My little man is dead. September 14th 2006 at about 11:43 in the morning, I watched Mu take his last breath.

My lil hamster outlived his species' life expectancy by two years.

I noticed last night that he was flopped down in front of his nest, looking kinda flat. I called my parents in and they came out and said he was still breathing, so I came in to see. Mu was just barely raising his chest on one side, only taking a breath about every nine seconds. I didn't really expect him to live through the night.

I stayed home from school today (it was a half day anyway) so I could be here to take care of him. When I woke up, he was still breathing. He hadn't moved from his spot at all though. I found out that if you barely touch the back of his spine, you can feel his heartbeat, so that was good. I kept checking fr his heartbeat, but I was really nervous because his body had like, no substance. You could feel his organs and his bones by barely touching his fur. But he was still breathing and his heart was still going at least. About an hour ago, I came in to check on him and he was twitching his legs a bit and climbed out of his food bowl. After he stopped twitching, he just went lifeless again and started lurching his head forward occasionaly. It didn't look like breathing, but his heart was still going, so I assumed he was alright.

I came in to check on him about fifteen minutes ago. Good timing apparently. Mu took a BIIIIG breath, held it for a second, and then slowly deflated it. I waited for maybe three minutes and never saw a breath. I felt the back of his spine and his heartbeat was gone. I know it may sound a lil silly to whoever reads this that I'm so emotional over a hamster. But I love animals so much. It's one thing to hear about an animal suffering and dying. It's another thing to experience it.

So my baby boy is gone after a good four year lifespan. (With a few months on top of that, he was in the shop a lil before I got him, after all.)

So I'd like to get a new one as soon as possible to get my mind off it.

And no. Despite what everyone keeps asking, he won't be "Mu Jr." Seriously, why in the heck would I do that? Way too sad. No, I'm actually thinking of looking for a black and white one and naming it Shamu or something like that. Hopefully tonight since mom's going out anyway. Maybe Dad'll run me down there real quick.

I loved ya, baby. Keep Steve Irwin and MomMom company up there.

Lots of love to Hamutaro "Mu" Kunzaki

-Chi <3