One bad day - Coming up!

Well, here I sit at 3AM typing this, I am preparing for a 'monumentally' bad day when the SWMBO and little SWMBO wake up. It appears that one of the family pets has committed capital murder.

It all started last night when I was pissed/bummed about my poker game falling through. All of my 'friends' are considerate enough to not email me to let me know they arent coming (making me scramble to make calls to find out they are in fact not coming) so I drank beer and watched TV in the other room and finally passed out. Earlier in the evening my daughter (8) asked me if her hamster was in the cage. She wasnt in the ball which now lie empty in the living room - my daughter has a bad tendency of putting the rodent in the ball and forgetting about her.

Long story short (too late) I awoke on the couch at around 3, and decided to see if the hamster made it way back to her cage that I put out for her. (Not the first time she got loose) Only to find her stiff and wet body lying on the floor with a big hole in her neck. I will admit it was kind of tough to have to find your kids animal dead, but its going to be harder having to tell her and remind her about being responsible cause the dog is a dog and our cats are cats. (Its ironic because we always feared that the cats would sneak in the house and kill it) But it was the dog... (Little Maltese) He basically treated her as a chew toy. Boy am I angry at his little ass, but the part that sucks is hes just a dog too. He doesnt know any better and I cant spank his little ass cause hes just a dumb ol dog who was abiding by the laws of nature. Well, guess Im off to bury this little rodent and get some more sleep before I have to wake them and let them know. (I see Petsmart in my future tomorrow) Im almost half tempted to let her suffer it out until around Xmas cause it would help teach her a lesson on keeping up with your stuff, but damn...

Today is going to suck...
Pancakes anyone?
-Me

Such is life. Lessons to be learnt. Do the burial, leave it a week and buy another.
Hamster ale?

Oh and pancakes would be nice!

Ugh, that sucks. Yes it will be painful but it is one of life's lessons to be learnt. Could I have waffles instead? I like the syrup traps.

Why not flush the evidence, sneak off to petsmart tomorrow for a replacement critter. They all look about the same, don't they? Then sneak it in the house and say you found it behind the couch or someplace. A lost pet that returns is less traumatic than a dead pet that doesn't, I would think.

I would let my kid sweat it out til Xmas... she is 8? This is a good time to talk about growing up and growing responsibility for your pets (other living creatures) that depend on you. Id be sensitive to her feelings, but I would not jump right in and save the day, there comes a time when that has to stop, or it becomes the expected reaction to anything "bad".

I agree with The Pol on this. This needs to be a learning experience...respect and responsibility for living creatures and all that...not that this will make it suck any less.

Her tendency at this age will be to blame the dog and hate him. Keep bringing it back to her and her responsibility for her pet, or the lesson will be lost. Doggie "didn't know any better and that's why the hampster's mommy (her) needed to keep him safe." etc.

Oh, and I like chocolate chips in my pancakes, please.

+1 to The Pol and Bedlam. Time for some learning.

And I hate chocolate chips in my pancakes. I'm with EvilTOJ. I want waffles.

+2 on that teaching responsibility angle. But better you than me today brother.

Either pancakes or waffles are fine, but I need real maple syrup, not that fake colored corn syrup garbage. And butter. Not margarine. Butter.

Oh, that sucks.

We went through a period about 10 years ago when all sorts of little critters were dying. We had rabbits, fish, hamsters, etc along with a dog and a cat. It seemed like the rabbits and hamsters were particulary short lived, and we had tears all the time. We had a cat that tried to take out a small rabbit, but my daughter caught the cat just in time. After that, she paid much closer attention to Freckles (the mini-lop rabbit) being secure. It was a near-miss. I can't imagine the trauma of what could have happened- my daughter would have been heartsick although responsible for the outcome.

Good luck with your daughter. I know we parents hate to see our kids hurt.

my oldest boy still bitches about me throwing the hamster in the bushes. What he doesnt know is that it died and I tossed it in the trash.

