Furry Tales (Part one of several)

Firstly, and apology: I'm sorry I've blogged so rarely in 2010. It will be one of my resolutions for 2011 to do so much more regularly.

So I started to think what I should have blogged about .... And here's a multi-part story involving a number of animals. It's sad in some places, happy in others, has mystery, suspense ... has it all.

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In the autumn, we decided to start small-scale breeding of Chinese dwarf hamsters. If you think about it, it would have to be small-scale - they're dwarf. We ordered quite a smart habitat but, as it was delayed, got a second-hand wire cage for starters. We also bought our first hamster, a male.

We don't have that much experience of naming pets (and yes, they are pets as we well as a breeding programme) - both cats were named before they became part of our family - but Luc remembered Basil the Siberian Hamster from Fawlty Towers so, even though he's a Chinese dwarf rather than Siberian, Basil it was.

We do, however, have experience of cats. Although Snowball doesn't seem to think she's a cat (I think she believes she's some sort of superior furred human), Dyson is very much feline. It's in his nature to hunt. The cage was put on a shelf five feet off the ground.

Basil was soon joined in the wire cage (the posh habitat still hadn't arrived) by two females. As they couldn't both be called Sybil, there were named Rosemary and Lavender. After a few little skirmishes, they settled down quite well together.

Then one Friday evening I came home to find Dyson trying to look very innocent (which is not something he's terribly good at). Hamster bedding was strewn across the computer chair, and the wire cage was smashed open on the floor. Dyson must have climbed on to the desk and jumped, hooking his claws round the wire of the cage .....

A quick check showed Rosemary and Lavender were still in the cage - they had sought refuge in their house - but Basil was missing.

Oh, and the smart habitat had finally turned up.