IS my hamster DYING ???
PosterGuy
last year when we found him in our back yard - no one in the neighbourhood
claimed to have lost a hamster so we gave him a home.
He has something like a respiratory problem, like a cough or a gag reflex.
He is constantly making this ghastly noise like he can't breathe and his
whole little body convulses. He acts normal while doing this (goes thru all
the motions he normally would) except that I don't remember hearing him in
the wheel at night for a while.
I can't really tell if he's been in it (he has not a wheel but one of those
clear plastic spheres)
Has anybody seen this before or knows what causes it or a remedy for it.
This is our first hamster - my wife is quite upset - damn little things you
get so attached to them....
Deborah
"PosterGuy" <Post...@home.com> wrote in message
news:Xns94F547C4AD0FD...@198.80.55.250...
I don't know what the cause is but I'm sure if you take the hamster to a vet
they will be able to tell you and treat it if possible. I hope the little
guy gets better soon.
Deborah
--
Hamster Heaven - http://www.hamster-heaven.co.uk
Hilary
hamster
> last year when we found him in our back yard - no one in the neighbourhood
> claimed to have lost a hamster so we gave him a home.
>
> He has something like a respiratory problem, like a cough or a gag reflex.
> He is constantly making this ghastly noise
First port of call is the vet I think. I know it costs but it will put your
mind at rest. Most good vets will treat first and allow installments in
times of hardship.
Meanwhile have you changed his brand of bedding or used any perfume ( carpet
vac stuff, plug in, polish) near the little ones cage?? Allergy to perfumes
and bedding is a common major problem.
Age might be a factor and his previous wild living.
Hope hes better soon.
:o)
Jodylogic
don't think of it as a throw away pet.
Now that you have given him a home, I urge you to please continue in the next
step. If he has a noticeable problem, he is most definitely in discomfort and
he is depending upon you to ease & care for him
As all of us would for our pet, or. It's human nature. Whereas Neglect is
abuse.
Please realize this factor, that hamsters motabolism is very fast and they can
go down quickly. So if you care, do not delay and the type of vet to ask for
is one that specializes in "exotics" or "hamsters".
We appreciate your noble efforts in rescuing her, plelasle follow through with
this. it is What is in his cage, in the way of bedding/ wood chips?
I would remove all of it, replace with just white toilet paper, the kind that
is unscented, and single ply.
Hamsters can get respiratory problems from any other bedding material other
than Carefresh or Aspen. If you have just bought Pine, or Cedar, etc you CAN
BRING it back as-is and exchange it with for Carefresh or Aspen
Shavings.Regardless since your hamster already has symptoms a vet can help him
turn around.
Thank you in advance for doing the right thing. You will be rewarded by a soft,
cuddly, intellegent (simple to potty train), adorable hammie!!!
Thanks & Goodluck to all 3 of you!!
Vanissa
did he imply that he was not going to follow through.. he wouldn't have
written to this newsgroup if he didn't care... the assumptions in that
response are kinda harsh, IMO. :(
Posterguy, I would definitely contact a vet, as well as making sure that
your bedding is only Aspen or Carefresh, or single ply toilet tissue.
Good luck!!
Nissa
"Jodylogic" <jody...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040526134358...@mb-m03.aol.com...
PosterGuy
I hope he can be cured, the problem is that we are going away for the
next 2 weeks so I hope our neighbour will give him medicine if he needs
it.
I thought that the pine bedding may be affecting him so I had already
removed it and used only toilet paper to line his cage as suggested here.
He's still making those noises and it's frustrating not to be able to
make it better :(
I'll let you all know what he says...
"Vanissa" <van...@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:10b9vu5...@corp.supernews.com:
Pieman
Good luck at the vet.
Sean
PosterGuy
He said that Pelota may live through this - but we won't know until he
gets better. We'll be going away on Friday for a 2 week holiday, so
tomorrow will be a "train the neighbour" day - I must say that the
medicine is pretty easy to administer.
I also bought him ClearFresh (or whatever the name is that was suggested
here - looks like cardboard) and washed the cage again with soap.
The girl in the office said that not many people bring hamsters in, which
made me feel a little silly - I still think that he was pretty lucky to
have landed in our back yard. I hope he makes it through.
