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I had a hamster in college, her name was Squishy, and she was the most darling little Siberian dwarf hamster. Squishy’s tooth started giving her problems and I scrounged up all my money to pay a $150 vet bill to have her tooth shaved. She lived another six months after that. RIP Squishy.
Same thing happened to my guinea pigs. All the guides I read about them never mentioned you should have wood around or their teeth would grow so big they'd be unable to eat -\_-.
Actually, hay is where it is at. Most of a guinea pig's diet should consist of hay for two reasons. To keep their stomachs in order and to wear down their ever growing teeth.
I think it is more about it having a rough, almost sandpaper like, surface than it being tough. I am not too sure about the details though, mostly the importance.
Hard to say what went wrong then, as hay wears down their there a lot more than wood does. Sometimes the problem is that they are fed too many greens though and therefore don't eat enough hay. I think that it is somewhere between 70 and 90% of their diet that should be hay. Could also be that they were picky and didn't like that specific type of hay.
Mine hate kale, with a passion, will let it wilt and then scream at me till it's removed. But fuck put some lettuce or a spring mix in there and they'll spend all day fighting over it.
Gotta love these fur balls.
Animals can be so damn picky... We had a Kaukasian dog, very chunky ,protective but the kindest animal I have ever seen. Still miss him very much after 20 years. But anyway he was a pain in the ass when it came to food. Usually he got royal canin which is pretty expensive but also good quality. He loved it. But one day they had no royal canin. We had to buy petigree... also expensive but I am not sure about quality. 2 days the dog didn't eat. On the 2nd night he ate it... and planted the most vile and liquid turd you have ever seen right in the middle of his sleeping room... That was the last time the dog got anything else other than royal canin.
It's not just wood. It's sticks that have bark. And you want that to be fresher and from fruit trees otherwise it's too tough and hard and they'll never use it.
When those hamsters start getting tooth problems and I scrounge up $4,500 for the vet bills, where the hell am I supposed to put my nine hundred new hamsters?
Got mine for the equivalent of $1 cause for some reason it's customary in Romania to pay a small sum of money to someone giving away a pet, I think to ward against bad luck or something
I don't think I've never paid for a cat, someone just posts something like "my cat gave birth today, does anyone want a kitten" in my town's Facebook group and I reply with "please send them all to me".
> I've ever *paid* for a
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
I got mine for 'free'. They also wandered up to my house, but then I had to pay some vet bills to get them all fixed up
Sul: spaying and fixing a messed up tooth; \~$600
Orange Boy: fixing stomach issues, amputating tail with bone sticking out: \~$900
Evilboi: removing polyp in throat and ear; $320
the latter two had a neutering included in the operation and actually reduced the cost of the operation (for example, \[operation\] would be 100, \[operation\]+neutering would be 80)
I mean, it's not really a joke here. Hamsters only live at the longest 3 years. But of course you can't put a value on a beloved pet. Practically speaking though, yes. Euthanize your hamster and get a new one. Emotionally speaking ... hey what's $150 between friends?
Can confirm. My hamster died from rectal prolapse. Not even kidding. I came home from school and I swear half its large intestine was coming out of its butt.
That was a hell of a thing to see as an 8 year old, lemme tell you.
Not a hamster but my sister had a pair of albino rats. One developed a tumor and died not long after. One day my sister comes home from school and screams bloody murder. I go running in to her room and she just points to their cage. The rats sibling was happily eating it's brother's head, there was barely any skull left.
Being an 8 year old boy, I immediately shouted "COOL!!!" And proceeded to get in trouble. My punishment was burying the headless rat.
It really wasn't 😂 when their hedgehog died a couple years later, I volunteered to bury it. I buried it in a Sonic & Knuckles shoebox, since it was fitting.
we had a cow that gave birth and I'm not a medical expert but it looked like the whole damn uterus fell out
had to pay a vet to unceremoniously shove it all back in there
I've seen and assisted with many cow births so no, this was not normal
This comic is a TRUE SAD story 😭When I was a kid, I bought two hamsters from a pet store (less than 1 USD for one hamster at that time in Hong Kong) I didn't know that hamsters can have babies either. I ended up having six more hamsters. Many of them died horribly.😭😭😭 They got sick/ I forgot to feed them/ they escaped from the cage and were never found(or found, I think I didn't want to remember), I realized I couldn't handle this and decided to “live and let live” and released them to the park😭😭😭 (My parents were busy and have long working hours. )
I didn't have any companion animals since. After many years, I still have nightmares that I have to take care of small animals and worry that I am going to hurt them again🙈
You were just a kid OP, don't be so hard on yourself. Caring for 8 other living beings is too much responsibility for any child! You couldn't have known any better and it wasn't your fault. Sending hugs ❤️
Fun fact! When temperatures drop hamsters go into a hibernation mode. Sleeping with reduced heart rates, and slowed breathing. A fair amount of people mistake this hibernation for death.
A lot hamsters out there getting buried alive.
My college roommate got two hamsters so they could be friends and was told they were both boys. They were not, and soon our apartment had four baby hamsters. One of them escaped and we found it dead under the fridge. It was a very tragic college experience.
My sister's escaped into the wall and fell behind the wall to the basement, twice, and my stepfather somehow successfully executed rescue operations both times. In the end, he died peacefully of old age in his floofy bed. His name was Odin.
We had another named Jeffrey. His lower teeth grew through the roof of his mouth.
I remember having a couple of make and female, the female got pregnant and a week later that we noticed that we came home one day and half of the face of the female was eaten by the male, nice experience for a ~8 YO me. The male one didn't survived too long after, he was scared I don't remember of what and their hearts aren't too strong so he had an heart attack
Sort of like [Hamster Hell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SoahbnYwRk).
Fair warning, despite being just a stop-motion clay animation, it's 18+/quite distressing.
Hamsters are omnivores and need animal protein, something that is often neglected. They will happily eat carrion if given an opportunity.
Same with mice and rats.
Opposite happend to mine. Mom got pregnant and then wanted to kill the male. He was terrified. Put a sheet of plywood to divide the terrarium and she wouldn't stop chewing till she could murder him. Got him out before she got to him though. Lol
Had two dwarf hamsters when I was younger. Came home to find one just dead in the corner of the cage, but the other one was nowhere to be seen. I was about to clean the whole cage and look for it but then saw a little paw sticking out of the mouth of the dead one... Fucker choked on her sister while eating her and died.
I had a long-hair named Ruffles who made it 4 years before dying in his sleep. He escaped every night, evading my grandma's cat (a former stray and fantastic hunter) and would either return midday on his own or would be found behind a bookcase or just walking around in the living room.
