Max Allen has cancer and is going to the vet later today. He might not come back alive so I'm writing all the things I remember about this lovely hammy which we often neglected because there were other hammies around :(

1. Max runs in a very brisk and uneven manner. His daughter elmo punk has inherited the same trait. And they both are very brave (or foolhardy) and dare to drop off high surfaces--- they're the only 2 hammies that have ever jumped off my table and into my trash can, and the only 2 hammies to fall in there more than once.

2. Max is the escape artist. It runs in his family. Together with garang (whom mr b, her caregiver, has problem finding--- found her in his printer, still alive, after 18hrs), james and elmo, they're are excellent at hiding and escaping from seemingly enclosed areas, often for long periods of time.

3. Max has a quirky eye feature. James allen has it too, but elmo doesn't and i don't think wilbur has it either. He is also the only hamster in the family that is a pure russian hamster for he has furrier paws and hairier feet (for braving the russian winter) and is able to change colour from blackish to white-ish.

4. He was given to us, together with garang, by david's classmate sonia in may 2004.

5. Max loves running about, climbing and doing monkey bars on the overhead bars of his cage. He also bites the cage bars often. He is also able to climb out of his cage, a feat that james and elmo are able to repeat. Garang was also v active and was the 1st do-er of the monkey bar feat among them all.

6. He is often found in the blue container we left in his hamster cage (this was the first container given to garang and max, and the container in which elmo, james, wilbur and another hammy--- now dead cos it was born blind, couldn't stand up and wouldn't stop kicking-- were born in) or flat against the wheel of his cage and the bars.

7. Max gained a lot of weight from eating a lot and not exercising much. But he has lost the weight and is back to a healthy weight--- probably due to this cancer.

8. Max is a pensive hamster and has been found sitting on his loft just staring into space. Elmo has been seen to do this as well.


I love you Max, and on behalf of my family, I'm sorry we didn't spend a lot of time with you.
- posted by gail @ 2:47 PM