KS
Kimberly Sleeman
Apr 28, 2026
The staff in this shop were absolutely fab on our two visits to purchase our two hamsters. They treated us with respect and even looked at photos of how happy the first hamster, Han, was at home when we went to get the second, Dumpling.
However, as good as these experiences were. We feel massively let down now and my daughter feels the need to spread the word.
Sunday night, 2 months after bringing Han home, my daughter brought him into me breaking her heart. He had developed a lump under his chin. We had a look and I emailed several vets (including vets4pets) straight away to try and get him seen yesterday morning. The following morning, 7 hours later, this lump was now significantly larger and his eye was also looking swollen and dry and he had sand from his sand bath stuck to it. We gently cleaned him and she went to school, I went to work. Our local vets called me as soon as they opened and said to bring him down as soon as we could so they could see him. My husband got him in his carrier and took him down. They said his eye was looking really bad by now (3-4 hours after we saw it was looking bad) and he would likely lose it and they thought the cheek might be a large abscess. Being a hamster, they wanted to sedate him and investigate through surgery. We agreed. Shortly after, my husband called and said it is bad news, they opened him up and found he had a large tumour affecting his eye and cheek pouch. The kindest thing was euthanasia. He would have suffered if we brought him home, as he couldnt eat or drink anymore, just from the night before, he was so frail and poorly looking.
I had to pick my daughter up from school to take her to say goodbye, I hope none of you ever have to do that, she loved that little dude!
So at 4 months old (we assume, the store wasnt 100% sure), 2 short months after bringing him home, we said goodbye to baby Han. He now has a beautiful memorial, and we are supporting daughter through this.
The vet mentioned she could see how loved he was, we only got to keep him for 2 months, but my daughter gave him the best life, before it was unfortunately cut short.
However, what has upset us further, is the realisation that this isn't an isolated incident. It appears that a fair few customers have experienced similar issues. Seemingly as a result of poor 'rodent farm' breeding, so it only seems right that we share our experience to try and stop, even one other family, going through the same.