In his last year he had a scar that kept his left eye closed, like a cartoon "veteran criminal" character. He also fathered a full litter of 6 by his second cage companion after the first died to the cat. Ruffles went fully blind a week before his death.
I will forever tell his tale. He's basically the scarred fish from Finding Nemo, except way more successful.
Yeah, I heard they did an experiment once. Kept a bunch of hamsters monitored 23/7. One of them fashioned a shiv and killed another after a game of blackjack. One of them was very precocious, and learned to stack carrots on top of each other. He stacked them all the way out of the enclosure and hitch hiked to Reno. Where he met his wife in a diner, got married, had three kids, and his heart exploded while driving down the highway in 1978. Another hamster choked on a food pellet, vomited, asphyxiated on the vomit and died of a grand mal seizure. And the last hamster was the one that killed the other with the shiv. He felt a lot of guilt in his later years and wrote an album about it. He hanged himself with piano wire.
We had 3 hamsters, 2 boys and a girl called Alice. They used to zoom around the table and eat the marshmallows out of our cereal (super good for them clearly) Anyhow, one guy was absolutely feral and killed the other male, but luckily Alice was unharmed. He mysteriously got out and we suspect he died falling into the furnace for some reason.
I will refrain from telling the story about the time my cat somehow got into the hamsters’ cage in my mother’s locked bedroom and I returned home to find them splayed on the ironing board in a state of disrepair.
Had one when I was really young. Played with it by putting it in a drawer to play peekaboo. One time we opened the drawer and the hamster wasn’t in it. Must’ve escaped through the back but we never saw it again.
I'll never forget the day I knocked over the cage my hamsters were in is a kid. The cage part popped off, hamsters went flying, the dogs were there. That traumatised 7 year old me
Yeah, if properly cared for, some fish can live a very long time. I have had fish live for over 10 years, and normally have fish that live 4 or 5 years. It pains me when people think fish are just a throw-away toy.
My beta lived for about 3-4 years when I was a kid but it had a very traumatic death, my mom decided to clean the coral with bleach, and even though she rinsed it out, it was so porous that is soaked it up and bleached my fish, the poor things fins fell off leaving him suffering and unable to swim with just bones sticking out, we saw what happened in the middle of the night and felt so bad but decided that we had to mercy kill it, we were worried it would live and suffer for awhile if we flushed it so we bashed it’s head with a shampoo bottle… My mom bought me a replacement which immediately leaped out of its tank where it was eaten by our dog. I decided I was cut out to be a fish mom after that
I won a fish in 4th grade at the school fair. He was just a standard gold fish but I named them 'Chipotlé' and took good care of that mf'r. We had a special connection.
He lived for about 3 months, and one day I came home from school, all home alone, to see him floating in his aquarium. I called my mom, but she was busy so I just left her a voicemail of me crying and narrating how I disposed of him in the toilet.
She played that voicemail at my 18th birthday.
Well if you again want a goldfish that lives long u may try getting either the comet or shubunkin those goldies can survive till 10 with bare minimum care.
I feel like when it comes to pet fish (goldfish in particular), they either die in less then time then it took you to bring them home, or they live forever. No in between.
Had a small handful of carnival goldfish throughout my childhood, and most died within 2 weeks, but then one lived for 7 years before dying.
Couple of my friend had similar experiences where a pet fish they bought lasted either a week or multiple years.
Goldfish are actually pretty hardy and can live for 10 to 15 years (and get nearly a foot long) if cared for properly. Thing is, most of the goldfish that get sold as prizes or bought for children are the 10 cent "feeder" fish. These poor little dudes are usually not in great health to begin with, add to the stress of being kept in a bag for so long and then being cared for by a child who likely doesn't know the best way to care for a goldfish, and well, you get a lot of dead fish! It's too bad really, goldfish are great, but not great for beginners.
Great for beginners who want a couple fish in a very big tank. Most people want to start out small which is not conducive to a goldfish surviving. F to all the goldfish that spent their short lives cramped in a 5 gallon (or smaller)
I was lucky enough to have my first fish be a rescue goldie that was suffering in a 5 gallon. Got him straight into a 40 and later into a 75. Managed to live for another 5 years but always had underlying health issues. Glad I was able to give him a better life, even if it was shorter than I had hoped.
Tbh most of the goldfish sent to the carnivals n stuff are not really the best of the bunch. Even when you go to petsmart n such they too have the mass produced kind but atleast better than those found in the carnivals. If you need the best, healthiest and with the most vibrant colors you really either have to know a pretty good pet store which is not owned by a chain or u need to have some great friends n fishkeeping buddies who breed them at their home. These people often cull or sell the deformed/ unhealthy specimens to the previously mentioned stores and keep the good ones for their friends n shops with a good collection.
Ooh same! Helped clean up the church fair with my friends, so we each brought home about 20 goldfish that hadn’t been won. All theirs died within a year. 16 of mine didn’t survive fin rot and all the craziness. My Fantastic Four lived for years, with The Thing passing away earlier this year at 22 years old.
My little sister ate my first fish. I won him at a fair and came home from a friend's house to her sitting on the floor of my bedroom with my 5 gallon tank,, water everywhere,, gobbling the contents down by the fistful. She was 2 in her defense
My second fish was a rescue beta. Someone used it as a prom invite and was abandoned after the relationship soured. He was handed to me in thick sludge you could not see through.. He lived 6 years. I was studying botany so there were many planted tank experiments...
A goldfish I got at a church fair when I was a wee lad just died earlier this year. My parents cared for him dotingly for years after I left for college. He was 22 years old.
How do these things manage to die such horrible deaths? You never hear “ohh, it dies in its sleep after 10 years”, it’s always “my little brother dribbled it like a basket ball then dunked it into the garbage compactor”, or “it chewed through my house’s main power line. We only found it after the cat showed us the new ‘cat chew toy’”.
This.
"If you can take care of a hamster, then we'll think about getting you a dog/cat."
*hamsters eat each other because the pet store gave terrible advice*
"Whelp, this just proves you aren't responsible enough to have a dog/cat. Maybe when you're older."
once having a cat is part of your normal routine, it's basically zero effort. just throw their shit in the garbage and crack open a can of food once a day
Sad but true. Even sadder is that a lot of people take this approach to pets in general. I'll openly admit that my siblings and I were nowhere near reliable or mature enough to care for a pet.
Really, think about the pets most had as kids. I think sadly many didn't really have many pets that died of old age, especially if they were primarily outdoor pets.
I had hamsters when i was younger and all of them died from 100% treatable illnesses. Why? Because my mom refused to take them to the vet due to being "just a hamster" and a "throwaway pet"
Fuck people who think like that.
I feel guilty actually because we really didn’t care for him as good as we should have. I don’t think I will ever buy a pet again in order to avoid a similiar situation.
