Welcome our new addition

I would like to introduce a new addition to our family.

Meet Ieuan (pronounced Yay-an) the Syrian Hamster.

Ieuan joined the family a week ago. He wasn’t really planned, but we had been thinking about getting a pet for a while. I didn’t really want any pet other than a dog, and Josh wanted a fish, so we went for a compromise and got a hamster instead.

Last Wednesday we moseyed down to the pet shop and Ieuan was the first hamster to run up to the bars of the cage to say hello. In hindsight maybe we should have realised that it would be a mistake to take the most energetic, lively hamster there. The first thing he did when the shopkeeper opened the cage was to fling himself into the wild beyond off her hands and land on his back on the floor. Then later when Josh was holding him he made another break for it. Unfortunately Josh was talking to the shop keeper at the time so I put my hands out to try and stop him escaping. Josh assumed I wanted to hold him and so let him go. By which time Ieuan was off like a shot, clawing his way all over me before, again, shooting off into the wild blue yonder and landing on his back on the floor.

So…maybe not the best of starts. But as we had already nearly killed him twice we felt an obligation to take him home. Ieuan has settled into his new home well (which by the way is proportionally bigger to Ieuan than our own flat is to us – such luxury!) and we’ve been handling him daily and he has calmed down a lot.

I really wasn’t sure about getting a pet. I mean, small animals don’t do a lot and you just have to clean then out and feed them. But my affection for him is growing daily. Josh is out so much that it’s nice to have Ieuan out running in his ball while I sit reading on the sofa at night. He already recognises the sound of our voices and comes out of his bed to say hello when we get back from work, and he loves being groomed (which he needs because he has funky hair which sticks up in all directions!).

So, until we live somewhere we can have a dog, Ieuan is the next best thing. Welcome to the family!