Mariel of Redwall, circa August 2007 - August 9, 2009, R.I.P.
JOYCE:
I do not know how it is possible for humans to fall madly in love with furry little creatures but that’s how it was for Ron and me.
Sweet Mariel with Joyce
We got Mariel, the object of our affection, all by accident; she was a birthday gift to our son Wolf two years ago. I was initially flummoxed as I had already retired from my hamster-rearing years AND I had 8 cats and 5 dogs in the family. I did not need ANOTHER family member, no matter how small.
But, all that was thrown out the window when Mariel started displaying signs of diarrhea two days after she arrived in our household. My mother-instinct kicked in and that was the end of all my protesting.
After several desperate texts to animal-friendly friends, Josie from CARA (Compassion and Responsibility toward Animals) responded and gave me the number of Vets In Practice which is the only vet clinic in Tiendesitas. Here in the Philippines, your typical vet graduates with very little practical experience in dealing with creatures that are not cats or dogs. Or horses. At least this was the explanation given to me by one vet I called asking if he would take Mariel in as a patient.
So I rushed her to Vets in Practice and ended up meeting some of the finest vets in Manila! The attending vet at the time
Joyce with Mariel
was Dr. Neil Donato and he said Mariel was suffering from a simple syndrome called Wet-Tail: a killer if not medicated. Wet-tail is triggered by stress when hammies are separated too early from their mothers.
After a shot and some oral meds, we ran off to a pet shop to buy a mansion for Mariel – it was a two-level orange cage with tubes for her to crawl through, a sandbox, a “cave” and a wheel for her to run on.
Eventually, I had to buy her a bigger wheel because she was getting too big. Hamsters need to run like you and I need to breathe. So I was extremely relieved to have found a big wheel that I could attach to her orange mansion because most of the wheels they sell in Manila petstores these days are wheels for the dwarf-ish Siberian and Rovorovski Hamsters. Mariel was a Syrian Hamster – they grow to about 6 or 7 inches long!
And thus, Mariel became a part of our family.
RON: … I’ve never really been into rodents as pets… not even growing up… not hamsters, not mice, not guinea pigs, not even rabbits… rabbits are really just rats in bunny outfits! HAHAHA! No offense to all rodent lovers and your pets! ya, Johnny? (our friend Johnny Besa had the kewlest rat! She used to just perch and run around on his shoulder playing hide-and-go-seek under Johnny’s long hair while they roamed the streets and malls of Manila) But Mariel was sweet and made us laugh alot and has changed my mind at least about hamsters! When she had been with us just a couple of months, we got her one of those plastic balls to run around in. One of the kids left her alone in our room to “run free” for awhile. Somehow she managed to break out… when i got home i saw an empty cage, an open ball, put one and one together and wondered whether or not our cats could add faster then me! apparently not… i spotted her ducking in and out beneath one of the cabinets in the room and wondered, “how am i ever gonna catch this creature!!!!” The only thing i could think of was to crawl up to the cabinet, hold out my hand and call her name. Amazingly, she popped out, sniffed at my hand, and jumped onto it. Like i said, sweet.
Problogging Mariel!
Best Memories of Mariel:
– Mariel’s full name is Mariel of Redwall. She was named after the warrior girl mouse in the novel “Mariel of Redwall” by Brian Jacques. I know it’s kind of sacreligious to name your hammie after a mouse but I was pressured to call her something when we took her to the vet the first time. Mariel of Redwall was such a heroic mouse girl and both creatures fall under the classification of rodentia anyway… so there…
Mariel of Redwall book cover
– Mariel running around in her plastic see-through ball. She was just like that hamster in the movie BOLT!
Joyce playing with Mariel
– She was our breakfast and dinnermate. We’d put her orange mansion on the table and feed her scraps. Her all-time favorite was scrambled eggs. But she also enjoyed Sourdough Bread, nuts, chicken, cheese and grapes. Yogurt was another of her favorites.