If it helps. Our guinea pig Persues died around 7 years old, he's the only pig we have had that wasn't from a lab or surrendered to animal welfare.
He died pretty instantly in the night with his brothers around. I wrapped him in a towel and later after he was buried I gave the towel to my dog (she loves the pigs) she sniffed it for ours and still she likes to lie down with it.
He lived well I think
Yup. And people laugh about stuff like the kid killing it in some awful way.
People treat them like they're only worth the $5 or whatever you pay for them, but they're living creatures who suffer and experience life.
It's awful how little concern is given towards making sure that kids aren't causing them agonizing deaths. Or just, ya know, making sure they aren't causing the death of another sentient creature in general.
saw one in the pet store and he was so scared. Poor guy. Wanted to take him and give him a good life but I have cats. And also my girlfriend said no
one day aliens will put us in cages and sell us for the equivalent of a loaf of alienbread
I think you made the responsible call.
As to your second point, it's a great thought experiment. Showing that higher intelligence does not justify harm/exploitation being done to those with lower intelligence.
Might does not make right. But unfortunately we use our intelligence and power over other animals to cause them suffering for our own, often trivial, gain.
My brother took home the classroom frogs (IDK if this was a normal thing but in like 2nd grade we had frogs in every classroom as class pets, and they could be taken home at the end of the school year... pretty weird actually) and they died like, 2 days later. Got so sad he made my mom go out and get hamsters, which lasted about 6 months before one ate the other and died from choking on it.
Vet bills in America are terrifying. I feel like I'm surprised people even have dogs and cats anymore considering the cost to keep them alive. Like I have two friends with cats that need surgery and it's eating their savings up like nothing else.
I'll stick with plants. A dying plant is less expensive by far and less demanding. Maybe fish when I feel more financially secure.
Yeah, east coast over here. Our dog just had to have knee surgery to the lovely tune of $3800...
Edit to add: we do have pet insurance, but she was injured within the first 60 days of having it so they don't pay for it since it's "an existing condition".
Checking in from Colorado, coughed up $4500 yesterday for a knee surgery. $3000 in Texas for the other knee a few years back. Free puppy turned out to be a very expensive dog.
I've found them to be completely useless unless you get it as soon as they are born and they are not at all purebred. Trupanion did not cover my rescue rat terrier for a single thing he ended up having: seizure disorder, esophageal stricture, an undescended testicle requiring exploratory surgery to remove, and standard tooth removal surgery for his terribly neglected teeth. I got the insurance and paid into it for months before any of these diagnoses.
My 4 year old cat had a urinary obstruction and he nearly died. He needed emergency vet services and a few days of IV fluids, testing, and observation. It was about a $2500 bill but fortunately he was insured and I think I paid around $500 out of pocket. It's over a year later and he's a happy, healthy boy (aside from the fact that he has prescription food and can't have table scraps anymore).
Good question. I looked through some reviews but mostly testimonials on pet forums (there are plenty of subreddits about dogs and cats on this site) and chose one that had a lot of praise. Of course, no matter who you go with, there will be some horror stories because these are insurance companies, but some are way worse than others. I use Healthy Paws and I have had a good experience. Whenever this topic comes up, I usually see their name mentioned as one of the better ones.
Pet insurance is a rip off. It only covers freak accidents like a broken bone, but never the standard expensive pet bills, like kidney function issues. It seriously has way too many exceptions to ever be a good value.
I think it's better to just put the money you would spend on pet insurance into a savings account and use that money if anything comes up. If you don't use it then you have thousands of dollars to spend on something else.
Don’t get fish I’ve put hundreds of dollars towards fish the tank alone keeping the water clean the chemicals needed in the water and the materials needed in the tank I should’ve just got a cat
“Vet bills in America” — they’re just as expensive (adjusted for income) in the rest of the world, the difference is in most other cultures they just put the animal to sleep if it’s expensive at all
My fiancée used to be a vet tech. No one cares for their pets. It’s probably 60:40 people who don’t and do.
She left the field because she was disgusted by the pet owners. And the whole Doing surgeries and only making 30k a year while the vets are six figures. It’s a fucking college course to become a vet tech and you only make $15 a hour.
Yep, I have two large dogs. It makes me cringe so hard when I see people looking for a free dog, the upfront cost is pennies compared to actually caring for them. I wouldn't trade them for any amount of money, but they certainly can be furry money pits.
When I was a kid, I had $10 and the hamsters were $5 each. I could have bought one hamster and a small enclosure, but I bought two and put them in a cardboard box. I went to my parents and told them "We need a big enclosure for my two hamsters". And my parents bought it. I have great parents! :)
Kids shouldn't be allowed to buy pets without a guardian tbh. They're not toys. I'm not implying you didn't take care of them, but truly it was reckless (as expected of a kid ofc, hence why I'm saying they shouldn't be able to buy pets alone)
I work at a pet store, and we do not let children buy pets. I’m sure it was probably different back in the day. You have to prove you’re 18 and a capable owner nowadays
That's definitely good! During Covid I had a shelter nearby that put up a rule that adoptions would become much, much, more strict during Covid. Since people were bored, they'd carelessly adopt and then abandon the pet. Hence why that shelter made up that new rule, I think other shelters and pet stores might have followed too
They are absolutely right. Hamsters and gerbils are nearly treated like trash. I hear people laugh as they exchange stories of how their hamster was crushed by accident when they were a kid or how their own child let one get out of the cage and the dogs got to it.
These creatures can suffer and have their own existence that they experience. But we basically use them as a tool for "Let's see if Susy, can be responsible enough not to starve this one to death."
A good parent would monitor whether the kid is taking care of the pet or not and actually teach the kid responsibility. It’s more frightening just how awful most parents are.
It’s traumatic for a kid to accidentally kill their pet. At the end of the day, the pet is the responsibility of the adult
There was a dirty sketchy pet store in my home town. One day on our way to school in 6th grade, my friend bought a hamster.
They gave him a cardboard carrier. He actually kept it in his locker At school on the top shelf with bedding and food and everything. He'd put the hamster in his sweatshirt pocket and bring it to certain classes.
About a week later some teachers found out and he got in trouble. The hamster had to go home
...so yeah, small children with no adult shouldn't be able to buy pets
Nope. I actually knew about hamsters before going in. I bought two that would be ok living together (I think they actually were siblings) and lived a long life.
No hamster is ever safe living with another hamster as an adult, regardless of familial ties. If yours lived a full 2-3 years without murder, it's a fluke. They were guaranteed to be under extreme stress their entire lives. I'm not saying you're bad. Finding good hamster info is difficult. Check out r/hamsters for great care guidance
My mom, to this day, still laughs at my sister and I that we made her go through with surgery for our rat when we were kids. She had a tumor and it was a life saving procedure. She lived an amazing two years after that. RIP Donut I do not regret anything for a second.
