The decision wasn’t easy for me to make; I had sometime to think about it & I hope that it’s the best decision for her.

This past Friday night, I discovered that some of the bedding in Brain’s cage was red. She was bleeding again. This time, it was worse because part of her intestine was sticking out, too. This happened during the weekend when the vet clinic was closed & all I could do was syringe feed her & hope that she would last until Monday to see the vet. She stopped bleeding after a night, but she still wasn’t herself — she was very lethargic & stayed in her house throughout the weekend, which wasn’t normal at all.

I finally got an appointment with the senior vet, not the vet who diagnosed Brain last time. The senior vet agrees with the previous diagnosis that the lump is cancer. The reason why the intestine prolapsed is because Brain’s reproductive system has been strained. Even if the intestine was put back in, that’s not the underlying problem. In the classes that he teaches, the vet uses hamsters of all stages of life to study cancer & he explains that the chance of Brain’s cancer to come back is high even after it’s been removed. Not being able to see her anatomy, he suspected that the cancer was either in the urinary tract or in the reproductive system, since both empty out through the urethra where the blood was coming out from. I didn’t want to surgery performed on Brain to remove the cancer if the cancer was going to come back, unnecessarily forcing Brain to undergo repeated procedures. The vet mentioned that Brain’s hunchback meant that she was in pain. After hearing all the options, I didn’t immediately decide for euthanasia. The more I weighed the options, the more conflicted I became, especially not knowing how Brain truly felt.

She will be cremated and her ashes will be spread onto a local pet cemetery ground. I think I will visit it next week.

Brain already seemed better after a day of antibiotic. Now she lives on her own & is already her old self, running on the wheel & climbing the cage bars. The reason why she’s alone is because when I tried to put her back with her sister, Pinky, after a 24-hour separation, I guess Pinky doesn’t remember her anymore? Pinky kept picking fights with Brain even after I’ve continually stopped Pinky.

I can see the improvement with Dee Dee after a day of antibiotic, too! It’s amazing what these antibiotic can do, huh? Whenever I try to give her the antibiotic though, she always struggles, I guess that shows the old girly still has long ways to go No more clicking noises when she’s breathing & I can see that she can breathe a lot easier now (before, I could see her back going up & down rapidly as she was trying to inhale). She doesn’t like me syringe feeding her with drinks & food, but I don’t mind because Dee Dee is eating & drinking on her own.

I think they will all be okay, thanks to the wonderful wonderful vets & all of the best wishes.

Another interesting thing, I bought some baby food, pureed carrots & pureed peas, all of the hamsters love them! Except for Dee Dee. I guess Dee Dee is like one of those old ladies who is set in her ways I know I shouldn’t have favorites, but she’s my favorite Russian Campbell.

*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.

Today I found Dee Dee laying down on the mezzanine floor sleeping. At first I thought she was sleeping normally, until I realized that the area around her mouth is wet & she was making clicking noises (as if she was hiccuping). I looked up the symptoms online & she might be experiencing some respiratory problems. I don’t know what causes it, but she still seemed to be able to find food & go up to the second floor, even though at a much slower pace. As a precautionary measure, I changed the bedding from aspen (even though it already doesn’t have aromatic oils) to Carefresh. When I stroked her, she just ignored me, which is unusual because she would normally try to bite my finger.

*sigh* I don’t know what else I can do at this point for Dee Dee. I just hope that it’s a sign of aging (after all, I wouldn’t know what aging signs are, since I’ve never had hamsters before).