Nibbles is in hospital

[Coco1]

I'm so upset right now. I've not had a sick hammy in the years I've had hamsters (Guess I've been lucky) but Nibbles seems to have some upper respiratory infection. He's been rubbing his nose and sneezing as though he has fluff up his nose, keep rubbing it. He'd go into his sand bath and because his feet were wet from his nose they got stained a dark gray from the sand and matted up, he'd then rub his nose again so his nose was dirty looking. I removed the sand.

He stopped eating his main food, does nibble on some moist food / fruit I give him thankfully cause he has been drinking either. I added some vitamins to his water just in case he did and also put some of that onto his apple and corn which he ate last night and seemed to enjoy so maybe he got some nutrients.



It began Tues night / wednesday when he just seemed to be sleepy and a little sneezy? (that s the best way I can describe it!) . I had also just cleaned his tank on the tuesday night before and put new carefresh in there and I know that stuff is dusty so thought it was just the dust getting up his nose but he's always had it so nothing new there? I always rinse his tank which I clean with a little white vinegar. Wednesday he slept; all day, and wednesday night I took him out of his nest cause he wasn't waking up at his normal time. I sat him in my hand and he seemed to wake up pretty quick so I checked him over - his eyes were bright and he moved around as normal, a little blocked nose sounding, but not so much as the tuesday night after his cage cleaning when he seemed really irritated. I Put him in his ball and he wizzed around in that all over the place, loved it! No problems. Put him back in his cage and roots around - started sneezing as though trying to get the fluff out of his nose or something. He ate a sunflower and a nut so I know his mouth wasn't sore, his pouches seemed fine, his teeth were fine. He went to bed but no sign of him playing on his wheel later that night (I set it in a certain position so I could tell if he'd used it). His breathing seemed much better from the night before though.

Thursday night - took him out - eyes good, walked around as normal. Took some corn immediately and some apple, and either ate the rest that night or put it in to his house. But by this morning his nose was making funny noises again and he was rubbing it and it didn't look like he touched his hard food / water so I said thats it - hes going to the vet. My hubby is out of town, I don't drive, my vet is on vaction in, of all places, LONDON (urrgh! But he's OK the vets office said). So by this point I was getting really upset. They told me to take him to this other vet that specializes in exotic animals such as hammies, ferrets, chinchillas, herps etc... I called my neighbour and she took me up there this morning. They said to call around 3pm but they may keep him in overnight for a longer look at him. I just feel so helpless. I think he either has an upper respiratory infection caused by bacteria or parasitic they said maybe? or maybe allergic to something? I don't know what it could be? Hopefully they'll be able to find the problem and prescribe something for him to make him better again. Its so horrible, I hate seeing him not quite himself. This week has just been way to stressfull with one thing or another - I just want some good news. :cry:

I'll let you guys know what happens.

[SnuggleHam]

The title of your post worried me, I thought for sure I was going to hear the nibble has a case of wet tail! :( That’s usually the worst stories you hear and they seems to almost always end in death.



I’m sad that nibbles is at the vets and not feeling well, but I feel relieved knowing that it sounds far from anything critically serious like wet tail at this point. But I’m sure nibbles is best off at the vet where they can treat and supervise the poor little ham.



Let us know how it goes and what they diagnose. It sounds like an allergy thing or irritancy to me, but I’m not a vet either and it seems funny that nibbles is suddenly having troubles with the bedding when its been the same stuff this whole time.

[Coco1]

Yea I'm glad its not wet-tail either (Unless they find otherwise!) He doesn't have any of those symptoms, his little poops are the opposite if anything, if you know what I mean! Due to lack of water probably.

I don't know if care fresh varies from bag to bag - I wondered if maybe they had changed something but I was already half way through the bag so I don't think thats the problem. Same goes for the sand, nothing new there.

There are so many little bugs they can catch that I know I'm unaware off....

I'll keep you posted.

[SnuggleHam]

He may just have a little hamster cold, if its been cool, damp or rainy it can contribute. The good thing is it sound like you cought whatever is wrong early enough that I feel pretty good about the vets curing whatever it may be.

[Coco1]

We had rain yesterday for the first time in 6 weeks! Its been sooo dry. But then I'm sure they can catch a cold even if its warm and dry too?

Its funny cause I told the vet that I had removed his sand from the bath and she said "well, he's not a chinchilla" as if to say "why are you giving him sand in the first place?" ! I explained that they do love sand baths for their coats. ?????????? I would have thought she'd have KNOWN that ! ????? That bothered me a bit but I'm sure (hope) she'll be able to diagnose him correctly.

