A Little Addition To The Gruff Household

Spike arrived at about 15:20, GMT, and is now sleeping peacefully. He's a Syrian hamster who was taken in with a tumour on his chin and a scabby lesion on his shoulder. His owner declared that she did not like him, did not want him and wanted him destroyed. Since removal of the tumour was not expected to be difficult, the vet, as vets do, had jusified qualms about destroying an otherwise healthy animal and Mrs Gruff, knowing that I am something of a fan of hamsters, realised that a loving home was available to a fellow down on his luck.

So far he's cost me fifteen quid but I have the satisfaction of knowing that he's sleeping soundly, having just scoffed one and a half watercress leaves and their stalks and half a a spinach leaf, nibbled a broccoli floret and attacked with alacrity a hard fruit and seed stick. A filled drip-feed water bottle is coming up to room temperature on the radiator. His teeth are too long but with a decent diet he'll soon be back in top form.

My apologies for the poor quality of the photograph: Spike was obviously so excited by his new adventure that he was disinclined to pose and I had literally to grab what I could.