In March my boyfriend and I unexpectantly lost our pet Hedgehog, Odin after 2 years. The decline was quick, going from seemingly normal, healthy and happy on a Saturday, to showing signs that something was not quite right on a Sunday. After trying common remedies that had worked before, and then a vet visit and medication, he was gone by Thursday morning. It wasn’t until after he passed that we learned he had several internal tumors that had caused his rapid decline and early death. Odin was my boyfriend and I’s first pet together. Due to apartment living, he was the perfect size and maintanence level and we had expected many more years with him. The loss was hard and we decided that we didn’t want another hedgehog because we knew it wouldn’t be the same.

Two months later after browsing Facebook, I came across a Syrian hamster named Jordan that was posted who needed a home. He was approximately 3 to 4 months old and had already gone from a pet store, to two different homes, and finally had ended up at My ‘Little’ Animal Kingdom Rescue. Normally when people think of pet rescues they think of dogs and cats needing homes. It made me realize that a hamster or other small pet that you can buy at a pet store for only $10 makes for a lot of people to purchase them on a whim, and after realizing they need a lot more care than just a cage and food, these smaller critters are ending up at rescues too.

Still being in an apartment, I knew that my next pet would be a small animal similar to our hedgehog, and never having had a hamster before, I did my research and knew this was something I could commit to. I contacted the rescue and was able to adopt him and take him home. He was naturally skittish at first in his, yet again, new surroundings, but we gave him time to adjust before trying too much interaction. We decided to rename him ‘Falkor’ after a character in The Neverending Story, thinking it suited him much better. It has now been a month and he has gotten used to us a lot more, even eagerly standing up and waiting for us to let him out of his cage everyday.

I would like to thank My ‘Little’ Animal Kingdom Rescue for taking him in and ultimately letting me adopt him. To donate or to see available animals for adoption, please visit www.Facebook.com/LittleAnimalRescue

Submitted by Amanda D.

If you have a rescue story you'd like to share with rescues rock, email your story and photos to sam@spokane.exchange
your story could be featured here and in the print edition of the spokane.exchange weekly newspaper