Posts Tagged ‘bleeding’

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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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 :-(

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