Dwarf Hamster very sick

brokenarms

Hi.
I have a little dwarf hamster who seems to be in quite a bit of pain.

I think a small child got there hands on it while we were out of the room and hurt the hamster . . On the other hand the hamster is over 2 years old.

She is having a bit of trouble walking around and her little ears are pinned back with half open eyes. She looks like she is in pain. Im having to feed it cheerios dipped in water as she wont get out of her bed for eat the normal nuts and seeds.

Not sure what to do. Im afraid of what the vet my say as I cant see them curing a simple rodent.

If it was injured by the child and had a broken bone, do they heal like larger animals?

animallover100

Hi there, I read your post and said I would register to give you a reply. What part of the country are you in? Vets don't learn anything about small rodents as part of their normal training, unfortunately. There is a vet in Bray, Bairbre O Malley who is an exotics vet and she deals with dwarf hamsters all the time. If you can get to her, she will do everything possible to save your hamster. If not, please go to a regular vet and at least get pain medication (they can look up drugs and appropriate dose) or put him/her to sleep if there is too much damage done. Their bones do heal like any other species but because they are so small often a squeeze or a fall damages internal organs. You can feed him/her milupa baby porridge, plain flavour, rather than the cheerios, its more suitable and its what is given to sick hamsters to help give them a little more nutrition if they are sick. Cooked pasta, cooked rice etc all plain are also helpful in small amounts to tempt him/her to eat.

Keep him/her warm, its really important as they go cold so quickly when injured. You can fill an old sock with any grain eg, uncooked rice, tie a knot and microwave it until warm, 2-3 minutes. It holds the heat well and is very safe. Wrap a towel around it and place in the cage under the hamster. If he/she cannot move make sure its not too warm and offer water often. Best of luck and I really hope he/she gets better. There is no human painkiller to give him/her so really get him/her to a vet asap. Either Bairbre in Bray or ring up practices where you live and ask them if they will treat a dwarf hamster.

Fair play to you, nice to see someone care about their small rodents.

II hope that is ok some help.

Knine

Over 2 years is old for a hamster. It may simply be old age. If the hamster is weak it may not be able to access its water bottle so make sure you offer water.

Rather then cherrio's try offering some boiled egg yolk or hard cheese. Dwarfs are prone to diabetes & are best not given sugar laden food.

Vets are well used to seeing hamsters. The hamster sounds very unwell so even if the vet can't treat her, they will be able to humanely put her to sleep.

Zapperzy

Iv also used vegetable based baby food (the little jars) to get a sickly hamster to eat and make sure to get water into her as they can get dehydrated quickly. I second ringing round vets for opinions, most small animal practices can do basic stuff with smallies.

brokenarms

Thanks for the advise.
She seems to be eating away at plain couscous now and drinking when her bottle is brought to her face.

Great idea with the heat. I have a reheatable back pain bean bag sitting under her bed now and she has gone to sleep in the warmth.

This is so unlike her. She usually is going flat out on her wheel all night. Everynight.

I wonder if she is sick with the cold or flu virus.
I had it for a week and everyone else in the house had a bad flu. That picture is bigger than the hamster. She is very small. Smaller than a golf ball.
She made that bedding herself by pulling a bit of kitchen roll through the bars and tearing it into a bed.
Hope she makes it through the night. I hate this part of having pets. I get very upset when they get sick or die. .

baby and crumble

I'm so sorry to hear your hamster isn't well. It's horrible to see them in pain or sick.

Please get to your vet tomorrow- if you are in Dublin but can't make it out to Bairbre O'Malley I use the Dublin Animal Welfare Clinic on Charlemont St (near Harcourt Luas stop).

http://animalwelfareclinic.ie/

They were great with my syrian last year, they gave her antibiotics for a chest infection and really were fab.

Like other posters have said, if you can make up soft, easily digestible foods that will be best to keep her going overnight: milky porridge, scrambled eggs, shredded plain chicken, boiled and mashed carrots etc. Nothing too sugary. Give her a little bowl with water in it near her bed so she doesn't have to go far and reach up to her bottle. Keep her nice and warm- make up a hot water bottle and prop it beside her cage (near her bed) if you can. The solution you have is great too.

Like other posters have said, though, she is 2 years old which is a decent age for a hamster. So what you're seeing may just be symptoms of old age, as hard as they re to witness. But try what we've said and get her to a vet tomorrow.

All the best.

animallover100

Hi again OP, I am sorry, I don't know how to quote your last post - just in relation to her getting a flu or cold, hamsters are not able to pick up the same strains of flu that we humans suffer from. They are not susceptible to a cold virus either so that is probably unlikely as a cause of her illness. It could be old age rather than an injury like other posters have said although the possibility that she was injured and because her symptoms have come on so quickly means it could be injury. Really it is impossible to say what is wrong with her without a vet examining her. She could have a easily treatable condition and recover with medication so please don't give up on her just yet You are doing a great job with the foods and keeping her warm. The fact that she is nesting is a very positive sign and that she is still eating when tempted to. Generally with severe disease, organ damage etc a dwarf hamster would be dead within 24hrs so the fact that she is still responsive is a good sign. If she is still urinating and defecating normally this is also positive. Please get her to a vet

brokenarms

Just back from work and she is in a bad way. She is alive but wont wake up.

I think she is going to die soon.
Edit. After an hour or so in my hand, she took a few spasms and died in my hand.

So sad. Whole house is in bits . She was 3 years old after we counted back and her sister was put to sleep last year after a big growth on her chest .

Never getting another pet. This is very hard to bare.

baby and crumble

brokenarms wrote: »

Just back from work and she is in a bad way. She is alive but wont wake up.

I think she is going to die soon.
Edit. After an hour or so in my hand, she took a few spasms and died in my hand.

So sad. Whole house is in bits . She was 3 years old after we counted back and her sister was put to sleep last year after a big growth on her chest .

Never getting another pet. This is very hard to bare.

Oh Brokenarms, I'm so sorry. It's horrible to take, but if she was 3 that's an AMAZING age for a hammie, you can be assured that she had a great life with you- she must have been spoiled rotten.

I know how hard it is- my hammie Isabella passed away last year and I was truly broken up. I said much the same as you, that I wasn't sure if I could get a new one, but then I spotted Twitch in the petshop and the rest is history.

Play well on the Rainbow Bridge, little one.