Frisky the hamster’s life:

Frisky had a very good life. I first got him for  my 10th birthday along with an aquarium, a wheel, a ball, a food dish, a water bottle, pine bedding, and a hay hut. I got Frisky because he was the only one in the pet store who did not look diseased. Even to this day I wonder if he really was diseased.

I tamed Frisky and he was not a shy hamster. For over a year I was afraid to take him out of his cage to play because I thought he would escape. I eventually outgrew that fear as he became more and more used to me. Near the end of his life I even let him run around on our dining room table.

Even though I took care of him and all that, my father was really his best pal, for both of them are/were nocturnal. I mean, really–my dad goes to sleep at about 3:00 in the morning, so he had a lot more time to play with Frisky than me.

After a while, we got Frisky a wire cage add-on with three extra levels to go on his aquarium. However, that add-on made it impossible to keep the big wheel Frisky liked in the cage, so we put in a smaller one instead. He then became obese because he refused to run on the little wheel. When he got old, he stopped clipping his own toenails, so my dad and I had to. We tried unsuccessfully for a long time, then finally I cut one toenail and I was soooooo proud.  Then he died. My mother told me that he was running on his wheel just the other night (eventually we took off the add-on and put back the bigger wheel).

Farewell, Frisky! I’m sure you went to Hamster Heaven!!