Archive for March, 2010

Better?

March 30th, 2010

After 11 days of treatment (cleaning the area with hydrogen peroxide & applying antibiotic cream twice daily), this is how Joy’s stomach looks like:

Joy bleeding3

I’m not sure if this is an improvement. I felt that the area & it’s hard (feels like a scab), but at least it’s clean & there’s no more blood.
I know that in the picture she looks really dirty, I think it’s because her bottom side keeps rubbing against her flying saucer, which she always pees on no matter how many times I wash it.

I talked with the vet over the phone & he said that there are 2 possibilities: (1) that it’s a scar tissue, or (2) it’s a tumor.
He told me to keep an eye on her for a couple of weeks to see if the scar gets smaller or not. If it gets smaller, that means it’s a scar tissue, if not I will definitely bring her in to have the tumor removed if the vet thinks that she can handle the surgery.

Posted in Hamster care, Hamster health | Comments (0)

Possible Skin Tumor?

March 16th, 2010

Earlier this year, I noticed that Joy had something that looked like an abscess on her tummy. She had probably popped it herself & it was already scabbing up by the time I saw it. I cleaned the area, applied some aloe vera & thought nothing much of it.

Joy bleeding1

Just last week, I noticed that the abscess has returned & it’s bigger. I cleaned the area again, applied more aloe & waited for a couple of days to see if it would get better.

Joy bleeding2

Since it didn’t scab up, I took her to the vet today. Vet suspected that it’s skin tumor because he felt a lump. He wanted to be conservative, so he just prescribed Joy with some antibiotic cream. For a week, I’m supposed to clean the area twice a day with hydrogen peroxide & subsequently apply the antibiotic cream. If that doesn’t help, vet said that he could surgically remove the skin tumor & it won’t be a difficult procedure as the tumor is in the skin layer, no need to open her up.

So we’ll see how she’ll do with the antibiotic cream for a week.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Hamster care, Hamster health | Comments (5)