Runaway hamster reunited with owner

A CARNOUSTIE family will be celebrating a special reunion this Christmas after their pet hamster was returned home after more than a week on the run.

Dani the hamster went AWOL from her owner, Lauren Wallace, last week after making a daring escape from her cage.

And after going more than seven days without any word on where Dani may have gone, the family had all but given up hope of seeing the hamster again.

Tam MacCabe, who is the partner of Lauren’s sister, explained the family’s frantic attempts to find the missing pet when they realised she had disappeared.

He said: “Dani is a little rascal and is always finding ways of getting out of her cage.

“Then last week, we realised that we could not see her at all and that she must have escaped again.

“The whole family were looking for her, including the two dogs who were going up to the cage trying to see her.”

Then a chance post on social media caught drew Tam’s attention and led the family to Dani’s new home.

Tam said: “I saw on Facebook that the Our Carnoustie page had posted about a missing hamster that had been found in a kitchen cupboard and we had to get in touch to see if it was ours.

“It turns out that Dani had moved next door and had been eating all the neighbours’ cereals and food.

“She had been missing for more than seven days and I think Lauren had been losing hope of seeing the hamster again.”

The troublesome seven-month-old hamster was eventually reunited with her concerned family members and is settling in back home.

Tam added: “We went round to the neighbours on Sunday night to collect her.

“It’s fantastic that Lauren has been reunited with Dani before Christmas because she is part of the family.”

Dani