Dad goes viral after losing daughter's hamster and having a meltdown

A father spiralled into panic after losing his daughter's pet hamster, and had a meltdown in a text message exchange which she later shared on Twitter.

Daniel Veerman was so distraught when his daughter's hamster, Chester, escaped while cleaning his cage that he had a hilarious breakdown over text, which naturally went viral.

Stephanie Veerman took to Twitter on Sunday to write, "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."

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"Oh my God I’m so sorry honey I’m so sorry I’m looking everywhere," the concerned father texted his daughter. "I’m never going to forgive myself if he doesn’t come back."

"If I can’t find him today I’m not going to work tomorrow so I can keep looking" he added.

And although Stephanie repeatedly reassured her dad that it wasn't his fault, Daniel did not slow down the search for Chester. In fact, he devised an ingenious plan to pour flour on the floor to track the hamster's footprints should he return to his cage for food.

"So I know he’s still alive," he explained.

And throughout the entire ordeal, Daniel didn't stop apologising. "I’m so sorry, Steph," he texted. "This is my biggest screwup ever. I will make it right."

"Dad it’s OK!" Stephanie replied, but this did little to ease his conscience. "No it’s not … I put him in his ball a whole bunch of times, I should have double-checked," he responded, "God is good, I will trust him."

Luckily, Chester finally turned up. "OMG … DID YOU GET HIM??" Stephanie replied to a picture of her father holding the hamster.

"Yes in his cage," he replied. "Are you effing kidding me."

"This was the most stressful day in my life since I took the bar exam," Daniel concluded. "Night."

The exchange quickly went viral, and at the time of writing has over 101k retweets and 406k likes.