This morning, the first thing I did upon waking up (even before brushing my teeth or getting breakfast) was check on the hamsters. Frodo was in a wrong corner of the cage and not moving, and he looked like shit. Upon closer inspection, the dark flat parts on his head, side and back were bloody and half-bare of fur. The flesh that was exposed was red and still bleeding. Frodo is not more than 2 inches in length in any direction when curled up. The bloody areas were about the size of a quarter and a dime, which on a small hamster looked shocking and ghastly.

Panic. The more I looked at the injuries, the more bloody spots I spotted on Frodo. The culprit could only be Sam, who has a habit of jumping on Frodo (hence their names, based on The Secret Diaries of the Fellowship though of course I am also a Tolkien fan) and starting scuffles in that manner. The scuffles would be very noisy (Frodo squeaks very readily) and frenzied, but I'd never seen harm with teeth or claws being done. I guess there is always a first time.

Frodo woke up and appeared fine in limb and movement. Usually shy, he seemed too happy this time to be handled by me and taken out of the cage. We rushed to the vet, getting there 11:15 a.m.—only to be told an appointment was needed and the earliest was for 2:15 p.m. An appointment for "Frodo Chui" was made.

The vet's appointment is still an hour from now, but I'm hoping he'll tell me Frodo will weather this OK. The blood's dried and the hamster's self-cleaning has him looking better now than this morning, though there are still matted areas and bare areas including the raw and awful-looking dimed-sized spot on his head that he can't reach. Knowing hamsters are actually vulnerable to human colds and flus, I'm worried that open wounds on them are equally susceptible to infection.

I'll probably write again after the vet's appointment.

(And now I've also become the thing I've always feared—a crazed pet owner who can't stop talking about her babies! This journal will go back to its regular programming after this episode.)

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2003-01-21 3:48 PM

Frodo didn't squeak at all in the vet's hands. He got a good cleaning with saline solution, then his countless bitewounds swabbed with some eye antibacterial cream or other. He put up a good show though flattening himself comically to avoid the stuff, till the vet and her assistant would burst into giggles in between pronunciations of "poor thing" looking at all the bites he got. (They were countless.) Frodo came out of the office looking like a sad wet rat because they nearly had to bathe him in the cream. I was told to keep him under observation, especially with regards to his behavior and appetite. He's behaving normally, but he's not been eating (though he's been drinking like mad). I'm really hoping he'll recover.