Watching little pets get old is so hard!

[Freela]

Besides the guinea pigs, we also have two Syrian hamsters, Gwyn and Carmen. Gwyn is still youngish and frisky, but Carmen is about 2.5 years old now and you can really tell she is getting old. I hate watching these little guys age because it just seems to happen so fast. She's still happy and living a nice hamster life (in spite of her awful maloccluded teeth which the vet shaves down every month or so), but you can see her slowing down and stiffening up and generally just looking and acting older. It just makes me sad. I've had small pets my whole life and honestly feel burned out on any pet that has an anticipated lifespan of less than 5 years, part of the reason I chose guinea pigs is at least they have the capacity to live 6 or 8 years. But my kids keep getting the hammies and naturally once they are here I love them and wish they would live longer. I know it's silly to be sad when she's still here, but I honestly get more upset watching them age and be ill than I do when they're gone. I just hate this part of having pets. They are worth it, but it's hard.

 

[VickiA]

I know exactly what you mean. Loved our hamsters but their short life expectancy was tough to deal with regularly and time from bringing them home as youngsters and watching them becoming frail seems to pass so quickly. I find it hard watching the piggies age but at least we have longer with them.

 

[Deleted member 122615]

All you can do is give them the best life possible. we had to take the eldest rat to the vets yesterday where unfortunately it was his time to pass over the rainbow bridge, he was a rescue and he was 3 and a half years old and, although we were all sad at his passing, we knew we'd given him an excellent 3 years, he even boggled when we gave him his favourite of mashed potato yesterday before the trip to the vet.

 

[Claire W]

It really is sad seeing small rodents get older My gerbils turn 3 in September, their average lifespan in 4

 

[DMS260820]

It really is sad seeing small rodents get older My gerbils turn 3 in September, their average lifespan in 4

Don't worry I've had a gerbil go to 5, you might have a while yet .

I get worried though when I think about Dot being 4 soon and pigs lifespan is 5 - 7

 

[Freela]

Thanks everyone. It is good to have a place where I can say this and people understand. Most people are like, "It's just a hamster, get another hamster." Of course that's not how any of us feel about our little guys... I don't want another hamster, I want THIS hamster to be around for longer!

Out of my pigs, Hadley turned 5 last October, but as she doesn't visibly appear any older I am still able to disregard it and not think about it. Once they start showing it, I start to feel upset. I know that it's the natural life cycle, but I wish we could make hamsters live like guinea pigs and guinea pigs live like dogs!

 

[alpacasqueak]

Totally know how you feel, my hammies and rats just seemed to suddenly get old so quickly
Having the same feelings with my Jess atm, seeing older pics then looking at her now is hard but at least I’ve had nearly 7 years with her. Hope you still have lots of time with them to come x