Sick Brain

8th May 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 :-(

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Hamster care, Hamster health | Comments (4)

4 Responses to “Sick Brain”

  1. kisetsu Says:
    May 10th, 2009 at 9:05 am

    I hope Brain is getting ok. It’s sad but true that due to inbreeding or altering the genetics caused the short span of hamsters. One friend once told me that when he was young, he got a syrian who lived till 8 yrs. I was laughing crazy at him but he retort matter-of-factly “I’m SERIOUS!” Boy!

    I could understand the vet when she says she could not do anything. The hamster is too vunerable to medicine and surgery. We’ll pray for Brain.

  2. admin Says:
    May 10th, 2009 at 11:39 am

    Thank you.
    She seems to have recuperated now and she really likes the taste of Baytril :-)

  3. wiffy Says:
    May 10th, 2009 at 8:03 pm

    Glad to hear that Brain is feeling better. What an ordeal. She’s in my thoughts.

    Oh my, it is such a sad thing that we have lessened their life spans through thoughtlessness. I always hope that I can spend lots more time with my beloved hams. 2-3 years together is simply too short.

  4. furrybutts Says:
    May 10th, 2009 at 10:30 pm

    I’m glad to read that Brain has recuperated. And she likes the taste of Baytril? hehe it must be much easier to feed it to her then. I have to mix Hans’ Baytril with flavoured multivit syrup.. and still he turns his head away :p

    Keep us posted on Brain. Lots of good vibes coming her way :)

Leave a Reply