by Jeanne Arsenault
Frederick lived in the house for about six months before we met him.
The children who lived here before us lost him and were leaving food
out for him in the closet everynight. Since I am a lover of all things
that live, I continued to leave the food out and Frederick continued
to take it. One day my husband was emptying the trash and noticed
Freddie at the bottom of an empty trash can. He had somehow gotten in
but couldn't get out. We had a cage in the attic left over from one of
my son's old pets and we made a home for him there. He took to us
right away, eating from our hands and always being friendly and
playful. He was just the cutest little guy. One day while cleaning, I
left his cage open and he got out. We weren't sure if we'd ever see
him again and being unexperienced with hampsters I did not know enough
to leave his cage open on the floor so that he could come back. Two
nights later while sleeping, my husband was awoken by Frederick sort
of tapping on his head. We are convinced that he was trying to tell
Mark to put him back in his cage since at this point I had turned his
living quarters into a 3 room condo complete with excercise room. This
guy was anything but stupid and his ability to survive 6 months free
in the house and 2 years thereafter was remarkable for a hampster and
our talented, intelligent and completely resilient baby will be
missed. I can hardly stop the tears from flowing. It surprises me,
still now, that I could become so attached to a small rodent. But in
my heart Frederick was a giant. Strong, healthy and spry. Our last
night together was tough and Freddy was very ill. He had a tumour and
could barely walk but he still, in all his weakness, tried to get up
his tube and over to his exercise room where he routinely spent his
evenings. He died somewhere between 2:00 and 8:00 this morning. I will
prepare a spot for him in the small pet cemetary we have in our yard
my dog Bailey and I will bury our little friend with sadness and fond
memories of our small pet with the strong will and loving heart. So to
our sweet Frederick....farewell until we meet again at Rainbo