It’s a Sunday, and I just don’t feel like being techie today.  Sometimes we all just need a break.  And what better to help us unwind from life than our pets.

This is mine, Goose.  He’s a long-haired hamster.  That’s him sitting on the base of his tree.  (Hopefully you remember him from blog entries past, usually about him running around in his hamster ball.)

Goose is on his tree.

He’s a spoiled rotten little bugger.  As you can see, he has a terrarium tree for his hidey hole where he makes his nest.  He also has a cheap dollar store cat-scratcher (on the left there) that’s just twine wound around a thin board that he uses like a stairway.  And while his 10 gallon aquarium-turned-cage might seem like small space for a hamster, it does have an equally matching wire top half with platforms, a wheel, and even a second food dish and water bottle.  And if you look closely behind his tree, you’ll even see his sand bath where for some reason he likes to keep his little doggie treat for him to gnaw on.

Yes, he’s utterly spoiled.

I’d love to have a cat or two for a pet.  Maybe even a dog.  (A big burly outside one like a husky.)  But I have allergies.  So a contained little bundle of allergens like a hamster is all I dare to cope with right now.

It’s funny really, that for all of our amazing technology, for all of our advanced society, there’s still nothing that can meet our emotional needs like a good bit of organic life.  Family, friends, children, pets, and even plants and wildlife … we just can’t manufacture something to fill in those most basic needs.  No screen-saver 3D aquarium, no tamagotchi, no robotic vacuum cleaner, can make us smile as much as a simple little fuzzy hamster.

There’s probably a message there, if we ever cared to listen.

Yes, it’s that time again.  Time when I look at all of the negativity on my blog and ask myself WTF.  Time when we need a shot of fluffy bunnies and sunshine.  Time for some hamsterballin’!

There’s almost nothing in this world that’ll put a smile on your face faster than a long-haired grey hamster named Goose running around in a sparkley pink plastic ball

That cute face as he bonks into furniture.  The fur flying everywhere as momentum keeps him going when the ball stops.  You just can’t not smile.

He’s a fuzzy little blur, comin’ at ya!  He’s so gosh darn cute.  There’s just nothing like a hamster running around in a hamster ball.  Hamsterballin’ is great fun!

It’s technology that lets him get out of his cage for a workout and a bit of fun in something different.  And it’s technology that lets you laugh your behind off.  It’s win-win! 

I thought it might be nice to put a positive note into my blog lately, so I’m going to mention a product that so far has been absolutely loverly for me, my allergies, and my hamster. That product would be Kaytee’s Total Comfort Bedding.

What is it? As far as I can tell, it’s simply soft fluffy puffs of recycled paper products.

Why is it so good for my hamster, Goose? Because it’s softer than wood chips it makes for better nesting material. As was evinced by Goose carrying every little scrap of it into one big pile for his nest, something he has never done with wood chips. Goose loves it!

Also it’s said (though I have seen no definitive proof) that various wood beddings, especially pine, may be harmful to small animals by:

• Splintering, causing slivers in the feet.
• Being poisonous to consume.
• Releasing a poisonous gas when urinated upon.

Where as recycled paper products seem safer by comparison. Puffs of paper have no splinters at the very least, and they probably have been processed and reprocessed so many times that any poisons in the wood pulp have been removed.

But then, I have also used various wood chips (pine, aspen, cedar) for hamster bedding over the years and seen no ill effects. So your mileage and/or paranoia may vary.

But most importantly (in my opinion) why is it good for me? I have allergies. Mold, mildew, dander, and dust. Now a lot of people say they’re allergic to dust, because dust pretty much causes a reaction in anyone and everyone. But take that baseline reaction, multiply it several fold, and that’s how I react to dust. Whenever I’d clean a cage, I thought my constant sneezing, watering eyes, irritated skin, et cetera were all from the concentration of small animal dander contained by the aquarium. (Because most of my hamsters have lived in aquariums.) However, after having used Kaytee Total Comfort Bedding, I’ve found my allergic reaction during cage cleanings to be much less severe. Why? I’d have to say because this new bedding has no dust. Where as wood chips are chock full of sawdust. And dust is chock full of dust mites and other equally allergy-inducing irritants. So get rid of the dust, get rid of an awful lot of irritation. It’s great!

And why is it good for the environment? There is one other good reason to use Kaytee Total Comfort Bedding over wood chips. It’s recycled paper! It’s like totally green, dude! You’re using a recycled product. And it biodegrades easily. Compost already laced with hamster fertilizer? How can that really go wrong? So not only is it better for your pet and better for you, it’s also better for the world.

Frankly, I can’t think of a good reason not to switch to Kaytee Total Comfort Bedding as bedding for your small animal this very instant. It’s just that good. Finally, technology is making a real difference in the life of your pet!

Isn’t he cute? That’s Goose, my beloved fluffy long-haired hamster. He used to be all grey. Now he’s turning a bit tan. Normally that’s something humans strive for. I’m not sure about hamsters. Actually, it worries me slightly because it might mean he’s a cross-breed. (In hamsters that can be dangerous because it brings out a higher probability of several genetic diseases. It’s especially bad to cross-breed dwarf hamster species.) So far he’s a healthy little hammie though. And now he has his own jungle!

Pet stores are dangerous. My hun and I went to the pet store to look at kittens. Well, they didn’t have any kittens. But they did have all sorts of neat hamster toys. And lizard toys. So now Goose has a more pet-friendly bedding of what looks like recycled paper instead of pine chips. (Yes, I know, urine on pine chips is bad for some pets. Which is why I made the switch.) He’s got raw cotton fluff to use as soft bedding. (Instead of bits of toilet paper or paper towel.) He has wooden fruits to chew on as well as his normal chewies. He’s even got mini corn cobs to gnaw on now. He’s got a dried sweet grass salad bowl filled with fruits and nuts. Oh, and a cool looking lizard terrarium tree to use as a house instead of his old translucent plastic multi-colored three-story fake house. He can also climb that tree.

So now Goose is a hamster in a jungle. His glass aquarium cage has a similarly-sized wire cage on top of it with tunnels to climb up to ledges in that cage. He has tons to climb. And in his upper cage is an edible hut with a straw roof. His setup is so cute. But then, Goose deserves the best. He’s a spoiled rotten little hammie. What more could a hamster want?

Well, okay, he could want a bath house filled will chinchilla sand. He had one. He not only slept in it all the time, but he peed in it too. So he started sleeping in wet pee mud. That can’t be good for him, so I took it away for a while. He’d only roll in it like a bath the first time I’d put it in his cage anyway. But other than that, he has everything a spoiled rotten hamster can desire.

There’s nothing cuter than a grey fuzzy long-haired hamster running around in a pink sparkley hamster ball. That’s all.