The Hamster Incident

Meet Oliver and Lacy...looking like most calm and peaceful cats... wouldn't hurt a fly, right??....

Meet "cookie" AKA "cheezer...She is absolutely adorable and I have grown to love her. She is sweet and gentle and really tolerant of the children. Unfortunately, she has to learn to be tolerant of adults and cats as well. Last night was the second time she has been terrified by cats because of adult error...

Bo (my dear husband) and I were talking in the kitchen after putting the kids to bed. Suddenly we heard a crashing sound from the back bedrooms. My first instinct was that it was the stool that we fold up and lay against the wall in the kids' bathroom which sometimes slips down, but Bo said "That's the hamster." We ran back to our bedroom and sure enough, it was a sight.

There sat sweet Cookie, climbing the walls of her toppled cage, looking a bit frantic (praise God she was even looking ~ I am so glad He covers for our lack of focus!). The cage had been knocked off our dresser by our stalking cat. He decided that he might be able to break her free, I suppose. Bless her heart.

I took Cookie out and tried to calm her while Bo went and got the vacuum. She was in "flight" mode of the fight or flight reflex. She could not settle down (who could blame her? Sitting there minding her own business when this looming giant prowler comes and starts attacking her cage and actually sends her flying over the ledge for a deep free fall!). I got out her ball and let her run off her nervous energy. That ball circuited the room over and over. There was no stopping in the corners or resting this time ~ just a hamster in a wheel, full tilt without exploration.

When I placed her back in her cage, she dove under her running wheel (we put it down at night so it won't create as much noise and she likes to nestle under it). This reminded me of the day I had heard her pull her wheel down on top of her when the cat was sitting on the dresser next to her cage. I was so impressed with her ingenuity at that time.

We had moved her from our daughter's bedroom to ours because she had difficulty keeping track of safety needs; frequently keeping the cage near the floor in her room, as well as playing with Cookie on her lap while Oliver or Lacy sat nearby. However, we also aren't perfect and obviously forget sometimes to close the door to the bedroom. Oliver has often been curious, but this newly assertive behavior has me concerned (who'd have thought this lazy cat would be so persistent?). I will certainly work to be more diligent of both of us (Bo and I) from now on related to the bedroom door. I mean, when you compare the two critters, who do you think would win??...