Daniel Veerman and his 19-year-old daughter Steph are very close. Apparently, he’s quite close to her friend Chester as well and was absolutely beside himself when he had to report him missing one day.

Chester is a hamster.

The 53-year-old lawyer had taken custody of the creature when his daughter went off to college and came to really like the little guy. But one day while he was cleaning Chester’s cage, the rodent escaped.

Assuming his daughter would be devastated, he tried to find a way to break it to her – and the result was a lesson in fatherhood, pet ownership, compassion, and loss all rolled into one.

Steph Veerman shared their texts on Twitter because she felt the whole ordeal was too funny to keep to herself.

The drama began on November 24, 2019 and her Twitter thread now has over 453,000 likes and more than 100,000 retweets!

Steph was surprised that Chester made a break for it since he’s usually a pretty chill hamster.

“He reminds me almost of a cat because he’s so laid back … Chester has never bit anyone and is very docile. [He] and my dad are best friends (especially because my dad is the person who feeds him since he’s taken over!).”

Alas, this is the first text Steph received from her father on that fateful November morning. We can only assume that between his text and her first reply, she was informed of the nature of the “emergency.”

Poor dad, he’s really riled about this.

To be fair, we would be too! Beloved pets going missing are a big deal and his message might not have only been about guilt but wanting someone to understand his pain.

The elder Veerman was clearly missing his furry buddy, calling his disappearance “the absolute worst ever.”

Alas, he seems to be confident that Chester is in the house somewhere and wants to do what he can to make him return – he’s even willing to miss work the next day so he can continue looking!

Steph’s response is hilarious.

Well, that’s putting it into perspective.

Still, it’s clear that dad was not about to leave his furry buddy in the lurch. He was clearly in meltdown territory.

Daniel told BuzzFeed News that he was “having a freaking heart attack” throughout the search. He was just a month or two into watching the little guy for his daughter and felt bad for losing her pet.”

“At first, I wasn’t too keen on him. I grew up with German Shepherds. I’ve never had, you know, when I first got it, it was like a mouse. It wouldn’t be my first choice of pet. But then I got attached. And even more, because you’re taking care of it for your daughter,” he said.

It just goes to show you a pet can be any animal and the love is still the same.

The next set of texts is from dad’s elaborate plan to lure Chester out and perhaps trace him back to his hiding spot.

Aww, he just wants to know Chester is still out there! We wonder how many days of work dad would have been willing to lose over this.

Clearly, this is more than “just a hamster.”

When all else fails, Veerman falls back on his Catholic faith to get him through this trial. That, and a new plan involving peanuts.

Steph Veerman’s original post ends there and, as you might imagine, people were charmed by her dad.

“My dad and I are very close and have been since forever!” she told Bored Panda. “My parents are divorced and he was always very involved in everything that I and my brother would do. We have the typical tight-knit father-daughter bond.”

And while many people found her response about the importance of his job and emotional well-being (vs. getting stressed over a hamster) funny, others went out of their way to say that there’s no such thing as “just a [pet].”

But it turns out that part was just to calm her dad.

But this is no sad story. A few days later, Chester returned.

And where was he found?

In his cage.

Daniel Veerman simply went to the cage and found the hamster chilling out in there.

But it appears the little guy did enjoy his taste of freedom.

Thus ends the saga – and the second most stressful day of this dad’s life.

We’re just glad Chester is safe and back where he belongs.

Be sure to scroll down for the original Twitter thread.

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

my dad took over my hamster once i went back to college and ended up getting really attached and today he escaped and this goes to prove how truly pure my father is pic.twitter.com/JmTJl6jFBI

— Steph Veerman (@stephyj725) November 25, 2019

Source: @stephyj725/Twitter, BuzzFeed News, Bored Panda