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This SO sucks: My daughter's hamster just died, but she's asleep and doesn't know So my wife was changing my daughter's hamster's water bottle, when she noticed how sluggish he was. I checked on him, and he was clearly very, very ill. I took him down to the local animal hospital and, long story short, they recommended he be euthanized. 
This all has happened so quickly. We noticed Marvin was quite ill at roughly midnight, and by 1 a.m. he was dead. It's now 3:30 a.m. Perhaps the most screwed up part in all this, though, is that my daughter has been asleep since 9 p.m. last night -- which means she'll be completely blindsided by the bad news in the morning. 
She's experienced the death of pets before, but this will be the first of her pets to die. In some strange way, there's a sweet side to this: I know my little girl will grow up a bit tomorrow, but I gotta say this is the sort of milestone I don't particularly look forward to. Have any of you parents/caregivers gone through this? How'd it go? [Edited 7/9/09 1:03am] Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου
μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶ τὸ ζῆν τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.” | |
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Lammastide said: So my wife was changing my daughter's hamster's water bottle, when she noticed how sluggish he was. I checked on him, and he was clearly very, very ill. I took him down to the local animal hospital and, long story short, they recommended he be euthanized.
This all has happened so quickly. We noticed Marvin was quite ill at roughly midnight, and by 1 a.m. he was dead. It's now 3 a.m. Perhaps the most screwed up part in all this, though, is that my daughter has been asleep since 9 p.m. last night -- which means she'll be completely blindsided by the bad news in the morning.
She's experienced the death of pets before, but this will be the first of her pets to die. In some strange way, there's a sweet side to this: I know my little girl will grow up a bit tomorrow, but I gotta say this is the sort of milestone I don't particularly look forward to. Have any of you parents/caregivers gone through this? How'd it go? 
My boys have experienced the death of their cousin's grandfather and their dog, nobody in our own family yet. I think kids will generally take these things in their stride. Let your daughter make a special memorial for her hamster and something that can be a keepsake so she will remember him forever. | |
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Lammastide said: So my wife was changing my daughter's hamster's water bottle, when she noticed how sluggish he was. I checked on him, and he was clearly very, very ill. I took him down to the local animal hospital and, long story short, they recommended he be euthanized.
This all has happened so quickly. We noticed Marvin was quite ill at roughly midnight, and by 1 a.m. he was dead. It's now 3 a.m. Perhaps the most screwed up part in all this, though, is that my daughter has been asleep since 9 p.m. last night -- which means she'll be completely blindsided by the bad news in the morning.
She's experienced the death of pets before, but this will be the first of her pets to die. In some strange way, there's a sweet side to this: I know my little girl will grow up a bit tomorrow, but I gotta say this is the sort of milestone I don't particularly look forward to. Have any of you parents/caregivers gone through this? How'd it go? My sons guinea pig died a few years ago i think he was about 8 when we told him he cried his little heart out 
When my daughters died about a year later she was like yeah whateva she would have been about 7 My son now has two mice 1 he named Steve Irwin after the crocodile hunter guy who died right around the time we got them  the other is Sean White who is a skateboarder apparently  What you don't remember never happened | |
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ZombieKitten said: Lammastide said: So my wife was changing my daughter's hamster's water bottle, when she noticed how sluggish he was. I checked on him, and he was clearly very, very ill. I took him down to the local animal hospital and, long story short, they recommended he be euthanized.
This all has happened so quickly. We noticed Marvin was quite ill at roughly midnight, and by 1 a.m. he was dead. It's now 3 a.m. Perhaps the most screwed up part in all this, though, is that my daughter has been asleep since 9 p.m. last night -- which means she'll be completely blindsided by the bad news in the morning.
She's experienced the death of pets before, but this will be the first of her pets to die. In some strange way, there's a sweet side to this: I know my little girl will grow up a bit tomorrow, but I gotta say this is the sort of milestone I don't particularly look forward to. Have any of you parents/caregivers gone through this? How'd it go?
