Posts Tagged ‘rodent’

Good Night Almond

May 9th, 2010

I haven’t posted in awhile because it’s been hectic. Not only that both chinchillas are sick (more on that later), Almond had passed away on the 28th of April, late at night.

I noticed that a couple of months before Almond left forever, the fur around her legs were almost gone, exposing her skinny legs. I knew that she was getting older, but I expected that Roborovski hamsters could live up to 3 years of age. Besides, Almond was still super active, running on her wheel all night like. My other Roborovskis passed away early because of illnesses, so I was hoping that Almond could make it until she’s at least 3 years old. Almond was brought home in May of 2008, so she was a little over 2 years of age when her body gave in.

In general, Roborovski hamsters are super timid, but Almond was the one who was not scared to sit on the palm of my hand; Almond wouldn’t run away when I tried to pick her up, nor would she jump off when I held her. I rarely blog about Almond, but she’s one silly girly who happens to not be camera shy:

Almond wheel1

Almond scratching herself

Almond sleeping

Peacefully sleeping

Almond sleeps in wheel

Almond tired herself out & fell asleep on the wheel

I had her body cremated. This time around, I went to another funeral home because I personally don’t like the funeral director at the funeral home I was previously a patron of. Of course I had to have her paw prints done.

Almond rainbow bridge1

The poem reads:

I know that it must be different, now that I am no longer here.

I realize how much I was loved, and how all of you did care.

I know it will be hard at first, when you look around for me.

Expecting to find me in my bed, or beside my favorite tree.

Some days you will begin to see, although it’ll take some time.

The happy times you shared with me, the memories are yours and mine.

I’ll remember you my family, and how much you meant to me.

So please don’t grieve and be sad, it was just my time to leave.

Author unknown~

I started with 4 Roborovski hamsters, I can’t believe now I’m down to 1, Joy (who just underwent surgery, more on that later). The place is quiet without the sound of Almond’s wheel ….

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

Whisker Craziness!

April 8th, 2010

Check out those whiskers!

Tubby robe sleeve

Winnie whiskers

In memory of Baby Hamster

DH sleepy whiskers

And those long whiskers are not for looking cute only, according to Live Science:

Most rats have poor vision, but they make up for it with the “whiskers on their snouts. They use the long hairs, also called “vibrissae,” in the same way that blind people use canes. By whisking the hairs across objects the come across, rats and other rodents form mental pictures of their surroundings.

:-)

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Posted in Chinchilla adventure, Chinchilla pictures, Hamster adventure, Hamster pictures | Comments (1)

Bloodsuckers

December 14th, 2009

Are invading the hamsters!!

At first, it was Almond the roborovski; there was some fur loss around her cheeks & her back, some scabbing on her back, & some flaking on her bare skin. Initially I thought it was because Kat & Joy had overgroomed her or they had been fighting. When I removed Almond to be in a cage by herself, even though the original scabs, there were more scabbing not long after. At that point, I suspected that she was scratching herself so bad to the point that she scabbed herself.

Last month, vet scraped some of Almond’s skins & placed them on a slide .. sure enough the vet saw lots of mites & mite eggs breeding on Almond. Euw!  She’s now on Ivermectin (medication for mites), 3 doses of 0.01 ml given 2 weeks apart. Ivermectin is a very strong medication & it had to be diluted for Almond’s dosage due to her small size. Besides, 1 dose is not enough to kill all the mites as mites have successive breeding stages, that’s why they are given 2 weeks apart.

I thought it was strange that only Almond was infested with mites since she had shared a cage with Joy & Kat. Well, a couple of weeks after Almond was discovered with mites, I saw the same symptoms on Joy & Kat: excessive scratching to the point that they bruise themselves & flaking. Off to the vet they went on the 9th of November & now they’re also on 3 doses of Ivermectin.

The vet said that they could’ve gotten mites either from the bedding (I read that people bake their bedding to kill mites, but I don’t want to use the oven that I cook with in order to kill bugs) or from the petstore (it’s just that the robos have always been asymptomatic until now). I’ll just have to stick to the medications & hopefully by the end of the third dosage, all the mites will have been killed. Vet recommended that I clean the cages & the toys in 39 part water & 1 part bleach. Afterwards, air dry them as any remaining chlorine will evaporate.

Almond fur loss

Almond before the vet visit; fur loss around the cheek area; if you right click  & “View Image,” you can see flakes in her ear

Almond mites
Almond after the vet visit; vet had scraped off some of the mites from the skin; Almond’s skin is dry because it’s exposed to Aspen bedding & I’ve been applying olive oil on it once every 2 days

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Sharing

October 13th, 2009

Not!

Robos sharing1

Robos sharing2

Robos sharing3

Seems like there’s 1 girly who is always hogging the food bowl. I don’t want to get them a bigger food bowl because they’ll just end up pooping inside the food bowl 0_o

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Angry Tubby

August 22nd, 2009

Having a lot less out-of-cage playtime these past 2 weeks due to my busy schedule, Tubby managed to devise a way to get back at me:

Tubby sharp apple

Yep, the ever-so-sly Tubby created sharp threatening tools out of apple sticks just to get back at me, I’m sure. I’m scared .. that one of these nights he’ll escape from his cage and really attack me.

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

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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