vain to assure me that he was just sick, that we would wake up to find Dale all well. But I knew he was lying…We spent 2 hours watching over him. He seemed to get worse as the time passed and I hoped for dawn to come quickly so I could bring him to a vet.

When I could finally bring myself to have some shut-eye… I was woken up barely an hour later by Honeybee who broke the sad news to me.

“Dale is dead” he said solemnly.

I got out of bed to see the motionless body of Dale. His body was no longer moving from the exertion of breathing. I burst into tears again while Honeybee comforted me.

5am, we found a spot where it was to be Dale’s final resting place.

Gone was the little hamster whom we used to refer to as fat and greedy. As a baby, I was told he liked to hug sunflower seeds like a bolster while he slept. As he grew, he would keep Chip at the sidelines during feeding times while having all the food for himself.

While Chip was the introverted hysterical hamster when we touch him, Dale was the extrovert who didn’t mind getting handled so long there was a reward at the end of the “ordeal”. Yes, he loved food. Very much.

Every time I ironed my clothes, he would often come out from wherever he was to see if he’d be getting more food. Recently he has resorted to acting cute to get brownie points – standing on his hind legs as he looks at me beseechingly for more morsels. He was adorable whenever he did that.

I’m gonna miss him. :(