Katie Piper has been left shocked after her daughter’s hamster was eaten alive – by its cage-mate.
The TV presenter was stunned to find out six-year-old Belle’s pet rodent has met its maker after the hamster’s best friend appeared to get peckish and chowed down on him.
Speaking in an Instagram video alongside her husband Richard Sutton, Katie said: “We are just about to go to bed and we think we’ve made a bit of a grim discovery don’t we?”
Richard replied: “Yeah … I think one of our little companions, hamsters, has died I think. I’ve got to investigate.”
Katie said: “Basically, obviously they are nocturnal. So they would normally both be out by now.
“We just shake the packet of food they like and they would both normally come running out. And only one came.”
The pair then began searching through the sawdust for the poor hamster, only to find out the situation was “slightly worse than we thought”.
She said: “Belle’s hamster is dead and we have found his remains because the other hamster has eaten him.
“Just Googled it and apparently that is a thing, they are not vegetarians they are cannibals.”
Richard replied: “Gutted.”
Katie went on to tell her followers she purchased the hamsters from a “reputable pet shop” and they were told to keep the pair together, and that they “always used to get on”.
She later admitted she planned to tell her kids the poor hamster died in his sleep “due to old age”, rather than the real nature of events.
Katie said: “Going with the line of he passed away in his sleep due to old age rather than his best friend murdered and ate him. (sic)”