[SnuggleHam]

Ya, most of animal care is more placed on dogs and cats, ferrets and larger rodents like guinea pigs and rabbits. And well im sure most vets dont go so far as to read up about the best items to give a critter for enrichment, its all the basics, and most everyone already know whats cats and dogs like to play with ect. with birds you need to usually find an avian vet that only specializes in birds.



I guess that is why its best to call around and make sure you have a vet lined up that knows a fair about the animal you own and has experiance in treating them.

[Coco1]

Right, and this place was the best one around. I've heard of it before for small pets and pocket pets. I guess I don't care so much if she's not heard of sand for hamsters, as long as she DOES know about how to treat him, which I'm sure she does otherwise she wouldn't be there! I guess all I can do its put my trust in her. I can't wait till my usual vet returns. I'm not sure how much experience hes had with hamsters but he's just the nicest and best vet i've ever had! If he DIDN"T know enough he'd be the first person to tell me the name of someone who DID.

I'll call the vet in about 10 mins.

[babyboos]

oh what awful news. I am so sorry I wasn't around sooner to offer my well wishes. I will be praying for little cutie Coco tonight and your husband away too you are in my thoughts - I hope they get to the bottom of this soon and your normal vet is okay with all that is going down in London right now. Please let us know whatever they say. Hugs to you.

[Coco1]

Thanks babyboos.

Well, I have him back home now. The vet seems to think it is an upper respiratory infection and has given me an antibiotic solution (Baytril?) to give to him, 0.05cc twice a day by mouth. (THAT should be interesting!) Any hints welcome!

She aid the outcome is "guarded". She could not say how he will do with it or what his oucome will be as it is so hard with little animals. She said he is young so maybe he'll pull through it. I asked her how on earth did he get this and again she said sometimes we just can't answer the questions. Like us they come down with infections.

She also said that he may not be able to smell the food much right now which is why he is not eating much and I noticed that last night when I gave him something, he just turned his nose away as though it just wasn't there. She suggested damping down his food so it maybe more palatable. Also the corn and two little pieces (diced) of apply I gave him last night he obviously ate as she couldn't find it in his nest. She said obvously its the food he needs to eat, not the sweeter stuff (although the only reason I gave him any fresh food was because he wasn't eating the other stuff and because I wanted to give him something moist as he wasn't drinking! I explained this too her.) Hey, at least he ate SOMEthing. So I'm just going to have to try the treatments and see how it goes. She wants to see him again in 2 weeks for a check up and they'll be able to tell more at that point. Unfortunately I'm leaving on vaction to go home to England in 3 weeks FOR 3 weeks... this couldn't have come at a worse time. I had planned on leaving Nibbles with a friend of mine who, although has not kept hamsters before, is a responsible pet owner and I trust her. Howeveer, if Nibbles is still not right I could keep him at this vets place because I asked her if they boarded animals and she said yes, so at least I have that option.

Its funny, I'm not sure whether to feel relieved yet or not as he just might not take to any of this treatment. ANY hints, especially from you Babyboos or Emma (maybe you've gone through this before?) would be appreciated. Of course any hints from ANYone will be appreciated and thank you Candace for your kind words also. This is a good place to get some relief from my stress :-)

[Coco1]

Well, I'm just updateing on things so far. Nibbles has just been out of it all night. I gently woke him up as I had to give him his first dose of antibiotic suspension. Didn't go to bad, got everything ready, dose measured out and then just put him in a gentle nape hold and turned upright. He opened his mouth some and when I put the syringe to his mouth he actually grabbed it to eat it! I squeezed and got 3/4 of it in I think, put him down while he sneezed and spat LOL. Then tried one more time to make sure I got the rest in. I think I did. If any dripped on his fur he'll lick it up. Not bad for the first time. I've never had to do this before. I just felt so bad - here he is, taken out of his bed from a good sleep, to think "oh, its just mum, she'll give me a cuddle", only to have yukky stuff put in his mouth! Poooooor thing. Oh its heartbreaking! But he did do good and I'm sure his next dose in the morning will be even better / quicker. I gently stroked him afterwards and spoke to him softly. Then put a small piece of lab block infront of him which to my amazement he grabbed a hold of and nibbled at for a minute. Then he pouched the rest of it. (I've only just started feeding a little lab block, so one tiny piece, maybe a 1/4 of a full one, mixed with his food is all he gets right now till he's used to it, plus as he's not eating all that much right now I don't want him to eat JUST the block.) Then I put him back in his cage and picked out a flat piece of yellow corn (You know, those flat pieces in the mix?) He munched on that too! He may not eat anything else all night but at least he is eating some of what I put in front of him. I also added some water to his food just enough to moisten it. I'll be just giving him his mix food / lab blocks for a few days, get him back to normal food as much as possible. I also removed any sunflower seeds from his mix - he needs to eat the "balanced" food!