– Discovering a lump in her groin. I was so upset that day because I thought it was cancer but Dr. De Villa at Vets in Practice quickly pronounced it an abcess and proceeded to pop the lump. She was fine after that.
Mariel would eat ANYTHING!
– The Great ESCAPE! Mariel escaped one day – hammies are known to be the Houdinis of the furry world so she was just being true to her species. Thankfully, we keep her in our room where the cats are off-limits. Ron was her rescuer!
– Mariel NEVER EVER bit anyone because all she knew was love, patience and gentleness from us. But there was one time when she got so frightened that she nipped my hand hard (thankfully it didn’t draw blood) and tried to scramble off. Ron was blowing his nose in the bathroom and he was blaring away like a blinking trombone at the time. Hmmm…. could THAT have freaked her out? LOLOL!
Mariel SUDDENLY freezes!!!
– Mariel would never stop for photos. So all the pics here you see are miracle shots. But there was one time a couple months before she passed on when we had her on the bed. She suddenly froze flat on the blanket. Ears down, body low and as still as a rock. It lasted for more than 30 seconds! Ron, Diandra and I were totally freaked out.
– Rock climbing on the bed was Mariel’s favorite sport. I’d take her out the cage and she would be tooooo frisky for my sensibilities. But I loved spending time with her so I would put her on the bed and I would build mountains of blankets and pillows to keep her busy. Falls are bad for hamsters – and thankfully Mariel had never ever fallen in her entire time with us. For those of you who are turning green at the thought of a mouse-like creature scurrying all over my bed, don’t worry;
Mariel on the BED!
hamsters are VERY clean and spend several hours a day grooming themselves. Her cage was washed and re-bedded every week with imported wood shavings and special scented hamster dust.
– Monkey Mariel. Ah… she was such a monkey! She would cling to the bars of her orange mansion and chew at the metal. She would catch our attention that way to tell us she wanted a treat.
– Running alllll night. Mercifully for us, we had gotten her one of those “soundless” wheels. It wasn’t exactly 100% quiet but it was muted enough for us not to be bothered at night.
– Cobra Mariel. So funny! She would stuff her cheeks with tidbits and goodies and then she’d walk around looking like a hairy cobra getting ready to strike.
Cobra Mariel, getting ready to pounce on a Sunflower Seed!
– Zombie Mariel. She started getting wrinkly 6 months ago. And she began to “grow old” little by litte, day by day. The past month was a difficult one for us because Mariel had already lost so much weight and was looking just like a Franken-hamster. Zombie-like, really. And she was walking like the living dead too! It reached a point where I would wake up in the morning and ask her, “Mariel, you’re still alive?”
But we couldn’t put her down because she had the appetite of a horse! And she still kept trying to groom herself. But of course, all that ended today…
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My last photo with Mariel... 😦
Oh Mariel, how could it be that we loved you with a love that was beyond your size? And how could it be that you gave a joy that was so much greater than yourself? And how could it be that you are forever still, lying cold in Ron’s Pei Pak Wa box… 😦
I am hoping that I will see you in heaven one day with all my other long-gone furry friends. But if it’s true that there are not pets in heaven, then I can trust that my God will make sure that I won’t feel bad about it when i get there.
But I would like to think that if God has inanimate objects such as streets of gold and bejewelled gates in heaven, then He’d be gracious enough to include our pets. Besides, what else are the gates there for except to make sure our kitties, doggies and hammies don’t escape?
See you in heaven Mariel!
Thanks to the wonderful doctors at Vets in Practice – Dr. Raymond de Villa, Dra. Siday and Dr. Neil Donato for doing the best they could for Mariel when she was ill and when she started getting old.
Yuuumy Hamstah!!! Photo by Diandra Requiestas
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I’ve been stuck at home over a week due to gout!!! ouch… Blame it on not keeping careful check on one of our favorite things…
I enjoy pushing Ron around as it is my wifely prerogative to be pushy (LOL) but I have to control myself from racing around the mall!
The Titular Papers 