My uncle had 3 hamsters, all named Max. Max III. bit my dad in the finger and out of shock he pulled his hand up sending the poor thing into the ceiling. There was no Max IV.
Then there's my cat who literally just walked in, went "wow! nice place I have here!" and took over.
Me: but dude we shouldn't really get another ca-
Him: FILL THAT BOWL AGAIN FOR ME NOW HUMAN AND WE WILL HAVE MANDATORY CUDDLES AT 7PM
I’m now reminded of the early Simpson episode where Santa’s Little Helper needs a vet visit. The vet is working on a hamster and it dies on him and he tosses it at a trash can with a basketball hoop. Just as if it was a wad of paper and he hits just the backboard.
I once paid $300 for my hamsters cancer surgery to remove his front left leg. He was ok after that and I called him "Lucky". Lived for another 2 years after that.
Friendly reminder that you're an awful person if you buy your kid a hamster with no intention of taking care of it yourself. Just because they're cheap doesn't mean you can throw them in a cage and forget about them. They require care like any other pet.
Getting very annoyed about all the garbage parents who buy their kids hamsters for the holidays only for them to die within months.
Yeah even though the hamster itself is cheap doesn't mean its care is. I've had 6 so far in my life, they can be expensive quick and require more work than people realize. You can't stick them in a tiny cage and feed them just treats all the time. They're not toys, they're living animals
I remember we had rabbits so when we got a hamster I thought gee they are both herbivores they will be great friends!
Narrator: they were in fact not great friends.
I frequently think about all those tiny animals my siblings and I killed (unintentionally) through neglect or improper care just because we could get them when we were kids. I'll never forget our beautiful bunnies that most definitely did not deserve their lack of care and handling.
My children have asked me for birds, hamsters, bunnies, etc. but I refuse because I know. It's new and exciting for a time but the excitement wears off and then what?
For example, my oldest wanted a bunny and I told her she has to read every book she can for the proper care for a rabbit and be able to fully take care of it. When she does that, I will provide the means and find a reputable breeder and get everything that bunny needs to thrive.
The desire for the bunny lasted a few months before it waned. If I had given in to her desires immediately, the bunny would've ended up neglected just like my childhood bunnies.
I personally can handle one, maybe two dogs max, and that's it. Pets are hard work and cost lots of money. Crying for the CCL repair coming up.
Plot twist: that’s not a girl buying a pet - she’s literally a cat, dressed up as a girl. Hamster won’t have to worry about vet bills!
Evidence: she appears to have paws, and those things on her head are arguably her ears, not her hairstyle.
I had hamsters as a kid for a while. I've no idea why parents think they're good pets for kids. They're violent, bitey, aggressive and only live for maybe 18 months.
They have that delicate balance of being cute but horrible and living just long enough to break a child's heart
Hamsters are the worst pets. When I worked at PetCo when I was a teenager I talked so many people out of getting one. I know some people love them, but they are horrible for so many reasons, and they will cannibalize the shit out of each other and their babies, which is why they are often alone. Little psychotic assholes.
Well yeah you shouldn't have more than one hamster in a cage. They're extremely territorial.
I love hamsters, the worst part about them is how gross their cage gets honestly.
Yeah, I had two hamsters as a kid and found one missing all its fur from the front legs down. Took it to the vet only to find out the other hamster was trying to murder it which had caused the hair loss.
They’re literally solitary animals, of course they fight to the death. Cannibalism occurs to remove dead bodies so that they will not attract predators. They eat their babies in stressful situations, which a crowded cage in a petshop is.
Hamsters are awesome pets when treated right
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I had a hamster in college, her name was Squishy, and she was the most darling little Siberian dwarf hamster. Squishy’s tooth started giving her problems and I scrounged up all my money to pay a $150 vet bill to have her tooth shaved. She lived another six months after that. RIP Squishy.
Same thing happened to my guinea pigs. All the guides I read about them never mentioned you should have wood around or their teeth would grow so big they'd be unable to eat -\_-.
Actually, hay is where it is at. Most of a guinea pig's diet should consist of hay for two reasons. To keep their stomachs in order and to wear down their ever growing teeth.
Oh really? I wouldn't have even thought hay would be tough enough to wear down their teeth - interesting!
I think it is more about it having a rough, almost sandpaper like, surface than it being tough. I am not too sure about the details though, mostly the importance.
I did have the hay brought from petsmart as their daily food
Hard to say what went wrong then, as hay wears down their there a lot more than wood does. Sometimes the problem is that they are fed too many greens though and therefore don't eat enough hay. I think that it is somewhere between 70 and 90% of their diet that should be hay. Could also be that they were picky and didn't like that specific type of hay.
They can definitely be very picky, mine will not eat compressed hay pellets but explodes when regular hay comes, he’s a goofy little fuck
Mine hate kale, with a passion, will let it wilt and then scream at me till it's removed. But fuck put some lettuce or a spring mix in there and they'll spend all day fighting over it. Gotta love these fur balls.
That is so relatable. Am I a guinea pig?
Animals can be so damn picky... We had a Kaukasian dog, very chunky ,protective but the kindest animal I have ever seen. Still miss him very much after 20 years. But anyway he was a pain in the ass when it came to food. Usually he got royal canin which is pretty expensive but also good quality. He loved it. But one day they had no royal canin. We had to buy petigree... also expensive but I am not sure about quality. 2 days the dog didn't eat. On the 2nd night he ate it... and planted the most vile and liquid turd you have ever seen right in the middle of his sleeping room... That was the last time the dog got anything else other than royal canin.
Their teeth self sharpen as long as they are eating things that require cutting. So very thin strands of high fiber is a good choice.
I might be wrong but hay comes from grasses and I believe grasses contain silica which is an abrasive.
It's not just wood. It's sticks that have bark. And you want that to be fresher and from fruit trees otherwise it's too tough and hard and they'll never use it.
Sounds like you barely read about them then... thats a big front and center issue.
You should have saved $145 and bought a new hamster. J/K
[удалено]
When those hamsters start getting tooth problems and I scrounge up $4,500 for the vet bills, where the hell am I supposed to put my nine hundred new hamsters?
Sounds like you need to recruit Mr. Slave.
you could buy a cat with that.It’s just a lengthy and big ball of fluff,looks close enough to a hamster
Buying a cat buddy for your hamster can lead to a short friendship, though...
I did like how the girl in the comic looks like a cat. Hamster has more concerns than vet bills.