Part of me just wants to take him out and have him sit in my hand but I just put him back because right now I know its probably best for him to just sleep. I miss hugging my little friend. Two more weeks... :?

[SnuggleHam]

Thanks for the update coco! I was waiting to hear what the vet had to say. Sounds like nibbles did kind of catch a cold, well upper respiratory, but when I get sick its usually sinus headache and that kind of thing anyway :P It sounds to me that nibbles has been diagnosed right, at lest from my point of view, not being a vet or anything, the symptoms you described made me think it was probably something like that.



I understand that Baytril is a common antibiotic given to hamster because it pretty much treats everything! So hopefully it will knock out whatever it is. I’m glad that nibbles is taking his medication, such a good little ham :)

[Coco1]

Yea, I did a search on baytrill as I hadn't a clue what it was and you're right, its one of those that treats a multitude of bacteria. Of course if this is not caused by a bacteria then its not going to help, and we won't know that until things either start improving OR get worse.

However, this morning I checked his cage and his food bowl was tipped up a bit with signs of munching! Bits of food scattered over the floor! Woo hoo! At least he's trying to eat something. I'm to give him his second dose in 30 mins. (10am, 10pm).



Thanks Candace - its so nice to be able to chat about this stuff, it really helps realieve the stress of it all! :D

[SnuggleHam]

Thanks Candace - its so nice to be able to chat about this stuff, it really helps realieve the stress of it all! :D



I understand, Iv sometimes am a bit lazy with checking up on the forums and reading all the new topics, I get very busy with my life as a fantasy artist, managing my website amoung other things :) But I try and keep ontop of the important threads and add my input if I can :)



Glad there is signs of nibbles nibbling ;)

[Coco1]

I understand, Iv sometimes am a bit lazy with checking up on the forums and reading all the new topics, I get very busy with my life as a fantasy artist, managing my website amoung other things But I try and keep ontop of the important threads and add my input if I can



Glad there is signs of nibbles nibbling





Well I think you do a great job! It DOES take a lot of time to check everything, all the posts etc and live your day to day life as well, but we all appreciate it! :-)



And yes there are signs of Nibbles nibbling! AND as of five minutes ago he actually came out and had a drink from his bottle! This is the first time I've seen him drink for days! :D

[SnuggleHam]

Even over eating, I feel that if the animal is still drinking water is an extremely good sign!

[Coco1]

Exactly! I was a little worried that I'd not seen him drink. They'll die without water before they'll die without food.

:-)

[Emma]

Hi Coco,



I'm sorry to hear Nibbles is unwell but it sounds like he's getting the best treatment, and his appetite is starting to perk up :).

Any kind of infection can make animals feel unwell (think how you feel when you have a cold - it's not just the runny nose, it's the lethargy and general yucky feeling you have too) so it's not surprising that he went of his food. Baytril has sometimes been linked to a decreased appetite too, although I don't think it's been proven. As he's poorly at the moment he's allowed to eat anything he wants - so you can offer him all his favourite foods and treats (although fresh food in moderation) to tempt him.

Adding vitamins to his food or water is a good idea like you've been doing. It's also a good idea to give a probiotic/prebiotic supplement in the water whilst he's on the antibiotics, even "safe" antibiotics can sometimes cause stomach upsets which will complicate matters further, and pre/probiotics may help avoid that.



Resp infections can sometimes be tricky to deal with, how long have you been told to give the baytril for? An extended course is usually needed to sort resp infections but if there's no improvement at all in a week then a change of antibiotics might be an idea. The vet could also do a culture/sensitivity test to see what the organism causing the problem is and what antibiotics it is sensitive to (these tests take a while though).



How are you getting on giving the medicine? It can be quite tricky! I usually scruff the animal and just do it quickly (pop the syringe in the gap behind the incisor teeth and squirt), apparently Baytril tastes horrible (never tried it myself!) so putting it on food etc doesn't tend to work.



Hope he continues to improve, keep us updated!



Emma x

[Coco1]

Thanks Emma for all that usefull advice! I've not heard of a pre/probiotics before, where do you get this from? I also feed him Hazel Hamster, does that not have something like that in it from what I've heard before? I am continuing to give a few drops of vitamins to his water also.

