Pets

It amazes me sometimes how attached I've become to our pets. We used to have a beautiful cocker spaniel, Biff. Biff was about 15 years old when I had to put him to sleep. The last several months of his life were difficult. But it was still very emotional when the time came to do it. Then our cat died a year later of unknown causes. We did not replace Biff, but we did replace Newman the cat with two more kittens from the Humane Society: Jax and Jinx. We thoroughly enjoy our felines but Hunley the Hamster has just stolen my affection.

Hunley was given to us after his family, who lived across the street from us, sold their home and could not take Hunley, then known as Arnold, with them. We were told Hunley had just recently resurfaced after being missing for months and was living on cat food. Hunley looked very odd, cute, but weird. He has the strangest fur. We don't know if it's because of his previous adventures or if this is a trait of this type of hamster. He doesn't have thick fur just LONG fur. But the long fur is not all over his body: it only grows long in patches! For example, it was long just below his neck. Then that area looked normal but it was long on his back. Then his neck and back were normal and it was only long around his buttock area- making it look like he was wearing a grass/fur skirt.

Hunley came with a cage and an exercise ball. He loves that ball and goes all over the house. Since hamsters are nocturnal we usually put him in the ball after our kids go to bed. We close the child gate at the top of the stairs and let him roll. He almost always ends up in my daughter's bedroom. We always know where he is because the cats follow at a distance. That's the other thing that delights me about Hunley: he is NOT afraid of those cats!

A few times he has somehow opened the ball and ran free. We always know where he is because the cats are on high-alert! They don't get closer than two feet to the hamster, but they always know where his is- which has been lucky for us a few times.

Hunley got a fenced-in play-yard for Christmas. He also got some playground equipment. The cats sit, mesmerized, watching Hunley scamper around his "yard." Invariably, Hunley will scale the fence and escape. He ALWAYS escapes in the direction where the cats sit and the cats seem frightened and run away a few feet and sit and watch again. Hunley approaches again and the show repeats.

We like cutting up carrots and seeing how many he can stuff in his little cheeks. It's amazing how big those cheeks can stretch!

Hunley is a pretty good sport, too. We had a train to put around our Christmas tree and we had Hunley ride in the box car and freight car. He would ride in a circle then plot the best place to jump. He also rides well in Jake's dump truck.

Our cats are pretty good sports, too.