Do you think I'm too old at 59 to be keeping hamsters as pets?

• I'm a lady in her late fifties who loves hamsters,especially the dwarfs,roborovskis and winter whites.I dont feel it'd be fair to keep a cat(which i love) or a dog 'cause i live in a high rise council block of flats,so as i like to have a pet i keep dwarf hammies. The only thing is my health is rapidly deteriating-i have heart probs and possible sypmtoms of bowel cancer-if i were to be hospitalised i'd have no one to look after my pets as my son wouldnt bother looking after them-he wouldnt get them out and handle them etc so they could be left in the cages for weeks or months,or if the worse ever happened and i passed away he'd have to call the rspca to re home them. If i'm found to have cancer-and with my health been so bad anyway should i think of rehoming them both anyway before i might be hospital;ised or should i keep one of them for now as i do find it difficult to cope with two now at my age-so maybe i should choose just one which to keep and rehome the roborovski(as much as i love her) as our robo doesnt seem to like been got out the cage to handle much-but the winter white is a lovely friendly little animal that loves to come out to be handled and to have a free run around the room. What should i do/rehome both due to my health problems or keep just the one dwarf hamster- the winter white-then maybe find somewhere that would take in rodents to board her out if i end up in hospital-or would ''Bella'' be better off staying here in our home and try and get my son to just change the water and food bowl at least,even if he wouldnt ever have her out as he's not an animal lover-especially not rodents-he doesnt mind dogs but i wouldnt have a dog or cat in a high rise block. I use Megasorb in the bottom of the cage which only needs changing every three weeks or so so my son wouldnt have to change the litter if i were in hospital,as long as i was out and back home to loook after ''Bella'' within a couple of weeks. I do have all manner of health issues arising so maybe i should just re home the two of them,even though i dont want to part with ''Bella'' the winter white hamster. I just find i'm so exhausted all the time now and find it hard to cope with two hammies- i did used to have more but i was forced to re home two syrians and two other winter whites 'cause i just couldnt cope and in a small flat theres no room for so many cages.We were practicually tripping over all the cages on the floor. I did recently upgrade our two winter whites to a Zoozone 1 each as they offer more space than in the Mini Duna-but i found the animals didnt seem to like the zoozone with all that space-they'd just stay hidden away-so i've gone back to the mini duna for them both. I couldnt cope with the zoozone either-they're too big and heavy for me to move about with all the litter and toys in as i move the cages into the bedroom by day where its quieter and back into the living room when we go to bed and my son isnt interested in hammies at all and wont carry the cages for me so i wouldnt use a big cage anymore that i cant carry by myself.I found i was gasping for breathe trying to manouve a big cage through doorways etc. Some evenings i'm just too drained and tired to have the hamsters out to handle,but whenever i can i do like to give them out of cage time and let them run around free or put them in a playbox with deep litter for them to burrow in-but i do admitedly find it a lot more work trying to keep two hammies so maybe it'd be best to rehome the one. Due to my health,and my age i think after these two hammies cross rainbow bridge,or the one if i do rehome one,i wont be able to have anymore pets. My son wont lift a finger to do anything for the animals as he just isnt interested in pets,especially not hamsters so they would be neglected by him if i do end up hospitalized.

• Answer:

  You are never too old to have animal companions. I am very disappointed to see someone gave a thumbs down to everyone who said as much. I think you need to convince your son he needs to help out with them should you be hospitalized. Since your son is living with you, it should be no great hardship to him to care for them whilst you are away. He should also be helping with moving cages and so forth since you cannot. It is not asking too much. In fact, you should not have to ask at all. If he refuses, is there not a neighbor or some friend or relative you could ask? I know you said there is nobody, but I think it is important for you to keep these hamsters. Studies have shown animals have an amazing ability to help a person in ill health. I probably should not say this and I mean no offense, but I would like to shake your son for not offering to help out in this matter. Surely he knows what they mean to you? I have daughters who would care for my mice in a heartbeat if need be, so I cannot understand your son's reluctance. I have to believe if you sit him down and discuss this with him and explain how important these hamsters are to you that he would agree to help out. He may not love rodents, but I am sure he loves you so would see reason. I am sorry you have ill health. I hope you are not DXd with cancer. You sound like a lovely person. I sincerely wish you all the best, and again, you are NEVER too old to have rodents. I am adding a link to an active hamster forum in the UK. Maybe you can find someone on there who would be willing to temporarily care for your hammies if need be. The link is as follows: http://www.hamsterfanaticforum.co.uk/