Another Goodbye to a Fur Baby Friend

We knew he was going to leave us, we just didn’t know exactly when. Our little furry friend, my son’s winter white hamster had been losing weight since July last year, and after returning from our vacation last week, he was having trouble breathing.

I took him to the vet, who said that he had a mass in his abdomen (cancer) and gave him some antibiotics to help him breathe better.  We also gave him some baby food through a syringe because we wanted to give him more calories to combat the cancer’s eating away everything else.

I had a feeling some time back that he was going to leave us, and prayed it wouldn’t happen while we were away on vacation. God gave us an extra week with the little guy, in which he did a lot of cuddling (he used to never stand still in your hand) and would just fall asleep in my hand for long naps. In fact, whenever I tried to put him back in his cage, he would run right back into my hand.

Today, it rained all day, the skies dark and cloudy. I noticed him lying on his side struggling to breathe, and I knew it was time.

I called my son over, because he’d been his friend for the entire time we’d had him (from six weeks old on), and put him in his hand as he breathed his final breaths. We stroked him, spoke lovingly to him, telling him what a good boy he was, and thanked him for being such a good friend.

As he breathed his last, the sun broke through and its light and warmth filled the room.

We will miss his funny face, his climbing the cage walls to get our attention, and his playful nature. Who knew such a tiny fur baby could leave such a big hole in our hearts?

But we are so thankful we got to be with him, surrounding him with warmth and love, till the very end.

Goodbye, little guy. We love you!

Joshua Graham is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, winner of the International Book Award and Forward National Literature Award. His thrillers include DARKROOM, LATENT IMAGE and BEYOND JUSTICE, and TERMINUS. Graham's works have been characterized as thought-provoking page-turners.

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