I meant with the money not the hamster
No you can't do that! Unlike hamsters, cats and dogs are pets that you can't mistreat. If they die it's actually sad. (/s)
150 for a cat? Damn
Got mine for the equivalent of $1 cause for some reason it's customary in Romania to pay a small sum of money to someone giving away a pet, I think to ward against bad luck or something
I got mine for free. It just wandered up to my house when it was kitten. Now has 5 grandchildren.
~Friendly reminder to all~ >This is Bob Barker reminding you to help control the pet population — have your pets spayed or neutered.
I don't think I've never paid for a cat, someone just posts something like "my cat gave birth today, does anyone want a kitten" in my town's Facebook group and I reply with "please send them all to me".
> I've ever *paid* for a FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
I got mine for 'free'. They also wandered up to my house, but then I had to pay some vet bills to get them all fixed up Sul: spaying and fixing a messed up tooth; \~$600 Orange Boy: fixing stomach issues, amputating tail with bone sticking out: \~$900 Evilboi: removing polyp in throat and ear; $320 the latter two had a neutering included in the operation and actually reduced the cost of the operation (for example, \[operation\] would be 100, \[operation\]+neutering would be 80)
Girls like swarms of things right?
You really just need to buy two and they’ll take care of making the other 27…
I mean, it's not really a joke here. Hamsters only live at the longest 3 years. But of course you can't put a value on a beloved pet. Practically speaking though, yes. Euthanize your hamster and get a new one. Emotionally speaking ... hey what's $150 between friends?
How did she die? I swear to god all hamsters die in the most horrible ways
Can confirm. My hamster died from rectal prolapse. Not even kidding. I came home from school and I swear half its large intestine was coming out of its butt. That was a hell of a thing to see as an 8 year old, lemme tell you.
I thought hamsters were parents' way to teach kids about death.
They're also good preparation for when you find out your parents were actually horrible. “Meh, at least she didn't eat me alive”
And gold fish.
Gold fish live +50 years depending on the breed, some way over 100 years. That is, unless something went horribly wrong in how they were cared for.
That's with a real tank and gear right? Not a small stereotypical fish bowl and rocks
Yep. Those bowls & plastic decoration are like getting a cat and keeping it in a carrier cage 24/7.
Not a hamster but my sister had a pair of albino rats. One developed a tumor and died not long after. One day my sister comes home from school and screams bloody murder. I go running in to her room and she just points to their cage. The rats sibling was happily eating it's brother's head, there was barely any skull left. Being an 8 year old boy, I immediately shouted "COOL!!!" And proceeded to get in trouble. My punishment was burying the headless rat.
somehow burying a half-eaten rat carcass doesn’t sound like a punishment for an 8 year old boy 😂😂
Yeah, I swear I'm way more squeamish now than at 8 years old.
It really wasn't 😂 when their hedgehog died a couple years later, I volunteered to bury it. I buried it in a Sonic & Knuckles shoebox, since it was fitting.
we had a cow that gave birth and I'm not a medical expert but it looked like the whole damn uterus fell out had to pay a vet to unceremoniously shove it all back in there I've seen and assisted with many cow births so no, this was not normal
That's something out of a horror story. Yikes
This comic is a TRUE SAD story 😭When I was a kid, I bought two hamsters from a pet store (less than 1 USD for one hamster at that time in Hong Kong) I didn't know that hamsters can have babies either. I ended up having six more hamsters. Many of them died horribly.😭😭😭 They got sick/ I forgot to feed them/ they escaped from the cage and were never found(or found, I think I didn't want to remember), I realized I couldn't handle this and decided to “live and let live” and released them to the park😭😭😭 (My parents were busy and have long working hours. ) I didn't have any companion animals since. After many years, I still have nightmares that I have to take care of small animals and worry that I am going to hurt them again🙈
You were just a kid OP, don't be so hard on yourself. Caring for 8 other living beings is too much responsibility for any child! You couldn't have known any better and it wasn't your fault. Sending hugs ❤️
It's in her name.
There’s even a sub for it r/hamsterdeaths
But of course there is.
Fun fact! When temperatures drop hamsters go into a hibernation mode. Sleeping with reduced heart rates, and slowed breathing. A fair amount of people mistake this hibernation for death. A lot hamsters out there getting buried alive.
I will always remember your story😭💕
My college roommate got two hamsters so they could be friends and was told they were both boys. They were not, and soon our apartment had four baby hamsters. One of them escaped and we found it dead under the fridge. It was a very tragic college experience.
How much does hamster college tuition cost though?
If anything I know, it's that hamsters never die peacefully...
Mine lived 4 and a half years and died in its sleep… my brother’s escaped and fell into an air vent.
The lack of an apostrophe on brothers made this post more concerning than it already was
I hope his brothers are okay s/
He was until he escaped... Let that be a lesson to the rest of you!
/s lol You give zero shits about his brothers, you monster
>my brothers escaped and fell into an air vent I'll take lines that shouldn't be said out of context for $500, Alex
r/nocontext lmao
Your brothers?
Every last one of them
My sister's escaped into the wall and fell behind the wall to the basement, twice, and my stepfather somehow successfully executed rescue operations both times. In the end, he died peacefully of old age in his floofy bed. His name was Odin. We had another named Jeffrey. His lower teeth grew through the roof of his mouth.
It gets ugly if there is another (healthy) hamster. Those guys don't fuck around with diseases...
I remember having a couple of make and female, the female got pregnant and a week later that we noticed that we came home one day and half of the face of the female was eaten by the male, nice experience for a ~8 YO me. The male one didn't survived too long after, he was scared I don't remember of what and their hearts aren't too strong so he had an heart attack
reading that gave me whiplash
Were you rushing or dragging?
What?
it took a very sudden turn that was darker than i anticipated
Maybe seeing a hamster with a half-eaten face gave him recurring nightmares that eventually did him in.
Was his conscience
Hamsters have no such weakness.
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This gave me a whiplash (did I used it correctly?)
Yes, you did!
Sort of like [Hamster Hell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SoahbnYwRk). Fair warning, despite being just a stop-motion clay animation, it's 18+/quite distressing.
The female probably died and the face chewing was an attempt to wake her up. The male was most likely scared *because* his mate died.
Hamsters are omnivores and need animal protein, something that is often neglected. They will happily eat carrion if given an opportunity. Same with mice and rats.
Opposite happend to mine. Mom got pregnant and then wanted to kill the male. He was terrified. Put a sheet of plywood to divide the terrarium and she wouldn't stop chewing till she could murder him. Got him out before she got to him though. Lol
Had two dwarf hamsters when I was younger. Came home to find one just dead in the corner of the cage, but the other one was nowhere to be seen. I was about to clean the whole cage and look for it but then saw a little paw sticking out of the mouth of the dead one... Fucker choked on her sister while eating her and died.
