Preparing for Death

I am sad to say we are soon to experience death in our household, we know it is coming and it is just a matter of how long before the inevitable happens.

When death has occurred previously (fish) the girls have not been too bothered but this time Elizabeth really seems to know what is happening and she keeps telling me she is sad and that he is really poorly and she will miss him.

I am of course talking about one of our hamsters, we have two, one is Alisons called Dusty and one is Elizabeths called Rusty. It is poor Rusty who is on his last legs he is very old and can hardly see, he is really weak, has lost loads of weight and generally looks as though he could die any second. I can understand why she feels so sad but what should I do?

One option would be to take him to the vet to be merciful and prevent this dragging out any longer than necessary the other option is to wait for nature to take its course. I am not sure what to do but I am very glad that Elizabeth attends a catholic school because she is already talking about god looking after Rusty and that he will like being in heaven.

At 3 years old she is so mature and empathetic to the situation that I feel very proud of her but I also dont like to see her so sad and as loving and caring as she is I dont want this to go on too long.

What would you do?