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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think this Mum killed her sons hamster?

67 replies

KittysMyName · 31/03/2017 19:27

A woman I know bought her 3 year old DS a hamster. They went on holiday for a few days, so just "left its bowl full of food and made sure it's water bottle was full." A day after coming home the hamster died and she posted on FB how she couldn't believe it and how upset her and her DS were. She didn't seem to think the death was in any way related to leaving it and her or anyone who commented didn't mention it. They all just said sometimes hamsters don't live very long (she had it for just a few months!)

AIBU to think you can't just leave pets on their own for a few days with a full bowl of food and full water bottle and think it's ok and nothing will happen??

OP posts:

rosy71 · 31/03/2017 20:01

I wouldn't have thought being away a few days would cause it to die, especially if it died after they got home. It could have been too cold tho. We had one that got ill & the vet said that's what it was. We moved him upstairs where it was warmer & it recovered.

Small rodents can get ill & go downhill very quickly. They are also difficult to treat. We've had both a hamster & a gerbil die shortly after we returned from holiday. On both occasions they were being looked after by someone else so weren't left alone.

previously1474etc · 31/03/2017 20:01

The hamster I look after for holidays has started taking the water bottle off the side of the cage. I have to remember to look for it regularly as the little sod drops it on the floor. Never seen her drinking from it but it still needs to be there.

roses2 · 31/03/2017 20:01

Hibernation?? It has been pretty warm for the past two weeks!

WankersHacksandThieves · 31/03/2017 20:03

You're being ott OP. A healthy hamster will be fine for a few days with water and food. I am a very responsible pet owner and would leave my cat for 2 nights happily, 3 at push but would usually get someone to pop in and check and replenish supplies for 3 or over.

pigsDOfly · 31/03/2017 20:04

Having had hamsters in the past, I'm puzzled as to why anyone would buy one as a pet for a three year old. They're pretty delicate and need careful handling if they're not to be squashed.

Having said that, if it had enough food and water for four days I would imagine, everything else apart, it would be fine.

As pp said, they can hibernate and seem as if they're dead, hope they didn't bury the poor thing.

MollyHopps · 31/03/2017 20:05

My hamster used to hibernate most winters because dad wouldn't let us touch the thermostat my room was particularly cold.

First time we thought he was dead, dug a hole, and I cuddled him close for ages, crying. Then suddenly he was up and about again!!

I thought I was magic at the time.....

EineKleine · 31/03/2017 20:06

They are desert animals aren't they? Mine never really made any inroads into her water bottle. I'd be amazed if a hamster could starve or die of dehydration in 4 days, with water bottle and food.

pigsDOfly · 31/03/2017 20:06

Also they're nocturnal, so unless the three year old is a very poor sleeper can't see what enjoyment the child would get from watching a hamster sleeping most of the day.

TheFairyCaravan · 31/03/2017 20:07

A hamster could easily last for 4 days on a huge bowl of food and a full bottle of water.

Our's drinks about an inch, two at the most, a week but I change his water daily. I end up chucking more food away than he eats because he picks out all the nice bits and leaves half a bowl of stuff he's not fussed on. Then he has his sticks, biscuits, treats, yoghurt drops. He could live a month on his food store!

YABU. Hamsters can go from being healthy to unwell quite quickly. Maybe she could have done something if she was at home, who knows.

diddl · 31/03/2017 20:09

So it was alive when they got back?

We had dwarf hamsters & I thought that one had died but it hadn't!

HelenaWay · 31/03/2017 20:12

Hamsters just die sometimes for no real reason other than death

WTF

Falconhoof1 · 31/03/2017 20:14

My friend left her cats for 3 days once with enough food and water to last them. I thought that was a bit cruel and the litter tray must have been a nightmare, but they all lived.

BoomBoomsCousin · 31/03/2017 20:16

I don't think leaving a hamster for 4 days without anyone checking in is ideal, because of things like the water bottle being knocked off. But it seems a leap to think the death was related unless there were obvious problems when they returned.

altiara · 31/03/2017 20:19

YABU- hammy was alive and well when they got back. So it was actual ok and nothing did happen while they were away!!

On return, the 3 year old may have squeezed it a bit too hard as he thought it wanted a cuddle or dropped it from a height - this would be a more likely scenario for the hamster dying rather than leaving a hamster alone.

Meluzyna · 31/03/2017 20:21

Was any one else mightily relieved after clicking on the link to discover it was only a hamster that had snuffed it?
Because of the missing apostrophe the bit of the thread title that appears in the list reads "this Mum killed her sons"..... which is frankly a bit of a shocker!

SummerSazz · 31/03/2017 20:24

We leave ours for long weekends and it's fine - hardly any water drink and loads of food. In fact it's biggest threat would be from the cat trying to kill it which it is safer from when we're on holiday as the cat is in the cattery. Ours is now 2+ years old and going strong.

Massive overreaction on here

QuestionableMouse · 31/03/2017 20:26

Some of the poor little buggers from pet shops are so inbred they have very short lives.

ImLadybird · 31/03/2017 20:26

Although I wouldn't have left any of ours alone for that long, I'm sure it didn't contribute to its death. Hamsters do have a habit of dying.

Babyroobs · 31/03/2017 20:26

Hamsters do just die suddenly. they don't generally last longer than a year or two. Whilst it is not ideal to leave an animal unattended, as others have said they do store food and it's unlikely to have starved to death in that time.

EineKleine · 31/03/2017 20:26

Meluzyna - yup, glad it's not just me!

OvariesBeforeBrovaries · 31/03/2017 20:28

I had the same panic Meluzyna

Our hamsters have been left for similar lengths of time. They've all outlived their life expectancy except for the two we hadn't left.

One developed a tumour very, very quickly and went from running around like no-one's business to dead in the space of two days :( and the other one was already fairly old (but we have no idea HOW old because we adopted her from the adoption centre at Pets at Home, she had been given up because she was blind and didn't move around much so she wasn't a "fun pet"), again she just died :(

All the ones that have been left either have lived or are living very happy lives.

GingerMcGrey · 31/03/2017 20:29

My sister had a Jesus Hamster. She thought it was dead so wrapped it up and put it in the shed for a burial the next day. Later that day they found it alive, scrabbling around in a bucket. It had woken from its death/hibernation, started exploring and fallen into a bucket. It lived for another 12 months before finally dying....they check thoroughly before burying him.

SecretNetter · 31/03/2017 20:31

Yabu. A hamster is able to survive just fine with food and water for 4 days.

We leave our cat at home alone for up to a fortnight when we go on holiday. He has his catflap and we have someone come in twice a day to put food down and refresh water - usually MIL -but dcat spends about half his time outdoors and frequently she hasn't seen him for a few days. Anyway, he does fine and according to my vet this is kinder on cats than a cattery as they'd generally 'rather' be lonely but left in their own environment rather than have to adapt to new surroundings. Maybe that's the same for hamsters?!

HelenaGWells · 31/03/2017 20:32

Ours could easily have gone 4 days without interference. The water would last about a week if you just left it. I used to change every 2-3 days or so and it was never more than half empty. Food lasted ages as well as they used to stash it. Every clean out there would be at least a bowls worth of food stashed somewhere.

Hamsters often die randomly. We got a pair of roborovski dwarves, same shop, same time, same cage. One died suddenly after about 4 months but the other lived for almost another 2 years.

CatSneezle · 31/03/2017 20:34

Now I am freaking out that I might have buried hamsters in the past that were only hibernating!!

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