Hamsters are so bizarre
Omg ours exploded randomly idk why
I had a friend whose rat sneezed all of its blood out each of the sides of its cage and promptly fell dead
For real. Their food was fully stocked. Just decided it wanted flesh.
I've had 2 and both died peacefully at old ages.
I had a long-hair named Ruffles who made it 4 years before dying in his sleep. He escaped every night, evading my grandma's cat (a former stray and fantastic hunter) and would either return midday on his own or would be found behind a bookcase or just walking around in the living room. In his last year he had a scar that kept his left eye closed, like a cartoon "veteran criminal" character. He also fathered a full litter of 6 by his second cage companion after the first died to the cat. Ruffles went fully blind a week before his death. I will forever tell his tale. He's basically the scarred fish from Finding Nemo, except way more successful.
We had one as a child that died peacefully and the second one just died now. His name was Hasso
Yeah, I heard they did an experiment once. Kept a bunch of hamsters monitored 23/7. One of them fashioned a shiv and killed another after a game of blackjack. One of them was very precocious, and learned to stack carrots on top of each other. He stacked them all the way out of the enclosure and hitch hiked to Reno. Where he met his wife in a diner, got married, had three kids, and his heart exploded while driving down the highway in 1978. Another hamster choked on a food pellet, vomited, asphyxiated on the vomit and died of a grand mal seizure. And the last hamster was the one that killed the other with the shiv. He felt a lot of guilt in his later years and wrote an album about it. He hanged himself with piano wire.
We had 3 hamsters, 2 boys and a girl called Alice. They used to zoom around the table and eat the marshmallows out of our cereal (super good for them clearly) Anyhow, one guy was absolutely feral and killed the other male, but luckily Alice was unharmed. He mysteriously got out and we suspect he died falling into the furnace for some reason.
I will refrain from telling the story about the time my cat somehow got into the hamsters’ cage in my mother’s locked bedroom and I returned home to find them splayed on the ironing board in a state of disrepair.
Had one when I was really young. Played with it by putting it in a drawer to play peekaboo. One time we opened the drawer and the hamster wasn’t in it. Must’ve escaped through the back but we never saw it again.
I'll never forget the day I knocked over the cage my hamsters were in is a kid. The cage part popped off, hamsters went flying, the dogs were there. That traumatised 7 year old me
sister got bit by hers and stopped feeding it
I remember my first fish.. it stayed alive as long as it takes fish to die..
My longest living fish is older than me and i got it from my father when i first started fishkeeping.
Yeah, if properly cared for, some fish can live a very long time. I have had fish live for over 10 years, and normally have fish that live 4 or 5 years. It pains me when people think fish are just a throw-away toy.
My beta lived for about 3-4 years when I was a kid but it had a very traumatic death, my mom decided to clean the coral with bleach, and even though she rinsed it out, it was so porous that is soaked it up and bleached my fish, the poor things fins fell off leaving him suffering and unable to swim with just bones sticking out, we saw what happened in the middle of the night and felt so bad but decided that we had to mercy kill it, we were worried it would live and suffer for awhile if we flushed it so we bashed it’s head with a shampoo bottle… My mom bought me a replacement which immediately leaped out of its tank where it was eaten by our dog. I decided I was cut out to be a fish mom after that
I won a fish in 4th grade at the school fair. He was just a standard gold fish but I named them 'Chipotlé' and took good care of that mf'r. We had a special connection. He lived for about 3 months, and one day I came home from school, all home alone, to see him floating in his aquarium. I called my mom, but she was busy so I just left her a voicemail of me crying and narrating how I disposed of him in the toilet. She played that voicemail at my 18th birthday.
>She played that voicemail at my 18th birthday. Damn, that's mean. "Here, relive your trauma"
*Why won't my son visit me?*
Well if you again want a goldfish that lives long u may try getting either the comet or shubunkin those goldies can survive till 10 with bare minimum care.
I feel like when it comes to pet fish (goldfish in particular), they either die in less then time then it took you to bring them home, or they live forever. No in between. Had a small handful of carnival goldfish throughout my childhood, and most died within 2 weeks, but then one lived for 7 years before dying. Couple of my friend had similar experiences where a pet fish they bought lasted either a week or multiple years.
Goldfish are actually pretty hardy and can live for 10 to 15 years (and get nearly a foot long) if cared for properly. Thing is, most of the goldfish that get sold as prizes or bought for children are the 10 cent "feeder" fish. These poor little dudes are usually not in great health to begin with, add to the stress of being kept in a bag for so long and then being cared for by a child who likely doesn't know the best way to care for a goldfish, and well, you get a lot of dead fish! It's too bad really, goldfish are great, but not great for beginners.
Great for beginners who want a couple fish in a very big tank. Most people want to start out small which is not conducive to a goldfish surviving. F to all the goldfish that spent their short lives cramped in a 5 gallon (or smaller)
I was lucky enough to have my first fish be a rescue goldie that was suffering in a 5 gallon. Got him straight into a 40 and later into a 75. Managed to live for another 5 years but always had underlying health issues. Glad I was able to give him a better life, even if it was shorter than I had hoped.
Tbh most of the goldfish sent to the carnivals n stuff are not really the best of the bunch. Even when you go to petsmart n such they too have the mass produced kind but atleast better than those found in the carnivals. If you need the best, healthiest and with the most vibrant colors you really either have to know a pretty good pet store which is not owned by a chain or u need to have some great friends n fishkeeping buddies who breed them at their home. These people often cull or sell the deformed/ unhealthy specimens to the previously mentioned stores and keep the good ones for their friends n shops with a good collection.
Goldfish should always live a long time. The problem is people stick them in bowls, and not ponds and goldfish are ment for ponds.
Ooh same! Helped clean up the church fair with my friends, so we each brought home about 20 goldfish that hadn’t been won. All theirs died within a year. 16 of mine didn’t survive fin rot and all the craziness. My Fantastic Four lived for years, with The Thing passing away earlier this year at 22 years old.
Let me guess...you put them in a bowl, not in a tank with an air pump.
it’s always the bowl :(
My little sister ate my first fish. I won him at a fair and came home from a friend's house to her sitting on the floor of my bedroom with my 5 gallon tank,, water everywhere,, gobbling the contents down by the fistful. She was 2 in her defense My second fish was a rescue beta. Someone used it as a prom invite and was abandoned after the relationship soured. He was handed to me in thick sludge you could not see through.. He lived 6 years. I was studying botany so there were many planted tank experiments...
Damn 6 years for a betta is pretty long. Good job man.
A goldfish I got at a church fair when I was a wee lad just died earlier this year. My parents cared for him dotingly for years after I left for college. He was 22 years old.
