It all started about 2 a.m.. Samson, our 10 year old black lab, would not stop barking. I finally let him out the back door about 0430, only to have him bark outside to come back in. I made him stay outside until six, when my son came in to tell me he was awake.
I had a meeting at 8, and came home to feed the hamster around 10a, only to see That the lid to her cage had been knocked off slightly. Butterscotch was gone.
After a cursory search of a very cluttered laundry room, I decided that she had attempted suicide by jumping out of the cage and falling the equivalent of about four stories to the concrete floor. Since I could find no body, and smelled no decomposing hamster parts, I got my pen light and started searching on my hands and knees. I gave up after an hour. I had work to do.
That's when I remembered the barking dog at 4 am. I went out and had a long talk with Samson, but he gave me no clues. I looked in his mouth and found no feathers, know fur, no ground up parts, and nothing that indicated he had pooped her out. Since he ate the last hamster, he was my only suspect.
I went back to work, and tried to forget about it. I put the hamster cage on the floor, with the water on the outside, scattered food on the floor, in case she surfaced and made Samson stay outside. No dice.
At bedtime, with one down and two to go, Allen came up the stairs, sweating, and looking pale. He said he broke a rib and nearly knocked himself un conscious, but he had the hamster. He found her behind the couch on top of the subwoofer, and in between layers of blankets. Kudos to Dad, Butterscotch is home. And she's grounded!
