Megan's Gift - Hamster Rescue

Hamster Rescue

Once a week I had a routine of cleaning animal cages, bathing my dog, Megan and cleaning the house. This day was cage-cleaning day.

I had a teddy bear hamster with long fur and a beautiful champagne color. He wasn’t very hand tame. Every week when I would clean his cage I would put him someplace safe in the house in another cage or box with the lid open for plenty of air. I would always make sure the box was tall enough so he couldn’t crawl out. Hamsters move like lightening when they want to. They are so small their escape is not even noticed until it is too late. By then they can be long gone.

This day I had more than enough work to do. Besides my weekly cleaning routines I had an extra load of homework and research to do for my University classes. I decided this afternoon I would give his cage an extra quick cleaning. Instead of taking the time to pull out his temporary home and placing him inside the house, I would clean his cage on the screened patio and watch him at the same time. There was a low round table on our porch. I figured since it was close to the ground and I was cleaning his cage on the floor, it would be easy to watch him and work at the same time. There was a small ceramic pot on the table with no plant in it so I thought he could sit in there. He could crawl out of it, but I placed it in the middle of the three foot diameter table. That would give me time to catch him. By the time he would crawl out of the pot he’d still have to crawl across the table to escape over the edge. With his light champagne colored fur and the black top table, I’d see him in plenty of time to catch him. With Megan by my side, as always, it worked – for a while.

On one of my routine glances he wasn’t there. He wasn’t in the pot. He wasn’t on the table. I checked the carpet on our screened porch, nowhere to be found! I would have been fine with him on the porch if there hadn’t been a hole in the screen. Panic set in.

I quickly came to the realization that he probably was outside. Outside: in our jungle, thick with underbrush. Nothing but thick bushes on an acre of land! He was doomed. I would never see my hamster again. It was over. So I began my futile search, helpless to save my poor hamster. My first thought was maybe he ran up the little walkway to the pool, sticking to trails. I started there. Crawling on my hands and knees I began calling him. This in itself is ridiculous because not only was he not very hand tame, but he certainly did not know his name. Even if he did he was not about to come running to me. He spent his time in my hands always ready to jump out and make a run for it. Hamsters like to keep moving.

So there I was, crawling on the cement calling my hamster in a futile rescue attempt. As always there was Megan, right by my side, well, behind me anyway. I thought, since Megan has much better vision than I do, and certainly a better sniffer, I gave her instructions to look for the hamster. “Help mommy find the hamster Megan. Go on girl.” I admit I had watched too many Lassie movies, but what could it hurt? I continued to crawl on the ground looking in the bushes, calling my hamster, and repeating Megan’s instructions. “Where’s the hamster Megan. Go find the hamster.”

As I was crawling Megan was following close behind me. I figured she was walking behind me thinking “What are we doing mom? What game are we playing?” She must have thought I was crazy crawling around on the ground. As I continued my search, however, I noticed something was a little weird about the way Megan was walking so closely behind me. I also noticed, over my shoulder, she wasn’t moving much. She wasn’t sniffing or looking around just following close behind me. Something seemed off.

I turned around to look at her and make sure she was alright. “Megan, are you ok?” She just stood there, very still. She wasn’t moving her head. She was just looking at me. She wasn’t even panting or just hanging her tongue out. AHHH! That’s when I saw it. The hamster was in her mouth! She was standing there looking at me with the hamster in her mouth!

Being the calm, cool, collected mother that I am I screamed, yelled “Drop it!”, and gave a good swift open hand tap to the top of her head to get her to open her mouth and drop the hamster. It worked. Her jaw dropped open in astonishment, the hamster hit the ground running and right into the bushes. Megan and I followed the events together with our heads – down and over as the hamster made his break for it. Of course all of this happened in a split second.

In the next second I put the pieces together. I realized Megan was not chewing on the hamster, she was not holding him hard in her mouth or else he would not have dropped out so easily. And why was she following me with the hamster in her mouth? She didn’t harm him at all. I also realized in that second that I was an idiot. In my panic to get her to drop the hamster I just set him loose in the jungle again. I blew it big time. I was now back at square one. The search began again.

I continued to crawl on my hands and knees again calling my hamster. I told Megan to find him again. Again, I thought nothing of it. It was just a fluke that Megan found the hamster and brought him to me. What a funny coincidence. How interesting she did not even try to hurt him or run off with him.

“Megan. Why are you following me so closely? You’re bumping into me.”

“AHHH!” There he is again! In her mouth! Again, I screamed, yelled “Drop him!” and tapped the top of her head to open her mouth and drop him. It worked again. Her jaw dropped open, and the hamster hit the ground, again. This time, however, he didn’t run. He just lay there, motionless. “Oh my God he’s dead! She killed him!”

I picked him up gently expecting the worst. There was probably internal damage. She crushed him. I checked him over. I couldn’t find a puncture wound from her teeth. His eyes were fine. He started to get fidgety again. There wasn’t a scratch on him. He was fine. Except for the dog spit all over his fur and a little shock, he was as healthy as can be!

Megan watched closely through the whole exam. She was quite interested. The next second I realized I wasn’t an idiot after all. I was a major idiot!

Twice I asked my dog to help me find the hamster. “Mommy needs help. You see better than her.” Twice Megan found him, picked him up gently and brought him to me. She hung on to him until her stupid mother had the sense enough to notice she was trying to get my attention. What do I do? Scream and smack her head to make her drop him.

Of course the next thing I’m doing is showering Megan with tons of kisses, hugs, and “I’m sorrys”. Boy was I sorry. The guilt overtook me. She was Lassie. She was better than Lassie. She didn’t have a “handler” on the side lines telling her what tricks to do. She thought this all up on her own. The look on her face. She couldn’t figure out why I asked for her help, and once she gave it, I screamed and hit her head. I don’t blame her. What a stupid human.

No matter how much I knew, or even know today, about animals and how special they are and how smart they are I am still a stupid human. I still make the assumptions typical of humans. You know them, the egocentric ones. We are smarter than animals. They can’t fully comprehend the situation. She doesn’t understand what I am saying. Animals act a lot on their instincts. A dog’s instinct is to catch and kill small prey. In those split seconds I overreacted because even though I should’ve known better, my narrow human instincts kicked in and I reacted, or overreacted, on them.

That was a lesson for me. I might think I know animals and know how smart they are, but I’m still human. My knowledge of their intelligence will always be limited. I am the one who cannot fully comprehend the situation. I am the one who doesn’t understand them. I am the one who acted on instinct.

I bowed to the Master. Megan fully understood the situation and helped me out as she often did. She was under control of the situation even in my hysteria. Boy was there a lot of groveling for the rest of that day and night. Anything she wanted. I often found myself having to grovel for her forgiveness. As usual she did not take advantage of the situation, she just enjoyed the well deserved attention.

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Megan's Gift