For some reason he thinks I just let him go. This happened two years ago.

I figured I would wait until he was older to tell him the thing died.

I grew up on a "suburban farm", my father lived in the city and had no pets when he was younger and therefor thought we should have every god damn animal on the planet. So for a while we had about 125 chickens, 4 ducks, and about 15 rabbits, plus a cat and dog. Well after the dog got a chicken, rabbit and duck all in one week, my brother and I were both very careful when we let the animals out.

Its a good responsibility to have as a youngin'. Chores, feeding, cleaning cages. etc etc etc. And it helps them learn how to deal with death and blame when there young.

You need to get some chickens; They keep the peace!

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Well that was two things I never expected to see.

Rabbits fighting, and chickens breaking it up.

ma2brew that is sweet chickens as cops

My rule is you get one hampster per childhood. You kill it, your done. Exit the hampster phase gracefully.

KD

my wife's hamster just got too fat and died, that's a lot easier to deal with.. sorry to hear about the poor little guy.

My daughter got a pair of mice. One day I heard her screaming bloody murder and I wen tin to find her wide eyes staring into the cage. Apparently she had neglected to feed them or perhaps the one was sick, but anyway, one of the two had partially eaten the other. It was pretty gruesome.

Maybe it was a little bit traumatizing for her, but hey, now she'll remember to feed her animals!

Well, come on, dogs and cats in the same house as a rodent? It was bound to happen sooner or later. Hell, if a cat so much as walks into our front yard, Xander (german shorthaired pointer) loses his mind. I can't imagine actually owning a cat, much less a small rodent. These animals are predatory by nature...I gotta say, sorry for what you're going through, but bringing the rodent into the house in the first place probably wasn't the best of ideas, nor would it be a great idea to go get another one. It's just asking for more trouble. It's not like you can just turn off the canine/feline predator thing.

Evan! said:

Well, come on, dogs and cats in the same house as a rodent? It was bound to happen sooner or later. Hell, if a cat so much as walks into our front yard, Xander (german shorthaired pointer) loses his mind. I can't imagine actually owning a cat, much less a small rodent. These animals are predatory by nature...I gotta say, sorry for what you're going through, but bringing the rodent into the house in the first place probably wasn't the best of ideas, nor would it be a great idea to go get another one. It's just asking for more trouble. It's not like you can just turn off the canine/feline predator thing.

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Yes I understand this and I dont blame the animals for their actions. I keep the cats seperated (for other reasons) and the dog meant no harm. He just wanted to play. But the gross size difference is what caused the hamster to lose.
All is better now. This is a valuable lesson learned for her about responsibility.
-Me

I've a Maltese / shih tzu mix and he is by far the best ratter I've ever seen. Chases and kills squirrels if he gets the chance. Remember that those cute little dogs were bred to keep rats down and to tear burrows apart. Bred to be mean little fighters in tight quarters. I doubt he wanted to play in the least.

S/he was just doing her job, protecting the house from rodents.

capital murder you say? pah! give that dog a commendation!!!

A tough, but useful lesson. Pets are alive & you have to take care of them. I have gerbils and greyhounds. Gerbils are mean, territorial critters. If one gets out (and survives the dogs), you cannot put it back in the cage! It won't smell right & the others will kill & eat it.

Pancakes!

StunnedMonkey said:

Either pancakes or waffles are fine, but I need real maple syrup, not that fake colored corn syrup garbage. And butter. Not margarine. Butter.

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Count me in. Give me the real stuff all the way.

Sorry for the loss of your pet.

Christ... Here we go with a revisit...

I hear a "OH MY GOD HE DID IT AGAIN!!" and my daughter wailing holding the beast.
She was in the bathtub (to be handled) and the dog snuck in there like a ninja and killed the other one. Im shaking right now cause I am sooooo ****ing pissed at this damn dog. (Even though its not his fault) I made sure to point the shovel at him to let him know the next burial will be his.
I gotta get out for a bit... This really ****ing sucks...
-Me