Thank you for all your help and good wishes.
PosterGuy <Post...@home.com> wrote in
news:Xns94F5A856EF2F9...@198.80.55.250:
John
> The vet said the little guy has pneumonia and gave me some antibiotics.
> He said that Pelota may live through this - but we won't know until he
> gets better. We'll be going away on Friday for a 2 week holiday, so
> tomorrow will be a "train the neighbour" day - I must say that the
> medicine is pretty easy to administer.
> I also bought him ClearFresh (or whatever the name is that was suggested
> here - looks like cardboard) and washed the cage again with soap.
> The girl in the office said that not many people bring hamsters in, which
> made me feel a little silly - I still think that he was pretty lucky to
> have landed in our back yard. I hope he makes it through.
> Thank you for all your help and good wishes.
>
I too will be thinking of you little friend. I have seen a few stray
hammies in the past and would have loved to be able to catch one to save
them from a shortened life. Could you tell me the name of the antibiotic you
were given? I would like to know if it is indeed the same as what was given
to give to my hammie.
John
PosterGuy
news:9Vhtc.7468$Ly.6715@attbi_s01:
I can't tell the name as there is a sticker with the indication on top of
the name (I guess) it is clear liquid like water and with no smell.
If it's important to you I may phone the vet when I get back from
holidays - he doesn't seem to be making any progress - maybe it is too
early to tell - he had trouble hanging on to and eating a bit of cheese I
gave him to lessen the trauma of shoving something down his throat.
I hope he's still here when I get back :(
John
I wouldn't want you to make a call just for me. I was just curios and was
thinking I wouldn't mind learning more about the meds that are given
hamsters. I must say I don't have a lot of confidence in the industry after
the bad luck I have had with the one I go to. I am sure that the highly paid
vets that treat expensive high profile animals are far more trained. I could
be all wrong in my assumptions here and would be open to any rebuttal but I
have never seen any real benefit from any of my visits. My gal is not making
any progress and the soars are FAR worse each day and he seems to have
missed many that have grown in an alarming rate in the past day :(
Good luck and have a good trip.
John
PosterGuy
news:TAvtc.1571$4A6.1300@attbi_s52:
I agree with you - sometimes we know more about our little creatures that
the vets we go to - I also have a budgie and the vet does only birds -
she is very good. This hamster guy ... I don't know - I even thought that
the thing in the test tube could be water only - I just hope that these
people love animals and are qualified to do their work - you just have to
trust somebody - good luck with your little one.
John
Thanks PG..Have a good memorial day weekend.
John
MiHoSwEeTi
>This is our first hamster - my wife is quite upset - damn little things you
>get so attached to them...
I hope your little guy gets better soon and that your pet sitter doesn't have
too much trouble with the meds.
I'll be praying for his quick recovery!
christine miho
http://community.webshots.com/user/miho176
http://community.webshots.com/user/hamsterhaven
Jodylogic
holiday
I'll be praying for him.
Thanks for taking him to the vet & haivng your neighbor help.
The hamster is fortunate that you've taken care of him.
Please let us know how he's doing.
Thanks :-)
Jody
http://community.webshots.com/user/softncuddly
Lorna
> the vets we go to - I also have a budgie and the vet does only birds -
> she is very good. This hamster guy ... I don't know - I even thought that
> the thing in the test tube could be water only - I just hope that these
> people love animals and are qualified to do their work - you just have to
> trust somebody - good luck with your little one.
I'm lucky my vet is one of the small animal specialists. Most antibiotics
added to water are clear. Our vet always prints out a label with the name
of the medication and the dosage just like a pharmacist would do for a
human. Baytril is the antibiotic most commonly used, as a lot of
antibiotics are hazardous to hamsters.
Lorna
PosterGuy
@mb-m20.aol.com:
I'm back from holidays and my hammie is still alive - and a bit better.
Our neighbour's daughter took him home and gave him the antibiotics twice a
day and there is still some left which I am still giving him. You can tell
there is still fluid in his lungs as the coughing fits haven't stopped
completely - they just happen less often (as oppossed to almost continuosly
before) So we are hoping that he will pull through ...
The vet office called twice while we were away. We called today and left a
message to be passed on to the vet. I hope they will reply as to what to do
next or what to change if anything - Will keep you posted.
