Chinchilla Nation » 2009

Brain already seemed better after a day of antibiotic. Now she lives on her own & is already her old self, running on the wheel & climbing the cage bars. The reason why she’s alone is because when I tried to put her back with her sister, Pinky, after a 24-hour separation, I guess Pinky doesn’t remember her anymore? Pinky kept picking fights with Brain even after I’ve continually stopped Pinky.

I can see the improvement with Dee Dee after a day of antibiotic, too! It’s amazing what these antibiotic can do, huh? Whenever I try to give her the antibiotic though, she always struggles, I guess that shows the old girly still has long ways to go No more clicking noises when she’s breathing & I can see that she can breathe a lot easier now (before, I could see her back going up & down rapidly as she was trying to inhale). She doesn’t like me syringe feeding her with drinks & food, but I don’t mind because Dee Dee is eating & drinking on her own.

I think they will all be okay, thanks to the wonderful wonderful vets & all of the best wishes.

Another interesting thing, I bought some baby food, pureed carrots & pureed peas, all of the hamsters love them! Except for Dee Dee. I guess Dee Dee is like one of those old ladies who is set in her ways I know I shouldn’t have favorites, but she’s my favorite Russian Campbell.

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Dee’s Vet Visit

May 11th, 2009

Quick update on Dee Dee: took her to the vet today and vet diagnosed her with pneumonia. She is on a 7-day course of antibiotic. Good thing is that the inside of her mouth is still pink, which means that the pneumonia hasn’t progressed too far for the lungs to be deprived of oxygen. And she likes the taste of the antibiotic When the vet took a look at Dee Dee, he thinks that she’s a much older hamster (from the lack of fur on her limbs & she has completely silvered) and concluded that she caught the pneumonia probably due to her weak immune system. The vet suggested that I feed her pureed baby food, so I’ll go buy that tonight.

*sigh* I still has so much to learn about aging in hamsters, I wish I had been more prepared. Any suggestions or comments on what to expect from aging hamsters are welcomed.

Tags: hamster, hamsters, old age, pneumonia
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Bad Weekend

May 9th, 2009

For my hamsters & me .. After finding out that Brain was sick, now Dee Dee ..

Today I found Dee Dee laying down on the mezzanine floor sleeping. At first I thought she was sleeping normally, until I realized that the area around her mouth is wet & she was making clicking noises (as if she was hiccuping). I looked up the symptoms online & she might be experiencing some respiratory problems. I don’t know what causes it, but she still seemed to be able to find food & go up to the second floor, even though at a much slower pace. As a precautionary measure, I changed the bedding from aspen (even though it already doesn’t have aromatic oils) to Carefresh. When I stroked her, she just ignored me, which is unusual because she would normally try to bite my finger.

*sigh* I don’t know what else I can do at this point for Dee Dee. I just hope that it’s a sign of aging (after all, I wouldn’t know what aging signs are, since I’ve never had hamsters before).

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Sick Brain

May 8th, 2009

Last night when I was playing with Pinky & Brain, Brain was suddenly bleeding from her behind! Blood was everywhere on the fresh bedding! I tried to find out where exactly was the blood coming from, the urethra or rectum, but she was squirming around too much so I gave up. I didn’t know what to do, other than to separate her from Pinky & give her 0.5 ml of leftover Baytril I had from when the chinchillas were sick. She was suddenly lethargic and moped around all night. I didn’t want to bring her to the emergency clinic because I know that the vet there would suggest that I put her down, but I wanted to give her a chance.

Come this morning, I was lucky that my vet had an opening. Also, Brain had stopped bleeding. According to the vet’s examination, there’s a cyst in her belly (but she doubts that it’s the cause of the bleeding) and her spleen is hardened. Apparently, the blood was coming out of her urethra. The vet explained how the urine & reproductive system both empty out of the same opening; she concluded that the cause of the bleeding could either be from some kind of kidney disease or mammary cancer. At this point, there’s nothing the vet could do, except for me to continue monitoring Brain & put her on Baytril to see how she progresses.

The vet explained how when she was in college, hamsters used to live up to 6 years, and her college classroom hamster was 5 years old. Due to inbreeding, apparently hamsters who make it up to 2 years of age are considered lucky. Look at what humans have done to these furry critters