On Monday our little girl Poppy, our hamster who we utterly loved, died. I was driving home from late shift at 10pm when my frantic fiance called saying she had found her dead. God it so heart breaking. I dont think weve ever loved anything as much as we loved her.

She's our second hamster and unfortunately our first had to be put down, so this experience is new to us. Its only a few weeks ago now that i posted about our other hamster Nora being ill. (luckily shes all better now)

We were both, and still are shocked by the experience. She wasnt just a hamster... she was like our child, we had her for 1 year and 9 months. , so when you spend all that time with them, interacting with them daily, caring for them and playing, snuggles, kisses, hugs, and when theyre so comfortable around you. she would even lye on us and in our hands and fall asleep she was so relaxed and felt safe. she would get excitied when we came to open the cage and get her out to play and have snuggles etc... she never bit once.

As you can probably tell im finding it a bit hard. Its not just a sadness, but a grieving. I know she had a great life, but whats troubling me is the shock of it.

Since we have never experiance a natural hamster death, is it normall for a hamster to be fine the night before and even in the morning , moving normally, eating normally etc then be found 'Unexpectidly' dead? It was a total shock as she seemed fine and had been normall.

It looked like she died in her sleep, from how we found her, she looked as if she was sleeping, and thats what my fiance thought first till she wouldnt respond, but then she felt cold and stiff

We really do miss her terribly. And it is the shock thats the worst, going from fine one day being totally normall to dead the next. I know we had her 1 year 9 months.... so that would make her pretty much 2 years old which i guess for a Syrian is a good age...

But anyways, sorry, my point was to just simply ask... anyone that has experianced natural master deaths.... is it normall to find them unexpectidly dead? you'd think you'd see some signs before it happens etc... Just want some reassurance i guess that its normal and she probably just simply slipped away peacefully in her sleep becuase of her age etc

any replies would be much appreciated. Many Thanks

Rest in peace at Rainbow Bridge My Love. Your Mummy and Daddy will always love you xXx

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RIP Our Little Ruby. Have Fun At Rainbow Bridge. We Will Always Love You xXx

RIP Our Little Girl Poppy (Munchie) 20.02.10-21.11.11 Have Fun With Ruby At Rainbow Bridge. We Miss You And Will Always Love You xXx

Im sorry to read about the loss of Poppy. I dont really have much experience with hamster so cant really offer any advice there, but I'm sure someone on here will come along soon and give you some advice.

RIP Poppy.

ETA What a pretty girl.

The only thing I can think of was,was she actually dead?
Hamsters are known to go into hibernation if they get cold.

Sorry for your loss x

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I'm Amy I have a
German shepherd-blade.
10 male rats.
2 male mice.
1 Syrian hamster.

Yes she was dead. Believe me i tried everything to make sure it wasn't hibernation. The room temperature was above 18oC , avg around 20. She had plenty of bedding, she was icy cold and stiff by time my finance found her at around 10pm, so had obviously died sometime in the afternoon while were both at work. Obviously my fiance didn't think nothing of it as Poppy liked to sleep in the day and only emerge around that time anyway. As i say nothing seemed out the ordinary even the days before. Only the night before we was cuddling her.

After we found her we wrapped her in a towel, and put her in her carry box, so if the slightest possibility she was hibernating... (we knew she was dead... but when your grieving you struggle to come to terms so you still think 'could she be hibernating') which i doubt at a room temperature of that... then she should of come round as that night and the next day she stayed in that towel. There was no signs of breathing... not even once a minute... as Hibernation they can breathe only once per minute, but apparently you should still see their whiskers twitch every now and then....but i must have been sat there desperately looking for signs of life for 20 mins or so, but not one twitch of whiskers or breath did i see

But thank you for your reply i would of loved it to be the case... but sadly not.

Thank you jugsmalone , she was a Real beauty. I love that Picture of her. She posed so well for it as well. That's how we'll always remember her by

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RIP Our Little Ruby. Have Fun At Rainbow Bridge. We Will Always Love You xXx

RIP Our Little Girl Poppy (Munchie) 20.02.10-21.11.11 Have Fun With Ruby At Rainbow Bridge. We Miss You And Will Always Love You xXx