Thanks for all the support here !
Jodylogic
Wow that's really nice that the vet office called twice.
Let us know what happens.
How was your trip?
MiHoSwEeTi
>Our neighbour's daughter took him home and gave him the antibiotics twice a
>day and there is still some left which I am still giving him. You can tell
>there is still fluid in his lungs as the coughing fits haven't stopped
>completely - they just happen less often (as oppossed to almost continuosly
>before) So we are hoping that he will pull through ...
>The vet office called twice while we were away. We called today and left a
>message to be passed on to the vet. I hope they will reply as to what to do
>next or what to change if anything - Will keep you posted.
>
>Thanks for all the support here !
I'm glad you were able to find such a good pet sitter. I hope you have some
good news soon!!
PosterGuy
news:20040613155848...@mb-m17.aol.com:
I took him off the antibiotic - we'll see what happens - he seems OK
I noticed though that he is not drinking any water and he used to be such
a
good drinker - he took to the water bottle as if he was born with it.
Now he doesn't even snif it - even when I try to make him drink from it.
Anybody experienced this before ????
MiHoSwEeTi
>I noticed though that he is not drinking any water and he used to be such
>a
>good drinker - he took to the water bottle as if he was born with it.
>Now he doesn't even snif it - even when I try to make him drink from it.
>Anybody experienced this before ????
Make sure he's getting his fluids. You don't want him to become dehydrated.
If he's not drinking water, you can try giving him some veggies with a high
content of water, like cucumbers.
Theresa Grant
> mihos...@aol.comnojunk (MiHoSwEeTi) wrote in
> news:20040613155848...@mb-m17.aol.com:
>
> >>I'm back from holidays and my hammie is still alive - and a bit
> >>better.
I just wanted to say THANK YOU for posting about this in the first
place. I've been going frantic with a similar situation for the past
48 hours, and my vet was revealed to be clueless when it came to
hamsters. Nothing I found on any website fit what my hamster is doing,
and then I lucked across your post. So THANK YOU, because now I have
something to go back to my vet with. :) In the meantime, if you read
this, can you tell me if you figured out how your hamster got
pneumonia?
PS - to the group at large - Very cool attitudes. I tried asking
another group for help and I got flamed for being a bad pet owner.
Long story. Not what you need to hear when your heart is tied in knots
and you're frantic with worry about your little friend. :)
PosterGuy
be prone to it. He still coughs once in a while which maybe means that he
will never be rid of it completely. But besides the fact that he quit
drinking water (maybe turned off because of the force feeding of the
antibiotics) he seems to be acting totally healthy. And he still pees so
I guess he is getting hydrated by the amounts of lettuce and cucumber
we've been giving him because he doesn't drink from the bottle anymore.
Good luck with your little one !!
theresa...@verizon.net (Theresa Grant) wrote in
news:4187f34.04070...@posting.google.com:
Joann Taylor
> I have no idea what caused pneumonia I just know that they seem to
> be prone to it. He still coughs once in a while which maybe means that he
> will never be rid of it completely. But besides the fact that he quit
> drinking water (maybe turned off because of the force feeding of the
> antibiotics) he seems to be acting totally healthy. And he still pees so
> I guess he is getting hydrated by the amounts of lettuce and cucumber
> we've been giving him because he doesn't drink from the bottle anymore.
> Good luck with your little one !!
>
If you do have continuing concerns about hydration, one thing that we
did with our Alice when she wasn't drinking was to give her a dilute
solution of Pedialyte in her water bottle. If you are not familiar
with the stuff, it is what you give babies when they have diarrhea.
It is specifically for rehydration and is sold under a variety of
names and generics and is usually found in the baby/diaper aisle of
the store - occasionally, it is with the baby food. I gave her about
a 30% solution because I was concerned about the electrolyte balance -
but the vet told me that for short-term use, full strength would be OK
as well. I didn't want her to have excessive sugar, (the stuff
contains dextrose) so I went with the more dilute stuff. The sweet
taste did encourage her to drink. I would not use it is a long-term
supplement to the water bottle but if you have immediate hydration
concerns, and your ham is not diabetic, they may be encouraged to
drink.
Hope that helps.
Joann & Bert