It Didn't Come with the Tiny Newspaper

I just finished cleaning the hamster cage and it reminded me of this. For Christmas, my Mom had a gift on the tree for our hamster, Fiona. Yes, it is true, not even the furry creatures get left out at Mom’s house. There were gifts for both my sister’s cat and my children’s hamster.

Fiona received a hamster potty. That’s right. A toilet for a rodent. We all laughed at first. Teasing my Mom. That’s what kids do. She said, “Look, it says it works!” and we’re rolling our eyes saying, “Sure Mom.” The packaging had a picture of a cartoon hamster sitting on the potty reading a newspaper. No kidding.

So I put the cages together and we put in this little hamster potty with the hamster litter and it comes with a little hamster pooper scooper. The kids are thrilled. What the hell.

I’ll be damned if she doesn’t use it. The last laugh is on us. My Mom was right. And boy, the cage doesn’t smell near as bad as it has in the past… that animal urine smell. Blech. The kids like to laugh and say, “Mom! Sometimes she goes in there and falls asleep while she’s pooping!” I think it’s more like she goes in there and pretends. They’ll leave her alone when she’s in her hamster potty.