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kesaiserris · 02-21-2019, 12:04 PM

My daughter's hamster Stella is very ill. My husband had a bad case of bronchitis and during that time he did not handle her but sadly she still seems to have contracted it. As his condition was caused by a virus and viruses can't be cured we have been nursing her at home. She is obviously ill, she has basically all the symptoms my husband had including sleeping a lot (hubs has never slept so much with an illness as this one). The illness took him 2 weeks to beat and she is approaching 2 weeks now. She is still eating/hoarding and drinking (she drinks if asked maybe it is a coincidence but she is very consistent). She is using her sandbox for her toilet as per her usual custom and I have not detected any strangeness in the smell or amount of urine but I have not seen any poops in her sandbox so I don't know for sure what her pooping habits are. The day before yesterday she was in a bad way still eating but waddling and clearly very weak. I honestly though she would die during the night. Then yesterday she came out for breakfast with big bright eyes and seemed much stronger and I didn't hear any labored breathing or sneezing. Today though my daughter checked her and she has a bloody rump area. So now I think she has some type of infection possibly in addition (her cold symptoms are not all gone) and possibly because she might have went potty in her nest when she was ill so the plan is to call the vet as soon as they open tomorrow morning though we are not sure if they treat hamsters yet. She is not grumpy and so she will allow you to hold and cuddle her. As I said she is absolutely eating because I have seen and heard her munching away. If there is anything that can be done to aid her recovery I will do it but if there isn't is it better to let her die with us in her usual environment or to put her down? Because she is obviously trying so hard to survive I would feel awful about it but I also feel certain that she knows we love her because of the amount of trust she puts in us.

02-21-2019, 12:04 PM
kesaiserris Newborn Pup Join Date: Jan 2018 Posts: 42	Very ill hamster My daughter's hamster Stella is very ill. My husband had a bad case of bronchitis and during that time he did not handle her but sadly she still seems to have contracted it. As his condition was caused by a virus and viruses can't be cured we have been nursing her at home. She is obviously ill, she has basically all the symptoms my husband had including sleeping a lot (hubs has never slept so much with an illness as this one). The illness took him 2 weeks to beat and she is approaching 2 weeks now. She is still eating/hoarding and drinking (she drinks if asked maybe it is a coincidence but she is very consistent). She is using her sandbox for her toilet as per her usual custom and I have not detected any strangeness in the smell or amount of urine but I have not seen any poops in her sandbox so I don't know for sure what her pooping habits are. The day before yesterday she was in a bad way still eating but waddling and clearly very weak. I honestly though she would die during the night. Then yesterday she came out for breakfast with big bright eyes and seemed much stronger and I didn't hear any labored breathing or sneezing. Today though my daughter checked her and she has a bloody rump area. So now I think she has some type of infection possibly in addition (her cold symptoms are not all gone) and possibly because she might have went potty in her nest when she was ill so the plan is to call the vet as soon as they open tomorrow morning though we are not sure if they treat hamsters yet. She is not grumpy and so she will allow you to hold and cuddle her. As I said she is absolutely eating because I have seen and heard her munching away. If there is anything that can be done to aid her recovery I will do it but if there isn't is it better to let her die with us in her usual environment or to put her down? Because she is obviously trying so hard to survive I would feel awful about it but I also feel certain that she knows we love her because of the amount of trust she puts in us.