AR-News: Hamster's big belly saves him from vacuum cleaner

[Snugglezzz at aol.com]

VACUUM-PACKED HAMSTER'S FAT CHANCE                                                       
                                                                                         
                                                                                         
09:30 - 24 May 2004                                                                  

A Hefty hamster has lived to eat again after his bulging waistline saved him from a  painful death in the belly of a vacuum cleaner. The tubby rodent was being hailed a  Houdini hamster yesterday after cheating death when he was sucked up the tube in the  middle of a spring clean.                                                                
                                                                                         
Thanks to his sizeable stomach the terrified creature became stuck in the tube just      
inches from the suction fan, which would have killed him.                                
                                                                                         
Amanda Horniman noticed there was a blockage and spotted nine-month-old Rusher jammed in 
the pipe as she was cleaning her son Jack's bedroom.                                     
                                                                                         
The 34-year-old nursery school worker from Tibberton, Gloucestershire, managed to alert  
her vet husband Nick who rescued Rusher and whisked him off to his surgery.              
                                                                                         
After a quick check-up the lucky hamster was returned to his cage amazingly unscathed.   
                                                                                         
Nick, who works at Pet's Barn practice in Longhope, Gloucestershire, said Rusher was     
saved by his bulk.                                                                       
                                                                                         
"He was stuck in the pipe, but Amanda had seen him just before he went up, so she        
stopped the machine to get him out.                                                      
                                                                                         
"Fortunately, he blocked the tube and didn't go into the machine's motor.                
                                                                                         
"If he had been a thin hamster, things would have been a lot worse."                     
                                                                                         
The couple's prompt action also spared the tears of six-year-old son Jack.               
                                                                                         
Nick added: "Rusher escapes from his cage occasionally, but it's not too bad because he  
stays in Jack's bedroom as we have four cats roaming around the rest of the house.       
                                                                                         
"The hamster did seem a little bit fazed by it all, but he was all right.                
                                                                                      
"I did some home therapy on him, but Jack was quite upset because he blamed himself for  what happened.                                                                                                                                                                   
"But I reassured him. We see a lot of hamsters in the surgery and I have heard of them   getting stuck down the back of televisions and even radiators."