good night little pea

So I have some shit news, last Thursday morning our Moriarty passed away. He was fairly old for a syrian hamster, a few days short of 2 years and 8 months in fact. His health and agility had been in rapid decline over the last couple of months, he stopped using his wheel and struggled to climb the ramp to the first level in his cage. We took him to the vet the Friday before to see about getting some medicine for his ear infection (v.common I'm told in old hamsters) and it was then that the vet found a large tumour in his belly (again, apparrently very common in hamsters). He assured us that Moriarty wasn't in pain or experiencing any discomfort, there wasn't anything he could do for him so we just took him home and carried on as we'd done before. Despite knowing he wasn't 100% and that hamsters had short lifespans I wasn't prepared for the shock and gut-aching sadness I felt on Thursday. I'm not ashamed to say it: I cried a lot for Moriarty, even though I know we gave him the best possible life and all the cuddles and strawberries he could want. I put my v.emotional response down to the fact that I'd never had a pet before and was feeling childish feelings because most people experience this first loss of a pet at a young age. But actually, you know what? Loss doesn't get easier as you get older. We had Moriarty for two and a half years, he was part of the furniture and I loved that little guy. I'm so so glad I took tonnes of pictures and videos of him, he was such a cutie and I have so many great memories of him.

I miss him, particularly in the morning - checking in on him before going to work - and the evenings around 9pm when he'd normally be emerging from his nest or waiting by the door for food or someone to play with - preferably both :)

Good night little pea. No one has ever, or will ever, look cuter eating broccoli.

R.I.P Moriarty x

A video posted by _annie_h (@_annie_h) on Aug 18, 2015 at 2:52pm PDT