Hello, so today I thought I would just give you an update on Cocoa as it’s been a while. A lot has happened in 10 months and she’s has made me more happy than I imagined and had a great affect on my life.
Okay so sadly I have some bad news…. Cocoa did pass away this Wednesday on 28th September, she died peacefully but it was a real shock and it does mean there will be no more updates for her but I thought I would let you know how the last two months have been.
The last two months with Cocoa have been really lovely as I’ve been struggling a lot with living on my own, more than I could have imagined so it’s been really nice having her with me and somehow I think she knew this and had been very talkative with me!
Obviously she was getting very old and had just turned 2 years old last month so I knew it wasn’t going to be long before she passed because she wasn’t eating much anymore and had stopped really moving other than to eat and things but nothing for entertainment, she was also breathing very heavily constantly and shaky on her feet. So she didn’t do much these last few months but still was always happy and would sit with me on the sofa and sleep on my lap and was just really content (as always).
So for anyone who reads this that doesn’t know, I rescued Cocoa 10 months ago when she was already 1 years old after her previous owners gave her up because she was “aggressive”. I have had 5 hamsters before so I knew it would be a challenge but I could take care of her instead of someone else taking her with no experience and finding her difficult because of her age and that she had been neglected for a year. So I decided to bring her home and funnily enough the minute I saw her she came to me almost as if she chose me, so it felt like a perfect match and it truly was. On the way home she acted psychotic and chewed through two boxes in a panic but to my surprise the minute she got put in her new home she completely changed and instantly calmed right down, I don’t know what environment she was in previously but it did take her a long time to trust me and for a while she had no interest in coming near me, she was never scared or aggressive and was very calm but just wasn’t really interested in interacting with humans. It took about 3/4 months to undo a year of neglect but she finally recognised that I was trying to help her and care for her and she ended up becoming a really happy, content hamster.
I say all this because looking after Cocoa taught me that you should judge or give up on something/someone because it could just be misunderstood and just needs love. I learnt a lot about animal behaviour as well because I essentially had to try to tame an adult hamster that was stuck in her ways and what she only knew.
So like I mentioned Cocoa did sadly pass on Wednesday and it has been a very strange couple of days. I was on the phone when she died and was sitting next to her 10 mins before and she was squeaking at me because she had just woken up, and she wanted some attention, so I went over to say hello to her and she decided to sleep next to me for a minute then I went back to the sofa so she went to be, and it was only 10 mins or less and I looked back to see what she was doing and she had just passed. It was very strange how the whole thing happened and I believe she died of old age but it was like she wanted to say goodbye and then she just died, it was just so shocking as she was just eating and moving around a few minutes before! The whole experience will stay with me I think because of how strangely timed it was and yet I think she somehow knew it was her time to go, I will miss her and home has not felt the same with her gone but she is not forgotten and I know she’s with me in spirit.
Anyway I apologise if this is a bit of a more morbid, sad blog today but I thought I would update anyone who has followed Cocoa’s little journey with me and I probably won’t be having another hamster so this will be the last blog about hamster unless anyone specifically wants me to write anything.
Thank you for reading this if you made it to the end! Hopefully I will have a happier blog post next week, bye.
Emily’s Perspective 