stress

Ok, so we are bad news to hamsters. Some time ago, we got our daughter (by we, I mean the easter bunny) a hamster set up. Well, she used her allowance to buy food and a hamster. ALL SET, right? Then she convinced her brother to get one too. She named hers Lightning and he named his John. Well, soon, someone left the cage open and John was gone. Eventually, The Evil One got a new hamster and named him John 2. Well, things are going well until the boy lived up to his evil moniker. He took Lightning out of the cage and lost it. Now, we have two hamsters running free somewhere in our house. Of course with a cat and two dogs, if they aren't in the walls, they are dead. Well, fast forward to earlier this week. I get a text message that John 2 is dead. Apparently the girl left the cage open and the cat killed it. Luckily the girl didn't see all the gory details, but she was traumatized anyway. Well, I really started to like the darn rodents, so I bought replacements today. Great, I let them pick out their own and we were all happy with a new location for their cage that was boy proof and cat proof. Fast forward to midnight (right now). I have been holding John 3 most of the evening. He is probably going to die. He is a gorgeous gray. At the store, he was active and in the box home, he was playful. Now, he is laying around and breathing weird. I'm nearly in tears over this. The boy is worried, but he is trying to convince himself it's just tired. I hope he's right. The boy went to bed, and I've sat and tried to get the hamster to come around. All the websites don't list symptoms that fit everything here, except possibly a stroke. WHAT? Seriously? Anyway, the girl hasn't named hers yet, but it's so freaking active it's probably ran 5 miles already on the wheel. Anyway, I'm afraid to stop my vigil, but I'm so tired. I am sure if he's not with us in the morning I will cry. I mean, I've only had him here for a few hours, but I can't handle it. Update in the morning.