If you get one make sure the cage is safe as a clever cat can still get in them, My Teddy birman worked out how to get our gerbil cage open luckily Teddy is also very much like a dog so when I told him to drop that gerbil now he did and the gerbil escaped,it lived for a whole year after that and then died. Steve my other half got a really thick piece of wood put little holes in it and then put chicken wire over the holes and made sure it slotted in right over the top of a tank and then not even the cleverest cat can get in

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i had hamsters when i was a kid and never had anything to do with them cause they were never awake. we now (i'm a big grown up girly now hehe) have dwarf hamsters and a part from having to be a little more careful due to their size i would highly recommend them!

they don't seem to be on such a 24hr clock so are up whenever we are around to say hello and get some fuss.

they like to live in pairs or groups so if one isn't very social you'l still have one that loves to be held and fussed

and finally they are super cute and come in all sorts of beautiful colours!

my sister has a siren hamster and she wishes shed got dwarfs now. one caution is that i think one of our girls was poorly and died after about 6 months ad we didn't notice until we cleaned the out and found half her body-the others had eaten her head and upper torso in the two days since we had last seen her, watch out for that one, might be a lesson about life and death too far for your little girl!!

Thanks for all the replies and words of wisdom

The update now is that I have conviced Chloe that having a hammy isn't on the agenda. She threw forty fits like I thought she might but we have a compromise We have given her Susie! She is now her cat. They have a wonderful bond and my daughter is the only one who can pick her up and she'll stay there. Everytime I pick her up or anyone else she struggles to get down but she'll stay put in my daughters arms

I've also explained about being responsible and if she sees her doing a poo or wee in the litter tray she needs to scoop it out using the poop scoop and she was like "Urgh!" and I said well you have to do all the nasty bits aswell as the lovely bits.

She's happy with that and yesterday she spent her pocked money on some little toys for her

I really commend you for this but even more I commend your daughter for being such a good girl about it.

To be honest as others have said hamsters are not great for kids as they are nocturnal. Having had rabbits, guineapigs and rats I would say to give them a decent quality of life (not just sitting in a tiny cage) they take way more energy, time and money then a cat and a child would not be able to provide that. 1-2 hour free ranging a day minimum, large enclosures (I don't say cage as most cages I have (besides the rat's Savic royal) have been home made to double or triple the largest sold cage) with lots of enrichment, daily full health checks...the list goes on. And with a cat in the house that adds additional difficulties - we have a rat bedroom that the cat doesn't go in but then we are up and down all day saying hi to the ratties.

Let's hope that Chloe enjoys the responsibility of Susie - and at least if she doesn't, then getting another pet will be right off the menu!

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