My boys have experienced the death of their cousin's grandfather and their dog, nobody in our own family yet. I think kids will generally take these things in their stride. Let your daughter make a special memorial for her hamster and something that can be a keepsake so she will remember him forever. You're so wise . The hamster episode happened to me while I was babysitting once, and as God is my witness my girlfriend (the little girl's mommy) told her the hamster had a cold, was sleeping, and went out to the pet store and bought an imposter hamster  . | |
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ZombieKitten said: Lammastide said: So my wife was changing my daughter's hamster's water bottle, when she noticed how sluggish he was. I checked on him, and he was clearly very, very ill. I took him down to the local animal hospital and, long story short, they recommended he be euthanized.
This all has happened so quickly. We noticed Marvin was quite ill at roughly midnight, and by 1 a.m. he was dead. It's now 3 a.m. Perhaps the most screwed up part in all this, though, is that my daughter has been asleep since 9 p.m. last night -- which means she'll be completely blindsided by the bad news in the morning.
She's experienced the death of pets before, but this will be the first of her pets to die. In some strange way, there's a sweet side to this: I know my little girl will grow up a bit tomorrow, but I gotta say this is the sort of milestone I don't particularly look forward to. Have any of you parents/caregivers gone through this? How'd it go?
My boys have experienced the death of their cousin's grandfather and their dog, nobody in our own family yet. I think kids will generally take these things in their stride. Let your daughter make a special memorial for her hamster and something that can be a keepsake so she will remember him forever. That's a great idea. My wife already has thrown together a little obituary using some photos of Marvin she had on her laptop .  Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου
μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶ τὸ ζῆν τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.” | |
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Ottensen said: ZombieKitten said:
My boys have experienced the death of their cousin's grandfather and their dog, nobody in our own family yet. I think kids will generally take these things in their stride. Let your daughter make a special memorial for her hamster and something that can be a keepsake so she will remember him forever. You're so wise . The hamster episode happened to me while I was babysitting once, and as God is my witness my girlfriend (the little girl's mommy) told her the hamster had a cold, was sleeping, and went out to the pet store and bought an imposter hamster .Don't think that hasn't passed my mind.  But I wanna be honest.
...Did it work, though?  Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου
μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶ τὸ ζῆν τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.” | |
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Lammastide said: Ottensen said: You're so wise . The hamster episode happened to me while I was babysitting once, and as God is my witness my girlfriend (the little girl's mommy) told her the hamster had a cold, was sleeping, and went out to the pet store and bought an imposter hamster .Don't think that hasn't passed my mind. But I wanna be honest.
...Did it work, though? I don't think I could do that, it would kind of be like lying to my kids. I know they can handle the truth. Death is a normal part of life. | |
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endymion said: Lammastide said: So my wife was changing my daughter's hamster's water bottle, when she noticed how sluggish he was. I checked on him, and he was clearly very, very ill. I took him down to the local animal hospital and, long story short, they recommended he be euthanized.
This all has happened so quickly. We noticed Marvin was quite ill at roughly midnight, and by 1 a.m. he was dead. It's now 3 a.m. Perhaps the most screwed up part in all this, though, is that my daughter has been asleep since 9 p.m. last night -- which means she'll be completely blindsided by the bad news in the morning.
She's experienced the death of pets before, but this will be the first of her pets to die. In some strange way, there's a sweet side to this: I know my little girl will grow up a bit tomorrow, but I gotta say this is the sort of milestone I don't particularly look forward to. Have any of you parents/caregivers gone through this? How'd it go? My sons guinea pig died a few years ago i think he was about 8 when we told him he cried his little heart out
When my daughters died about a year later she was like yeah whateva she would have been about 7 My son now has two mice 1 he named Steve Irwin after the crocodile hunter guy who died right around the time we got them the other is Sean White who is a skateboarder apparently My daughter is 8. I'm thinking she'll take it hard. She asked for him for months, and even made a short flick with him, "The Adventures of Space Hamster," on my computer. I suppose that'll be another keepsake.Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου
μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶ τὸ ζῆν τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.” | |
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ZombieKitten said: Lammastide said: Don't think that hasn't passed my mind. But I wanna be honest.
