In honor of Valentine's Day I am sharing the new love of our household. Her name is Roo. She is a Russian Dwarf and about 3 months old now. I did not mean to get a hamster but made the mistake of looking at them at the pet store Christmas Eve and really liked her. Two weeks later she was still there and well....I just couldn't take it as she was very, very sweet and had a great temperament. So here she is. I have made her a large hutch as you can estimate from the cat laying next to it. It's about 5 times the size of commerically made hutches for dwarf hamsters but everyone at our house is spoiled, no matter how small. I have a lot of enrichment in there and the result is we have a very calm, curious and friendly little critter who comes right out to visit. I get her out for a good period twice a day to explore on the couch and forage for seed and veggie bits. Told ya she was spoiled....

You can see that my darling cat is love with her as well. There she is in the second photo with the hutch in the upper corner, passed out with happiness. When our first hamster died a few years ago she really grieved and would sit in the place the hutch had been and cry for weeks afterwards. Our second hamster she didn't attach to the same way. Too soon for her loyal heart perhaps? Now she is ready and I often find her sleeping by the new hutch or just sitting next to it awake and purring.

Happy Valentine's everyone,
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What a wonderful set up! Thanks for posting it.

You know cats get very sleepy intensely watching little prey animals and birds. They also get "hungry" (which I call Bitey-Bite). In life cats eat their prey after stalking and catching it.
When there is no catch or reward for stalking, they bite something else. Ours shred paper!

I'd try the kitty with a tiny plate of a few treats (5 or so) near the cage, for guarding her new friend. This may payoff if little Roo escapes some day.

Cute Hamster, lovely Cat!

When I was 12 I had a Golden Hamster, Harriet, who was huge. We used to let her run round the living room floor every evening, watching out for wire chewing. Our soft GSD just laid and watched her. One evening she disappeared from view for 10 minutes and we searched frantically for her, thinking she had crawled inside the furniture or up behind the unlit fireplace. Then my Dad put his hand down to pick his beer up off the floor, and there was Harriet, head down in the glass, back feet hooked over the rim, lapping at the beer!

Of course, we dragged her straight out and put her back in her cage, where she seemed none the worse for wear. In fact, Harriet eventually lived for 5 years before succumbing to Wet-tail, not a bad age for a Hamster.

Dave.

Thanks for the suggestion Mrs. D. I like that idea and will try it.

I pray Roo never escapes! But if she does, the cat has a long history of gently catching things (lizards, spiders,small snakes, etc) and bringing them in the house alive and almost completely unharmed. She runs in and takes them upstairs while making this strange sounding trill as if she were calling kittens (which she's never had) and of course sounding like she has her mouth full. In 11 years she has only once killed a small bird, a tiny wren fledgling. I had the distinct impression it was an accident. Everything else she has immediately released and I have caught and put back outside. I always give her a treat after this, so maybe she has already learned not to harm anything.

I had fun making the hutch and it is much more secure than a regular cage. My last hutch had a penthouse addition and whole other wing that attached. I'm sure we will make some sort of expansion at some point.
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Dave,

That is hilarious! Thanks for the laugh.
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The cat is my constant companion and has been such a dear to me. She always knows when I am in pain or unhappy. When I had my surgeries we had to move her food bowl into my bedroom because she literally wouldn't leave my side.

They are both just so beautiful. Thanks for sharing Littlepaw.
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Littlepaw,

Have you seen the tubular, modular cage accessories like Habitrail:


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although there are many more, which give your Hamster tunnels and rooms to run through INSIDE the safety of the outer cage. My kids had yards of the stuff for their mice when they were teens, and the little blighters loved racing around the mazes we made for them every couple of months.

Dave.

Littlepaw, your cat and Roo are both beautiful
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