Posts Tagged ‘hamsters’

Too Small!

September 16th, 2009

This is what happens when you put a small wheel in the robos’ cage:

robos wheel squeeze1

“Heeeyy! You’re stepping on my face!”

Good thing it was only temporary :-)

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Gifts

September 8th, 2009

I was recently in the Tiny Island. During my stay, I did not dare to brave the crowds and the expensive taxi fares of going into downtown despite all the new shopping places. Because of that, I didn’t buy anything for myself, but I didn’t forget to bring back some gifts for the animals:

Gifts from SG

Since I’m stingy & I don’t want these foods to run out too fast, these foods will only be treats & not part of the animals’ daily diet.

I like Marukan :-)

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Smaller Lump

August 15th, 2009

I took Baby Hamster in the morning to see the vet who managed to squeeze out the abscess with no effort! I told him how I tried doing that, but nothing came out. The vet said that the abscess probably wasn’t ‘ripe’ enough to come out. The abscess was light green & sticky, yum. The vet shaved off the area around the lump & squeezed out as much abscess as he could. Now BH is on antibiotic for a week.

BH abscess going down

When we arrived home, his abscess was still bleeding, so I compressed the area with thyme tea; by nighttime, it was already scabbing. The lump has gone down significantly, but the vet said how the cyst will always be there. As whether the abscess will come back or not, only time can tell. The vet also complimented on how BH was the best hamster he has ever handled; he didn’t bite or nip him at all :-)

Since BH has been on the antibiotic, he’s been sleeping a lot more. Not only that, I noticed that the fur on his back isn’t as thick as Daddy Hamster’s. Maybe BH is the daddy, and BH is older than I thought he is (I estimate his age to be about 1 1/2 years old)? Well, I hope that he’ll stay with my for a little while longer. So I hope that the sleeping is the side effect of the antibiotic & not of his age.

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Vets are gone!

August 10th, 2009

I go to this particular animal clinic, which is the official clinic for the local zoo. The clinic has 3 vets, but the one I always always see for rodent problems (chins & hamsters) has relocated out of state and my alternative (who treated Dee Dee & Winnie) is on vacation. The third vet has been under the guidance of those 2, but he’s only worked at this clinic for a couple of years and not as experienced with rodents. There’s a new replacement vet, but the staff I talked to doesn’t know if she’s experienced with rodents.

The problem is, I found a lump near Baby Hamster’s left cheek.

BH sick

I tried putting hot compress on him to release the abscess (I think it’s an abscess), but I wasn’t successful. I was afraid, most of the time, of hurting him. Plus, he wouldn’t stop moving. He was very patient with me though; at one point when he’s had enough, he gave me a friendly nip (not the painful ones Syrians can give, so I wasn’t punctured). Afterwards, he was still as tame as ever. I’ve read somewhere that Syrians, once they’ve been tamed, they will always stay tame. As for other hamsters, if you don’t handle them regularly, they will forget what it’s like to be handled & will bite again.

Since I’m reluctant to go to another clinic, I’ll give this vet a try.

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Summer Goodness – Cilantro

July 22nd, 2009

Since it’s summer, I’ve been keeping a vegetable garden growing all sorts of things. One of the things I’m growing is cilantro & my cilantros are going crazy! They keep going to seed every week & I have to keep trimming them. That’s surely a good thing for the hamsters :-)

DH cilantro
Daddy Hamster (above) & Baby Hamster (below) enjoying freshly picked cilantro

BH cilantro

To see how the garden has progressed throughout the summer, see here.

ps: the chinchillas also like cilantros, but they like them slightly crispy & dry.

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Posted in Chinchilla adventure, Hamster adventure | Comments (2)

Good Night Dee Dee

June 7th, 2009

I’m heartbroken to announce that Dee Dee passed away last night. It’s 2 days shy from a month since she was ill. Yesterday, she showed the same symptoms that she displayed when she was first sick: difficulty breathing, mucus coming out of her mouth, lethargic, etc .. BUT this time her body felt cold. I was honestly scared .. I started her on the same antibiotic again. Towards the end of the night, it became more & more painful for me to observe her .. I feared for the worst. She did pass away peacefully & quickly. I was upset, thinking that she had a good chance of living to a super ripe old age, but that was selfish of me .. it was time for her to go. I buried her in my garden, underneath my begonia flowers.

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Posted in Hamster care, Hamster health, Rainbow bridge | Comments (3)

Dee’s Vet Visit

May 11th, 2009

Quick update on Dee Dee: took her to the vet today and vet diagnosed her with pneumonia. She is on a 7-day course of antibiotic. Good thing is that the inside of her mouth is still pink, which means that the pneumonia hasn’t progressed too far for the lungs to be deprived of oxygen. And she likes the taste of the antibiotic :-) When the vet took a look at Dee Dee, he thinks that she’s a much older hamster (from the lack of fur on her limbs & she has completely silvered) and concluded that she caught the pneumonia probably due to her weak immune system. The vet suggested that I feed her pureed baby food, so I’ll go buy that tonight.

*sigh* I still has so much to learn about aging in hamsters, I wish I had been more prepared. Any suggestions or comments on what to expect from aging hamsters are welcomed.

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