This is my turf. I am writing a PhD dissertation on the subject of consciousness titled:

KNOW THYSELF IN QUANTUM TERMS; A COPERNICAN REVOLUTION IN UNDERSTANDING

Why a Copernican Revolution in understanding? Because we need to define ourselves in quantum terms to control the force of nature that we are, as Copernicus, by defining the Earth in Planetary terms opened up the possibilities to discover how the universe works in itself.

His revolution had to do with perceptions of appearances, mine, as a 78 yo leaned-ignorant generalist, with our understanding of things in themselves. Things in themselves for which quantum physicists, using mathematics built on appearances in the seventeen and eighteen Centuries, are as limited as Ptolemy was using apparent epicycles.

As Ptolemy was well equipped to predict the movement of the planets but unable to define them, so are quantum physicists today who have to "shut up" when it comes to determining the nature of the micro world of which we are part as we are in the apparent universe.

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Back to your text: "... a toad or hampster also have experiences but they aren't as involved as ours"

Wrong. They are more involved in theirs than we are in ours. Non-human animals don't "have" experience; they "are" their experience.

To "have" something, one needs to be self-conscious, and, as such, our experiences are always biased and less pure than theirs.

Non-human animals are produced by their genes and by minor variants of life experiences, which makes them all the same with some life experience variations; we, as self-conscious individuals, are created by our learning growing up, which makes us all different with some genetic variations.

Animals live in the instants reacting to the "things in themselves" (Kant), while we humans live in (misunderstood) space and time, overcome by the "appearances" of things for which we crave understanding.

Animals unconsciously contribute to the Biosphere's homeostasis while we are its "metastasis."

PS I like your writing. Your ideas are very clause to mine, with some discrepancies.