Well, here's a run down of this weekend - Actually he's taken it all pretty well this weekend. I'd put him in the "nape hold" for the first few days but he doesn't like that much of course, although it does work if I have to do it, so I also tried just putting it in front of him and he actually went to chew on it so I pumped in the "drop" and he lapped it up! Sometimes its a pain, but mostly he's being pretty cooperative and this morning after I pumped it in (its only like one drop!) he licked off the oustide of the sryinge too! after taking it this weekend he is not so noisy breathing (I also put a small cotton ball with some vicks vapour rub ontop of his cage at one point on friday and that did seem to help. I had no Eucalyptus oil left). But what I was very happy about was that he is back to normal drinking now. THATS what I was worried about, him not drinking. So he's drinking now and has also started eating again. In fact, last night he pigged out, loaded most of his food bowl into his pouch, dumped it in his house, came back out, loaded up some more then disapeared for the night! This morning I could see him throught he top of his house and he was munching away! Piggy! I think he did a couple of spins on his wheel too last night as that was in a different position this morning! Looks like he's starting to get back to normal although not totally out of the woods just yet. After seeing him moving around last night he just looked more like his old self a little and his eyes are bright. It was the first time I saw him move around his tank - he checked out his little potty box corner (which he just cleans himself in, doesn't potty in) and he checked out all the corners and his wheel. He was also searching for more food bits and rooting around his cage! lol. It was SO good to see! Almost like "Hey, theres my jam jar, and theres my potty still in the same place, and OH, a bit of food I missed"! LOL. All I could do was smile :-) I've not put the sand back in his jam jar yet, as now his feet are cleaning up. He's doing a good job of keeping himself groomed. His feet were SUCH a mess, all dark grey with the fur matted up. Seems like he's sorted them out now and removing the sand helped, at least till his nose clears up more.

So it seems it probably was bacterial (where from I have no idea?) and hopefully this antibiotic will clear things up. He has two weeks to go so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! :D

For those interested (and because this forum is a place for knowledge!) this is a run down of whats probably a typical bill for a check up for a hamster.

His main office visit and exam cost $41.50

They gave him "Pediatric Mylicon" (?what is this?) which was just $2

And finally the Baytril Suspension Antibiotic for 2 weeks was $33. Total - 76.50!

He'll have a follow up visit in two weeks and whatever other treatment he'll need.

The only reason I've given this is for anyone who is either wanting to get a hamster, so they have an idea of what to expect expense wise if the need arose, or for those who just wonder "what would a vet visit cost?" .

For me I don't care how much it costs, my animal is worth it :-)

I'll keep you posted :D

[pophammy]

How is Nibbles now Coco? Hope he is on the mend. We are having a VERY hot spell here and our hams are not used to it. Poor old Runty seems tp feel it badly and we try to keep him in a shaded room as cool as possible, He keeps scraping all his sawdust aside and lying flat on the bare plastic to try and cool himself. Poor little man!

[Coco1]

Hi Pophammy, all,

Well Nibbles is hanging in there! He's eating at night, stuffing his pouches, and comes out a few times during the day to drink. His breathing seems much better and he's not making all the "blocked-up" sounds with his nose like he was! I don't know how energetic he is at night or if he spins on his wheel all that much but does ocasionaly go in there and does like 1 or 2 spins and comes off.

He also pushes bedding aside but then I also leave one of those corner potties in there which he likes to sit and clean himself in and sometimes just crashes in there also!

To help with high temperatures I use one of those Chinchilla stones - its a small slab of marble tile, about 10" long by 7" wide and I place that under his nest. It always remains a few degrees cooler than the surrounding air temp. as it doesn't conduct the heat. He seems to like it. Otherwise he can move his bedding under him. Usefull for those who live in hot climates.

So - he's still doing OK, improving daily I hope, a little at a time :-) Well - he's not getting any worse! :D

Thanks.

[SnuggleHam]

Thanks for the update, Im glad to hear our little Nibbles is doing well! :D

[babyboos]

Oh that is heartening news I am glad he appears to be responding positively to treatment. Thinking of you both.

[Coco1]

Still doing good. He no longer makes any sounds while breathing in his sleep. Occasionaly I hear him sneeze (like blowing fluff out of his nose!) when he's either grooming, rooting around his cage or digging in his food bowl, but otherwise it sounds like his blocked nose is gone.

Still eating, still drinking :-) Not all that active at night yet, but thats OK. He can sleep as long as he wants to right now!

I now give him his antibiotics while he's in his house! The house he has is one of the wooden "Timber Hide-a-way's" and it has an entry hole in the corner, one in the side and one on top which he uses the most to poke his head and and look around. Its this top hole I've been putting the syringe into and he brings his head up when he sees it and licks the end, while I press the single drop into his mouth! He then licks the outside of it to make sure he's got it all! Bless him! Its made things MUCh easier on me thats for sure and I feel better not having to pull him out of a sleep to give him his medicine.

:D

[Emma]

Good boy Nibbles for taking your medicine! It's great to hear that he's continuing to improve.

[babyboos]

Oh he is a such a good boy taking his medicine so well

Keep us posted