Buzz found me in the pet store while I was shopping for food. He was in the small mammal display and making quite a ruckus, so I wandered over there. He kept his eyes on me and followed me around as I circled the display. I bent down and looked right back at him "You wanna come home, little guy?" He jumped and jumped and circled and ran around, coming back to me and jumping on the glass. "I'll take him".

And that was that - sometimes you gotta take a pet store animal home.

Buzz loved going on walkabout, which I let him do frequently. It was always funny to see a fuzzy furball ambling along the carpet, in and out of view. And he would come right up to me and check in with me, let me pick him up and handle him, and then wander off for more adventure.

Epilogue:
I found Buzz one night in his Habitat, and he seemed to be having trouble moving. I picked him up and noticed right away that he was cooler than normal. I held him for a while, petting him and praying he'd magically get better, even though I knew he wouldn't. Eventually I had to go to sleep and I put him back in his Habitat, knowing that he'd be gone in the morning, and having a lot of trouble saying goodbye or staying with him. To this day I regret not holding him until the very end, until he arrived at the Bridge, but I wasn't able to deal with it at the time and I really thought he might get better. Buzz only lived about eight months, but his entire life was in my care, and he enjoyed it like a king among hamsters.




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