Archive for the ‘Hamster health’ Category

Suspected Folliculitis

August 5th, 2010

In mid-July, I noticed dried up blood that had completely shut Daddy Hamster’s right eye. Of course I panicked & brought him to the vet right away. The vet cleaned up DH’s shut eye with this solution:

After DH’s eye was cleaned, the vet inspected the eye, which looked healthy. That’s when the vet suspected that it was folliculitis (inflammation of the hair follicle, specifically inflammation of the hair follicle surrounding DH’s eye). DH was prescribed with an eye ointment (the same one that was prescribed to Baby Hamster for his cysts) to be applied twice daily right on the eye, for 7 days. During those 7 days, I could see that DH’s inflammation was getting better. I also had to continually clean his eye with wet cotton bud.

Fast forward 2 weeks to today, this is how his right eye looks like (warning: graphic photo). Obviously it doesn’t look good. I’m going to make a vet appointment right away for tomorrow & I’ll be updating on how DH is doing.

ps: DH is about 2.5 years old, so I’m just hoping that this is a symptom of ageing & it won’t affect his entire well being.

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Pinky Was Red ..

June 26th, 2010

.. with blood :-(

On the night of 15th June, I noticed that Pinky was bleeding from her rear. I couldn’t figure out whether it was from her rectum, vulva, or from her tail. At that point, I couldn’t do anything until the next morning. I only changed the Aspen bedding to paper towel because I didn’t want the Aspen bedding to irritate her behind.

The following morning, I was lucky to be able to schedule a vet appointment for the same day. The vet felt her tummy and couldn’t feel any lump. Upon further inspection, the vet determined that the blood came out of her vulva & that cancer was a possibility. Since Pinky is a dwarf hamster, it’s possible that the lump could be as small as a grain of rice & that’s why the vet couldn’t feel it. If the lump was that small, it may also not show up on an x-ray. The vet prescribed a medication that’s labeled as “SMZ/TMP Ped Susp” (0.03 ml twice daily for 10 days).

That was on a Wednesday. Because that same weekend I was away, Pinky was boarded at the vet’s clinic. Upon picking up Pinky the next Monday, she was doing a lot better & the vet technicians informed me that they didn’t see anymore bleeding!

Since Pinky came home, she’s been sleeping a lot more than usual. I think that she is getting older. She was brought home in August of 2008, which makes her almost 2 years of age by now.

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Good Night Joy

June 8th, 2010

*sigh* Another roborovski went away.

On Friday, the 21st of May, I saw that Joy would not stop running around in circles (warning: I find this video rather disturbing & you may too). I couldn’t see the vet until the following Monday. Throughout the weekend, I know it was a struggle for Joy to get around in her cage, not being able to control her movements & everything. I had to make sure she was eating & drinking, I occasionally syringe-fed her with water because I could tell she was losing weight.

On Monday when I finally saw the vet, the vet explained that the tumor that was previously removed from Joy’s tummy most likely came back & it had spread to her brain, causing her to experience vertigo. At that point, the vet recommended putting her to sleep as Joy would eventually die from wasting her life away, not being able to eat & die a slow, painful death. I really wanted to give her a second chance, so the vet said that there’s another possibility as to why Joy was running in circles: a bacterial infection. There was no way to test whether Joy had cancer or a bacterial infection, because to test for that would require a blood sample & having blood drawn from such a small creature would be deadly. Joy was prescribed with Enrofloxacin (0.05 ml for twice a day) & the vet told me that I should see an improvement within a couple of days (no improvement means that her illness was definitely cancer).

Unfortunately, Joy passed away in her sleep on Tuesday, the very next day after the vet visit. I guess the cancer has progressed too far & the fact that she was getting older also didn’t help.

It’s really sad to see that most of my hamsters pass away because of cancer. Yes, I know that by purchasing some of my hamsters from the petstores, I have contributed to the inbreeding of hamsters because of consumer demand. I know better now & I don’t want to repeat my mistakes; seeing these hamsters in pain while in your care is not fun, nor it is fun for the hamsters to die this way.


Joy sleeping in the digging tower

Joy in her glory days, while still sharing a cage with her sisters & still fat

I started with 4 Roborovski hamsters, now I don’t have any more Robos :-( I’m very sure that it’ll be awhile before I bring home another Robo hamster.

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Skin Tumour .. Gone!

