In Loving Memory of Gary

Gary lived a happy life—sleeping, grooming, getting petted, wheedling snacks (especially broccoli,carrot sticks, croutons, salad mix, and sunflower seeds), plotting escapes, running on his wheel, arranging everything in his cage just so, rummaging through his food dish to find all the best bits so he could carry them off to stash in his little plastic igloo, dashing around the house in his hamsterball (I’ve seen him do five or six circuits of the coffee table at top speed), and having random spells of passionate digging that left bits of cage litter scattered for several feet in all directions. He pursued all these activities with heartfelt diligence.

Unfortunately Friday morning I found him spread eagle in the bottom of his cage. Mortified I picked him up and pronounced him dead. Took him to Nathan and he said his good-byes. I wrapped him up and took him downstairs and began our morning as usual but with sadness. Allison wanted to kiss him good bye before she went to school so I unrapped him and he took a breath! I thought that maybe if I wrapped him up in a towel and lay him on a heating pad that he'd pull through. Amazingly he started breathing steadily for a while although very labored about an hour later he passed away. It was very sad. We got suprisingly close to him in the short amount of time we had him, He was a sweet little creature. Never bit us and was very playful.

Peter buried him in the common area behind our house and made a cross.