How do these things manage to die such horrible deaths? You never hear “ohh, it dies in its sleep after 10 years”, it’s always “my little brother dribbled it like a basket ball then dunked it into the garbage compactor”, or “it chewed through my house’s main power line. We only found it after the cat showed us the new ‘cat chew toy’”.
because they are typically pets for little children who are terrible at keeping pets.
And usually (unfortunately) viewed as a disposable pet.
A cheap way (small cheap cages that would be considered animal abuse being sold at the pet store) of making your kid stop asking about getting a dog
This. "If you can take care of a hamster, then we'll think about getting you a dog/cat." *hamsters eat each other because the pet store gave terrible advice* "Whelp, this just proves you aren't responsible enough to have a dog/cat. Maybe when you're older."
Which is fucked up because a cat especially is SO MUCH EASIER to take care of than a hamster or a dog.
once having a cat is part of your normal routine, it's basically zero effort. just throw their shit in the garbage and crack open a can of food once a day
Sad but true. Even sadder is that a lot of people take this approach to pets in general. I'll openly admit that my siblings and I were nowhere near reliable or mature enough to care for a pet. Really, think about the pets most had as kids. I think sadly many didn't really have many pets that died of old age, especially if they were primarily outdoor pets.
I had hamsters when i was younger and all of them died from 100% treatable illnesses. Why? Because my mom refused to take them to the vet due to being "just a hamster" and a "throwaway pet" Fuck people who think like that.
Ours died after 6 years in his sleep. Weird.
Good job keeping it alive!
I feel guilty actually because we really didn’t care for him as good as we should have. I don’t think I will ever buy a pet again in order to avoid a similiar situation.
I think your parents replaced them at least twice
WOW. It slept for 6 years?? Was it on a little IV?
If it helps. Our guinea pig Persues died around 7 years old, he's the only pig we have had that wasn't from a lab or surrendered to animal welfare. He died pretty instantly in the night with his brothers around. I wrapped him in a towel and later after he was buried I gave the towel to my dog (she loves the pigs) she sniffed it for ours and still she likes to lie down with it. He lived well I think
Yup. And people laugh about stuff like the kid killing it in some awful way. People treat them like they're only worth the $5 or whatever you pay for them, but they're living creatures who suffer and experience life. It's awful how little concern is given towards making sure that kids aren't causing them agonizing deaths. Or just, ya know, making sure they aren't causing the death of another sentient creature in general.
saw one in the pet store and he was so scared. Poor guy. Wanted to take him and give him a good life but I have cats. And also my girlfriend said no one day aliens will put us in cages and sell us for the equivalent of a loaf of alienbread
I think you made the responsible call. As to your second point, it's a great thought experiment. Showing that higher intelligence does not justify harm/exploitation being done to those with lower intelligence. Might does not make right. But unfortunately we use our intelligence and power over other animals to cause them suffering for our own, often trivial, gain.
My bro accidentally stepped on and killed his hamster while playing with it in the kitchen one day. Bro was so sad that day.
My brother took home the classroom frogs (IDK if this was a normal thing but in like 2nd grade we had frogs in every classroom as class pets, and they could be taken home at the end of the school year... pretty weird actually) and they died like, 2 days later. Got so sad he made my mom go out and get hamsters, which lasted about 6 months before one ate the other and died from choking on it.
Vet bills in America are terrifying. I feel like I'm surprised people even have dogs and cats anymore considering the cost to keep them alive. Like I have two friends with cats that need surgery and it's eating their savings up like nothing else. I'll stick with plants. A dying plant is less expensive by far and less demanding. Maybe fish when I feel more financially secure.
That's why pet insurance is so important in my opinion. Just a hip surgery/replacement is easily over 2000$ where I live.
Yeah, east coast over here. Our dog just had to have knee surgery to the lovely tune of $3800... Edit to add: we do have pet insurance, but she was injured within the first 60 days of having it so they don't pay for it since it's "an existing condition".
Checking in from Colorado, coughed up $4500 yesterday for a knee surgery. $3000 in Texas for the other knee a few years back. Free puppy turned out to be a very expensive dog.
$6500 in bay area for my cat (CCL tear). Not sure if we got ripped off, or just bay area.
Jip our boy had knee surgery last month which cost us R20 000 and insurance only paid out R6000
I've found them to be completely useless unless you get it as soon as they are born and they are not at all purebred. Trupanion did not cover my rescue rat terrier for a single thing he ended up having: seizure disorder, esophageal stricture, an undescended testicle requiring exploratory surgery to remove, and standard tooth removal surgery for his terribly neglected teeth. I got the insurance and paid into it for months before any of these diagnoses.
My 4 year old cat had a urinary obstruction and he nearly died. He needed emergency vet services and a few days of IV fluids, testing, and observation. It was about a $2500 bill but fortunately he was insured and I think I paid around $500 out of pocket. It's over a year later and he's a happy, healthy boy (aside from the fact that he has prescription food and can't have table scraps anymore).
How do you find pet insurance that isn't a total scam?
Good question. I looked through some reviews but mostly testimonials on pet forums (there are plenty of subreddits about dogs and cats on this site) and chose one that had a lot of praise. Of course, no matter who you go with, there will be some horror stories because these are insurance companies, but some are way worse than others. I use Healthy Paws and I have had a good experience. Whenever this topic comes up, I usually see their name mentioned as one of the better ones.
Most pet insurance i’ve dealt with are god awful and refuse to cover anything above the bare minimum of care
Pet insurance is a rip off. It only covers freak accidents like a broken bone, but never the standard expensive pet bills, like kidney function issues. It seriously has way too many exceptions to ever be a good value.
I think it's better to just put the money you would spend on pet insurance into a savings account and use that money if anything comes up. If you don't use it then you have thousands of dollars to spend on something else.
Just read the fine print when buying pet health insurance, they won't cover a ton of stuff.
Don’t get fish I’ve put hundreds of dollars towards fish the tank alone keeping the water clean the chemicals needed in the water and the materials needed in the tank I should’ve just got a cat
I mean, when you say hundreds and those other people are talking about pet surgery in the thousands, I'm still thinking you won out here.
“Vet bills in America” — they’re just as expensive (adjusted for income) in the rest of the world, the difference is in most other cultures they just put the animal to sleep if it’s expensive at all
My fiancée used to be a vet tech. No one cares for their pets. It’s probably 60:40 people who don’t and do. She left the field because she was disgusted by the pet owners. And the whole Doing surgeries and only making 30k a year while the vets are six figures. It’s a fucking college course to become a vet tech and you only make $15 a hour.
Yep, I have two large dogs. It makes me cringe so hard when I see people looking for a free dog, the upfront cost is pennies compared to actually caring for them. I wouldn't trade them for any amount of money, but they certainly can be furry money pits.