May 16th, 2010

Earlier this year, I noticed that Joy had something that looked like an abscess on her tummy. After conservatively treating the area with antibiotic & Hydrogen Peroxide, the lump wouldn’t go away. So on the 19th of April morning, Joy went in for a surgery to have it removed. The procedure wasn’t too life threatening because it was the surface of Joy’s skin that was being operated on. The surgery was a success; Joy bounced back fast & managed not to chew on the stitches. The vet explained that operating on such a small creature requires some improvisation. For the Oxygen mask, he had to cut the tip of a small syringe; the cut syringe tip was placed over Joy’s face, secured with a small piece of latex cut from a latex glove. I think it would’ve been neat if I could have watched the operation :-)

Joy went home later that afternoon & acted as if she didn’t have the surgery at all. 2 weeks later, she returned to the clinic to have her stitches removed. Today, she is herself and is tumour free!!!!

Joy skin tumour free

I know Joy has no fur on her chest & on her belly, I think that’s because she constantly pees on the wheel & her chest & tummy rub against the wheel. At least she looks much better now than she did a month ago.

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Severe Overgrooming

April 18th, 2010

In the middle of last month, I noticed that Pinky’s backside was completely bald:

Pinky fur loss

According to the vet, the exposed skin looks healthy, no flakes to indicate dryness or possible mites. I initially suspected ringworm or mites because during a mites breakout last year & all of the hamsters, except her, were affected. So I thought that maybe it’s her turn to contract mites.

The vet thinks that it’s a psychological issue, mainly that she’s so bored that she overgrooms herself. She can’t groom anymore than the lower back of her body because that’s as far as she can reach.

I don’t understand how she can be bored because she has a lot of things in her cage: a wooden hidey house, a relatively large wheel for her size, plastic & cardboard tubes, ledges to climb on. I’ve since added more stuff in her cage & given her some chewable sticks that I have for the chinchillas & a 42-puzzle playground (that she NEVER goes into even though I hide treats in it!) to the point that there’s little walking space in her bin cage. The vet also suggested that I give her foods that are rich in good oils to encourage fur growth and more toys to keep her entertained. She doesn’t like the plastic ball because it scares her so I’ve only put her in the plastic ball a couple of times when I first got her.

Well, fast forward to today (about 4 weeks later), Pinky has certainly stopped overgrooming herself:

Pinky fur grown1

Pinky fur grown2

Lesson learned? Pack your hamster’s cage with tons of toys!

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Venting

April 12th, 2010

I was watching a video about Gohan-Chan (a hamster who was supposed to be a meal for a zoo snake, but snake decided to befriend it) on Youtube. Youtube has a list of related videos on the right side of the page, so I clicked on one. Not good! It happened to be a video of someone’s pet snake eating a dwarf hamster (one that looks like Brain mind you!). The instant the snake attacked the hamster, I was grossed out. What’s even more disturbing is that there are more amateur videos of other pet snakes having hamsters as meals :-( In my opinion, these kinds of videos are not funny nor they are entertaining. I really enjoy watching documentaries, especially ones about animals & I don’t mind watching (with 1 eye closed) a lion attacking a baby elephant because even though it’s cruel, it’s recorded for educational purposes & that is how mother nature balances order in the wild. As for pet snakes, I am sure that pet owners do have a choice on what to feed their snakes. I used to keep 10 piranhas and despite popular beliefs, feeding them frozen mice or feeder goldfish isn’t always the healthiest thing for them (not to mention the cleanups I’d have to do). In fact, that’s how diseases are transferred from one species to another.

Ok, enough venting for now.

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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.

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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.

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War Against the Bloodsuckers

January 9th, 2010

Has been won by the hamsters!

Last month, just as the robo girlies were finishing up on their mites medications, I noticed that Daddy Hamster’s skin was a little dry & flaky. He is all good now, but poor DH has also been attacked by the mites since the robo girlies’ cages are below DH’s cage. When I brought DH to the clinic, vet said that the mites on DH were still at the early stages, which was good. As for DH’s Ivermectin routine, his doses weren’t as far apart as the robos’ (the robos had to take their mites medications 2 weeks apart), DH’s medications were 8 days apart because he is a larger hamster.

The new year has started on a healthy note!

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Evil Weevil

December 19th, 2009

Found in Daddy Hamster’s cage:

DH weevil

I had just cleaned his cage a couple of days ago, so I suspected that the weevil came from the food! I hope that I don’t have to discard the newly opened bag of food :-(

Vet said that these weevils are harmless. Nevertheless, since then, I have cleaned DH’s cage with bleach & threw away his cardboard hideouts.

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