Posts Tagged ‘cancer’

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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Posted in Hamster health, Rainbow bridge | Comments (0)

Good Night Kat

January 4th, 2010

Earlier last month, I brought Kat to the vet again because the lump that was removed from her bum had became much larger (WARNING: graphic image). At that point, blood was coming out of the lump, but not a lot (like when Brain was bleeding), more like droplets. The vet explained that the lump was definitely cancer & the bleeding was because the cancer cells needed more blood supply. The vet was hesitant about surgically removing the cancer as he had previously done so. It would be futile if Kat were to undergo a second surgery with the risk of the cancer coming back again. So I brought her home & pampered her, knowing that her days would be outnumbered. The occasional bleeding was treated with antibiotic cream (as instructed by the vet) & she was still very active up until her very last day.

My 2009 didn’t end so well. On 31st of December morning, I found Kat lying outside of her nest. Her body was already cold & stiff. I saw that this time there was much more bleeding & that could be the cause of her death. I called the same funeral service that had cremated Baby Hamster & Brain & they were nice enough to pick Kat’s body up from my place that very same day. I wish that Kat could have held out a little bit longer & celebrate 2010 with me. But considering her condition, she held out long enough.

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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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