i found Haylee's hamster near his food dish today.. he died.

Any ideas on how to break the news to her?

I bought Haylee a new webkinz today before i found out so hopefully it will help.

I'm really dreading this.

She's had him for 3 yrs so he lived a while, he was so sweet.

i'll miss him.

I don't really want to get another one since they are so messy and i'm the one who feeds it, cleans its cage.

I'm pretty grossed out by it, i don't want to touch him.

His cage is in the garage and he looks like he's sleeping.

A
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so hard to lose a pet. Even a hamster! They're so cute.

Maybe let her decide if she wants to bury him in the yard and maybe have a little service for him......(I know, I know.....but she's just a child and this is BIG for her).

My sister had to break the news to my nephew (years ago) that his beloved dog had been hit and killed by a car. It was so sad...but I think she did a really good job of trying to explain it to him in language he (at 8 years old) could understand.

She explained to him that God loves the animals just as he does the people he puts here on Earth. She told him that Flash (the dog) had fulfilled his duties that God had placed him here for and he graduated to Heaven to fulfill other duties God wanted him to do. It was still sad and my nephew was brokenhearted but seemed to understand that Flash had gone on to a bigger and better place and would find happiness there, too.

I don't know....might not work for your child....you know her best. But it seemed to pacify my nephew.

I'm sorry your hamster died.
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Good luck this afternoon with Haley.....I'll be praying for you both.
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Oh, how sad that the hamster died. I wish you the best of luck breaking the news to your daughter. Not knowing your daughter or her age, it's hard to me to give advice on how to break the news. It may even be too late in the day to give any advice anyway.

My DD has had many hamsters - every 2 years they died like clockwork. When it was getting close to the 2 year mark, I always explained to her that the hamster was getting old and pretty soon it would pass away and go up to hamster heaven.

She now has a "hamster cemetary" around the pine tree in the backyard. We put the hamster in a little box, sometimes with a tissue or a bit of his food as a symbol, then we have a little ceremony in the backyard.

Since she had so many hamsters die, she decided enough was enough and got a guinea pig. So I got hamsters for myself because I love them.

If you told your DD, did she take it well? What was her reaction?

Poor Haylee was devasted....

She really had a time understanding heaven and watching over her etc...

so we ended up buying an adorable dwarf one, it is so cute.

She did end up having a burial for him.... so sad... she said a prayer .


Now she's singing.... go figure...

It's rough telling the little ones when something like that happens. My daughter had so many critters. You know they'll be upset when you tell them but you have to.

I think I used the Rainbow Bridge story a lot with my little girl. That seemed to help her.
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I forgot about the Rainbow Bridge...

I'll have to tell her about it.

Now she had a new hamster to love! It is hard for kids to understand death at a young age. I hope her hamster lives a long and healthy life (well as long as these little things live for!).