...Did it work, though? I don't think I could do that, it would kind of be like lying to my kids. I know they can handle the truth. Death is a normal part of life. You're right. I couldn't bring myself to do that. Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου
μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶ τὸ ζῆν τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.” | |
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Lammastide said: ZombieKitten said:
My boys have experienced the death of their cousin's grandfather and their dog, nobody in our own family yet. I think kids will generally take these things in their stride. Let your daughter make a special memorial for her hamster and something that can be a keepsake so she will remember him forever. That's a great idea. My wife already has thrown together a little obituary using some photos of Marvin she had on her laptop . AWWW.... it's okay I took care of a kitten once for over a week and it died, literally, in my hands, I cried all nite long. | |
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Lammastide said: ZombieKitten said: I don't think I could do that, it would kind of be like lying to my kids. I know they can handle the truth. Death is a normal part of life. You're right. I couldn't bring myself to do that. how old is your daughter? I trust even my 4 year old to be able to grieve and move on - if our dog died for example. We love him very much and will all cry a lot, but we have lots of photos and video and can always talk about him. | |
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Lammastide said: endymion said: My sons guinea pig died a few years ago i think he was about 8 when we told him he cried his little heart out
When my daughters died about a year later she was like yeah whateva she would have been about 7 My son now has two mice 1 he named Steve Irwin after the crocodile hunter guy who died right around the time we got them the other is Sean White who is a skateboarder apparently My daughter is 8. I'm thinking she'll take it hard. She asked for him for months, and even made a short flick with him, "The Adventures of Space Hamster," on my computer. I suppose that'll be another keepsake.I think it was a phase with my daughter, my son is a real softy though 
We got them a series of books by Betty G. Birney about a Hamster called Humphrey 
not a replacement obviously but they are great fun What you don't remember never happened | |
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NastradumasKid said: Lammastide said: That's a great idea. My wife already has thrown together a little obituary using some photos of Marvin she had on her laptop . AWWW.... it's okay I took care of a kitten once for over a week and it died, literally, in my hands, I cried all nite long. oh no 
I had a friend in 4th grade that stepped on her kitten and it died, the guilt she felt was terrible - I think I would have a really hard time if my child blamed themselves for something like that that would really hurt me to see. | |
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OH NO! I'm so sorry
Before I had kids I had a pet hamster. It was the most spoiled hamster ever. One day I found it the same kind of way you described - I called the vet and they said it had probably had a stroke. Apparently that's very common in hamsters. He lived for a few hours and then died. I was sooo upset and cried my eyes out. Poor Bumfluff.
We buried him in a teabag box in the back garden and I vowed never to get a pet again. Recently my parents-in-law's dog had to be put down. I was worried how my kids (aged 3 and 4) would take the news. I did some research into the best way to tell them - the things to avoid saying so not to confuse them- and they actually took it pretty well. How old is your daughter? | |
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ZombieKitten said: NastradumasKid said: AWWW.... it's okay I took care of a kitten once for over a week and it died, literally, in my hands, I cried all nite long. oh no
I had a friend in 4th grade that stepped on her kitten and it died, the guilt she felt was terrible - I think I would have a really hard time if my child blamed themselves for something like that that would really hurt me to see.Interesting story. I've really been hoping something bad didn't happen to Marvin when she was around, but was too afraid to tell us. He was fine just earlier today. My daughter's best friend, also 8, accidentally stepped on -- and killed -- one of his newborn kittens last year, and he had a very tough time as well. Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου
μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶ τὸ ζῆν τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.” | |
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florescent said: OH NO! I'm so sorry
Before I had kids I had a pet hamster. It was the most spoiled hamster ever. One day I found it the same kind of way you described - I called the vet and they said it had probably had a stroke. Apparently that's very common in hamsters. He lived for a few hours and then died. I was sooo upset and cried my eyes out. Poor Bumfluff.
