Twin Squeaks Gerbils Blog

I mentioned earlier that we’ve had a rough time at Twin Squeaks over the past couple of months.

A week and a half ago, we lost Sebastian to what our vet believes was a tumor close to the spine. (We weren’t able to confirm the diagnosis, because Sebastian didn’t rally enough to have the energy for the x-ray.)

Sebastian’s death has hit us particularly hard for several reasons. First, he was still fairly young (less than 2 1/2 years old).

Second, he was in such excellent health that there was no indication anything was wrong until the final days of his life. And even then, it was subtle.

When I first took him to the vet, I thought they would think I was imagining things. It was one of those things where no one would notice anything was wrong, except for me. I could just tell that he wasn’t quite himself. (The vet could tell, though, that something wasn’t right. She’s amazing. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t enough that we could do to save him.)

And finally, Sebastian was Herman’s son. When we lost Herman last fall (he was well over three years old), we had assumed that we would have his son with us for quite some time. I never dreamed I’d be writing about his death at such a young age.

If there was anything that we can look back on and feel good about, it’s that we don’t believe Sebastian suffered.

He spent more and more time sleeping in his last few days, but his breathing never seemed labored, and he never seemed to be in pain. He never lost weight, and his coat never got ruffled. He just slipped away.

When the end came, he just drifted away in his sleep. I’ve never seen a gerbil look so peaceful at the end of his life. His death was much more painful for me than it was for him, I think.

Sebastian was laid to rest at the pet cemetery, next to his dad, Herman. It was touching to see them reunited, even if under such sad circumstances.

We’ve posted a memorial video for Sebastian on smugmug.

I wish we could say that things have been without incident here during our absence from blogging, but that’s not the case. :(

Last month, we lost our charming little Gobo. It wasn’t a surprise, because he was getting older, and he was starting to slow down and show his age.

Still, the day he died was a very sad one. I remember the first time I met Gobo at the 2007 New England Gerbil Show. He was part of a litter of “super-friendly” gerbils from Autumnglory Gerbils in Connecticut. Gobo was eager to jump in my hand and run right up my arm.

He was always such an outgoing and friendly gerbil. He paired right up with Buster when we brought him home. Buster was much older than Gobo, and when Buster’s health failed, Gobo was right by his side, comforting him until the end.

When we brought Smurf home to be Gobo’s friend, Gobo paired up with Smurf easily. He was so happy to have a pup to take care of. Just having a youngster around seemed to make Gobo act like a pup himself. :)

If there are two things we’ll remember most about Gobo, it’s what a devoted tankmate he was and how friendly he was.