pluto breathed his last at 2230 hours mst on the 27th of january 2013.. didibhai died a day earlier five years ago, 26th january 2008. i would like to dedicate my february blog to him. pluto came to us on the 21st of jan 2012. he was a gift to putul who was rewarded for her excellent financial skills. she chose the name `pluto' for him. he lived with her and didon for a while before putul realised that he was probably lonely when no one was at home. she used to bring him to gombak whenever she came over but for most of the days he remained there until putul and ma felt he would probably be better off here with us.
and so the attachment grew with the daily feeding and cleaning. to take better care of him, i googled `hamsters' to understand them better. their diet includes dried food, berries, nuts, fresh foods and vegetables. it was said that hamster behaviour varies depending on their environment, genetics, and interaction with people.
pluto was a russian dwarf hamster. he was good looking and extremely clean. when putul first learnt of similes in school, i asked her to give me an example of one, she immediately came up with `as clean as a hamster'.
hamsters have poor eyesight; they are nearsighted and colourblind. to compensate for their poor sight when in unfamiliar territory, hamsters have scent glands on their flanks (and abdomens in chinese and russian dwarf hamsters). a hamster rubs these areas of its body against various objects, and leaves a trail of smells to follow to return to its home den. hamsters also use their sense of smell to identify phenomes and gender, and to locate food. they are also particularly sensitive to high-pitched noises and can hear and communicate in the ultrasonic range.
during the first month, he would almost always snap and bite if we were to pick him up or touch him without first making a sound. eventually we learnt to call him before opening the cage to take him out.
ma called him pulto. and it sort of became his unofficial name. didon called him plut plot. i called him all the `toes' including baby. over a period of two months, he came to recognise our voices instantly and would look up the moment we spoke to him. he knew, it was him we were speaking to. we had conversations and he seemed to understand what we were saying.
he never made a sound except when he was suffering in the heat, so we would take him out and wipe him with his wet wipes. he would sit in the corner of the sofa and dry himself, before dozing off.
he stopped eating the commercial food we bought for him. so we shared with him all the vegetables we ate, cooked and uncooked. he adored the greens. and loved chocolates and ice cream. later i read that we are not supposed to give him sweet stuff.
a behavioral characteristic of hamsters is food hoarding. they carry food in their spacious cheek pouches to their comfortable storage chambers. when full, the cheeks can make their heads double, or even triple in size.
eventually we shared with him the fish on our plates and the chicken strips. he ate all that we ate. he became family and we would lunch and dine together.
we took him out once in a while when the cage became too small for him. he would run across the sofa and be on the move until he finds solace in his cage again.
once while cleaning the cage, putul mistakenly loses pluto. he was discovered an hour later under the bench, scared and worried. all he wanted was the continuous pat on his head.
during the new year celebrations, putul noticed his face changing shape. he ate less and became thinner and smaller. i took him to mesho, our vet. he gave him some antibiotics and some meds to be put in his water bottle. mesho said he had a growth, a tumour. it might go away and he might go back to being normal but one cant say.
it did not go away, we witnessed him suffering and it took a toll on us. ma would be checking up on him everyday, every moment and she would feel regret. that sunday, i knew he was going to go, because he just refused to eat anything. i held him in my hands and thought to myself, how strrange this attachment was. i wished he would go, i did not want to see him suffer. when putul came, i told her to hold him in her hands, she did that, and not long after that, he left us. dulbuli and shobuj who were never too keen on holding him, felt the same pain.
we buried him in our garden.
i have his picture on my `skype' and `line' profiles. he was just a hamster. one would use them for experiments and care less if they died. but pluto did make a difference in our lives. our home was lively because of him and he was like this baby always in need of love and care. he kept us entertained and gave us love in more ways than i can even begin to describe.
i was glad to see him go, but only because he was so ill. whatever little time we had with him, we had the best and he will always be remembered for his wonderful company, besides his good looks and his clean nature. i still think of him everyday.
last week i dreamt he was still alive and healthy. sigh....