We buried him in a teabag box in the back garden and I vowed never to get a pet again. Recently my parents-in-law's dog had to be put down. I was worried how my kids (aged 3 and 4) would take the news. I did some research into the best way to tell them - the things to avoid saying so not to confuse them- and they actually took it pretty well. How old is your daughter? She's 8. Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου
μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶ τὸ ζῆν τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.” | |
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endymion said: Lammastide said: My daughter is 8. I'm thinking she'll take it hard. She asked for him for months, and even made a short flick with him, "The Adventures of Space Hamster," on my computer. I suppose that'll be another keepsake.I think it was a phase with my daughter, my son is a real softy though
We got them a series of books by Betty G. Birney about a Hamster called Humphrey
not a replacement obviously but they are great fun I may look into the book. She'd love it. Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου
μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶ τὸ ζῆν τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.” | |
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Lammastide said: ZombieKitten said: oh no
I had a friend in 4th grade that stepped on her kitten and it died, the guilt she felt was terrible - I think I would have a really hard time if my child blamed themselves for something like that that would really hurt me to see.Interesting story. I've really been hoping something bad didn't happen to Marvin when she was around, but was too afraid to tell us. He was fine just earlier today. My daughter's best friend, also 8, accidentally stepped on -- and killed -- one of his newborn kittens last year, and he had a very tough time as well. we thought our Wally who was 6 at the time, broke our puppy's leg when he jumped on it, and he was devastated - really worrying, but Moppy was walking normally again within an hour. Thank goodness! | |
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 i love hearing all the pets names What you don't remember never happened | |
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Lammastide said: florescent said: OH NO! I'm so sorry
Before I had kids I had a pet hamster. It was the most spoiled hamster ever. One day I found it the same kind of way you described - I called the vet and they said it had probably had a stroke. Apparently that's very common in hamsters. He lived for a few hours and then died. I was sooo upset and cried my eyes out. Poor Bumfluff.
We buried him in a teabag box in the back garden and I vowed never to get a pet again. Recently my parents-in-law's dog had to be put down. I was worried how my kids (aged 3 and 4) would take the news. I did some research into the best way to tell them - the things to avoid saying so not to confuse them- and they actually took it pretty well. How old is your daughter? She's 8. Just don't tell her it went to sleep... I read that it might make them scared to go to bed! Hope it goes okay. | |
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endymion said: i love hearing all the pets names  me too. I always like to have a few ideas - incase I do ever get a pet. | |
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Lammastide said: Ottensen said: You're so wise . The hamster episode happened to me while I was babysitting once, and as God is my witness my girlfriend (the little girl's mommy) told her the hamster had a cold, was sleeping, and went out to the pet store and bought an imposter hamster .Don't think that hasn't passed my mind. But I wanna be honest.
...Did it work, though? Honesty is the best policy , and i think Zombie's idea is very well-adjusted.
...but yeah, it worked, and even her 7 year old brother was in on it. I felt like such a heel every time I babysat after that  . But her mom's justification was that since she was going through an acrimonious, highly publicized divorce, she couldn't bear to see the child any sadder. I still felt horrible though...and quiet as it's kept, I think her brother accidentally killed it from rough housing with it, but by the time I caught onto what was going on all hell had broke loose and Speedy had died | |
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I am so sorry for your daughter . I always took it extremely hard when a pet of mine died. I agree with Charlotte's advice about a ceremony for the hamster .With a very special thank you to Tina: Is hammer already absolute, how much some people verändern...ICH hope is never so I will be! And if, then I hope that I would then have wen in my environment who joins me in the A.... | |
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awwwww, wow, be honest with her and let her do something that will help her say goodbye. | |
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Tell her the hamster went to heaven with Micheal Jackson. | |
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Dayclear said: Tell her the hamster went to heaven with Micheal Jackson.
You're WRONG for that!!!!! 
"Yes my child he's moonwalk with MJ and who knows maybe your hamster and MJ would come back to make Thriller Pt2." | |
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you are pretty wonderful, lamma She couldn't stop crying 'cause she knew he was gone to stay | |
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emm said: you are pretty wonderful, lammayep | |
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Lammastide said: So my wife was changing my daughter's hamster's water bottle, when she noticed how sluggish he was. I checked on him, and he was clearly very, very ill. I took him down to the local animal hospital and, long story short, they recommended he be euthanized.
This all has happened so quickly. We noticed Marvin was quite ill at roughly midnight, and by 1 a.m. he was dead. It's now 3:30 a.m. Perhaps the most screwed up part in all this, though, is that my daughter has been asleep since 9 p.m. last night -- which means she'll be completely blindsided by the bad news in the morning.
She's experienced the death of pets before, but this will be the first of her pets to die. In some strange way, there's a sweet side to this: I know my little girl will grow up a bit tomorrow, but I gotta say this is the sort of milestone I don't particularly look forward to. Have any of you parents/caregivers gone through this? How'd it go?[Edited 7/9/09 1:03am] No, but good luck. Hope it works out. | |
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Dayclear said: Tell her the hamster went to heaven with Micheal Jackson.
Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου
μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶ τὸ ζῆν τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.” | |
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