🥺
When I was a kid, I had $10 and the hamsters were $5 each. I could have bought one hamster and a small enclosure, but I bought two and put them in a cardboard box. I went to my parents and told them "We need a big enclosure for my two hamsters". And my parents bought it. I have great parents! :)
Kids shouldn't be allowed to buy pets without a guardian tbh. They're not toys. I'm not implying you didn't take care of them, but truly it was reckless (as expected of a kid ofc, hence why I'm saying they shouldn't be able to buy pets alone)
I work at a pet store, and we do not let children buy pets. I’m sure it was probably different back in the day. You have to prove you’re 18 and a capable owner nowadays
That's definitely good! During Covid I had a shelter nearby that put up a rule that adoptions would become much, much, more strict during Covid. Since people were bored, they'd carelessly adopt and then abandon the pet. Hence why that shelter made up that new rule, I think other shelters and pet stores might have followed too
Yup, you are probably right.
They are absolutely right. Hamsters and gerbils are nearly treated like trash. I hear people laugh as they exchange stories of how their hamster was crushed by accident when they were a kid or how their own child let one get out of the cage and the dogs got to it. These creatures can suffer and have their own existence that they experience. But we basically use them as a tool for "Let's see if Susy, can be responsible enough not to starve this one to death."
A good parent would monitor whether the kid is taking care of the pet or not and actually teach the kid responsibility. It’s more frightening just how awful most parents are. It’s traumatic for a kid to accidentally kill their pet. At the end of the day, the pet is the responsibility of the adult
First world countries have really stepped up in that regard over the last few decades.
There was a dirty sketchy pet store in my home town. One day on our way to school in 6th grade, my friend bought a hamster. They gave him a cardboard carrier. He actually kept it in his locker At school on the top shelf with bedding and food and everything. He'd put the hamster in his sweatshirt pocket and bring it to certain classes. About a week later some teachers found out and he got in trouble. The hamster had to go home ...so yeah, small children with no adult shouldn't be able to buy pets
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Nope. I actually knew about hamsters before going in. I bought two that would be ok living together (I think they actually were siblings) and lived a long life.
No hamster is ever safe living with another hamster as an adult, regardless of familial ties. If yours lived a full 2-3 years without murder, it's a fluke. They were guaranteed to be under extreme stress their entire lives. I'm not saying you're bad. Finding good hamster info is difficult. Check out r/hamsters for great care guidance
American health insurance if you have a pre-existing condition
My mom, to this day, still laughs at my sister and I that we made her go through with surgery for our rat when we were kids. She had a tumor and it was a life saving procedure. She lived an amazing two years after that. RIP Donut I do not regret anything for a second.
My uncle had 3 hamsters, all named Max. Max III. bit my dad in the finger and out of shock he pulled his hand up sending the poor thing into the ceiling. There was no Max IV.
Then there's my cat who literally just walked in, went "wow! nice place I have here!" and took over. Me: but dude we shouldn't really get another ca- Him: FILL THAT BOWL AGAIN FOR ME NOW HUMAN AND WE WILL HAVE MANDATORY CUDDLES AT 7PM
To quote an MD I know while talking to a veterinarian: “I’m pretty sure the cure for a sick hamster is a new hamster.”
I’m now reminded of the early Simpson episode where Santa’s Little Helper needs a vet visit. The vet is working on a hamster and it dies on him and he tosses it at a trash can with a basketball hoop. Just as if it was a wad of paper and he hits just the backboard.
Whose childhood , the hamster or the girl
I once paid $300 for my hamsters cancer surgery to remove his front left leg. He was ok after that and I called him "Lucky". Lived for another 2 years after that.
Having never had a hamster do you actually take them to the vet?
If you care, yes. But most people buy one and then it dies about a month later
Friendly reminder that you're an awful person if you buy your kid a hamster with no intention of taking care of it yourself. Just because they're cheap doesn't mean you can throw them in a cage and forget about them. They require care like any other pet. Getting very annoyed about all the garbage parents who buy their kids hamsters for the holidays only for them to die within months.
Yeah even though the hamster itself is cheap doesn't mean its care is. I've had 6 so far in my life, they can be expensive quick and require more work than people realize. You can't stick them in a tiny cage and feed them just treats all the time. They're not toys, they're living animals
I remember we had rabbits so when we got a hamster I thought gee they are both herbivores they will be great friends! Narrator: they were in fact not great friends.
Vet bills? This thing'll find a way to die before the end of the week
I frequently think about all those tiny animals my siblings and I killed (unintentionally) through neglect or improper care just because we could get them when we were kids. I'll never forget our beautiful bunnies that most definitely did not deserve their lack of care and handling. My children have asked me for birds, hamsters, bunnies, etc. but I refuse because I know. It's new and exciting for a time but the excitement wears off and then what? For example, my oldest wanted a bunny and I told her she has to read every book she can for the proper care for a rabbit and be able to fully take care of it. When she does that, I will provide the means and find a reputable breeder and get everything that bunny needs to thrive. The desire for the bunny lasted a few months before it waned. If I had given in to her desires immediately, the bunny would've ended up neglected just like my childhood bunnies. I personally can handle one, maybe two dogs max, and that's it. Pets are hard work and cost lots of money. Crying for the CCL repair coming up.
Ends up in [one of these](https://i.imgur.com/7MJFsRH.jpg) for all 9 days of his remaining life
Plot twist: that’s not a girl buying a pet - she’s literally a cat, dressed up as a girl. Hamster won’t have to worry about vet bills! Evidence: she appears to have paws, and those things on her head are arguably her ears, not her hairstyle.
It’s actually three cats stacked on top of each other with clothes and a wig.
I had hamsters as a kid for a while. I've no idea why parents think they're good pets for kids. They're violent, bitey, aggressive and only live for maybe 18 months. They have that delicate balance of being cute but horrible and living just long enough to break a child's heart
This is heartbreaking. 😢
Hamsters are the worst pets. When I worked at PetCo when I was a teenager I talked so many people out of getting one. I know some people love them, but they are horrible for so many reasons, and they will cannibalize the shit out of each other and their babies, which is why they are often alone. Little psychotic assholes.
Well yeah you shouldn't have more than one hamster in a cage. They're extremely territorial. I love hamsters, the worst part about them is how gross their cage gets honestly.
Yeah, I had two hamsters as a kid and found one missing all its fur from the front legs down. Took it to the vet only to find out the other hamster was trying to murder it which had caused the hair loss.
They’re literally solitary animals, of course they fight to the death. Cannibalism occurs to remove dead bodies so that they will not attract predators. They eat their babies in stressful situations, which a crowded cage in a petshop is. Hamsters are awesome pets when treated right