Questions about older female teddybear
Jim Baxter
I have an older female teddybear. A couple of months ago I took her to see
a vet for a general checkup. He noticed some blood in her vaginal area. An
ultra sound was done and the images showed something wrong with her
ovaries. He said that she probably had cystic ovaries and recommended that
she have surgery to have them removed. On the other hand, he admitted that
he had very little surgical experience on rodents and said that it would
be very difficult to find someone who did. He also said that for small
animals like a hamsters there are not as many safe guards during surgery
as there are with larger animals like rabbits, guinea pigs, etc. I am
really torn about this and my only reservation in having it done is her
age(she is 2 years and 2 months old) and the relative lack of experience
in the vet. Does anyone here have any similar experience?
I also have a couple of other questions.
1. She doesn't chew on hard things nearly as much as she did
even 6 months ago. Is this normal in an older hamsters?
2. She also does not seem to want to run much in her play
ball either. Is it normal for older hamsters to slow down like
this?
Thanks for your response.
Courtney
Sorry I can't give you any insight about the blood that you found but I can
try to give you some advice anyway...
I have an older male teddybear named Chewie who is 2 1/2 years old and still
hanging in there even though he has lost almost all his fur and looks pretty
pathetic. I managed to find an experienced Vet in my area through listings on
Lorraine's page. When Chewie approached 2 years old, I could definitely see
a decline of activity which also worried me. But he still responds to me,
still exhibits curiosity and excitement when let out of his cage to run
around, and basically acts *happy*. My vet and I agree that even if he
doesn't really run in his wheel anymore, he is still interested in being
active when taken out of his cage,eats and poops normally, responds to my
voice and to the sound of the treat box being shaken, and has maintained a
stable weight. All those things indicate that his quality of life is still
high. On the downside, he has been diagnosed with cancer and I must feed him
steroid medicine twice a day for the rest of his life. He isn't suffering
right now and the medicine helps make him comfortable. The great thing about
my Vet is that when she wasn't sure what was wrong with him, she took blood
and skin samples and sent them to hamster specialists across the country, as
well as having a vet from Napa come to San Francisco to do an ultrasound on
Chewie. (please don't ask what that cost me...) Well, my point in all this,
is to encourage you to find another vet - ask around here and at your local
pet stores for a vet who is known to have experience treating rodents, and
hopefully someone can point you in the right direction, it really makes all
the difference when it comes to caring for your geriatric hamster. Good
luck....
Courtney
David G. Imber
wrote:
I couldn't have said it better. Of course at 2+ years it is not
reasonable to set expectations too high. But in my opinion it is not
UNreasonable to set no expectations at all, and simply follow your
fundamental impulse to do everything you can to preserve and enhance your
pet's life.
I think it is worth searching out a more experienced veterinarian
if that doesn't represent a terrible hardship for you.
Best of luck, DGI
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David G. Imber
Maniform Creative Services
http://www.maniform.com
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