My sweetie

[fuzzyfriendly]

Thank you for your kind replies!! I adore this community. In "real world" no one really understands, why I'm upset over a hamster. Most people hate and kill small rodents, so I guess they just don't get it.

I've called about 10 vets in 25 mile radius. No one would take her, because they don't deal with animals that small, or they didn't have an opening for this week. I've found a vet that deals only with alternative medicine, she would take her, but I told her that stones and acupuncture are not really my cup of tea at the moment. And one vet said that with 18 months she is too old, to just let her be, that was a short conversation.

I finally got an appointment for tomorrow morning. And only by being bitchy and insisting that it's an emergency. And basically just by taking her there and being nasty and not leaving. It's actually the first time in decades that I got angry. I'm a very nice person, but niceness is almost never rewarded. I live in Switzerland and I guess they are big on making appointments, because they wouldn't even take her, when I gave up on making a call and simply brought her to a couple of places.

I will keep you posted. From what I've read, I think she has warts. I saw a couple of pictures and it looks very much like those cauliflower things.
It might be my imagination but I think that this thing visibly grew since yesterday morning!! I hope there is still time to do something about it.

My hammie luckily is as crazy as ever, jumping all around and snatching worms from my fingers, so I'm not giving up yet.

[Thin Lizzy]

Good on you standing your ground and being determined about getting your sweetie an appointment.
Fingers crossed for the both of you.

[BorisPasha]

Hope it all goes ok at the vets, let us know how you get on

[fuzzyfriendly]

Hello, so ... we're home. I think it all went well so far. They gave her anesthesia and cauterized this thing. The vet reminded me of riskiness of anesthesia, so I did worry, but luckily it went well. They will send a sample for analysis. The vet was great. She didn't want to guess what this thing could be or how dangerous it is. I will know more by the end of next week and I will keep you posted.

Little one was very brave. She wouldn't come out of the bedding at first. She just poked her head out, I guess to see what all the fuss was about . But when the vet simply took her in her hands, she seemed ok. She didn't freak out and she let the vet do the check up. After the procedure my hammie was active, responsive. She had a little bit of blood beside her ear, but the vet said, I can just let it be, that I don't need to use any cream or anything on the wound. Since they cauterized it, she doesn't have an open wound, so that is great, less chance for it to get infected.

Hammie cleaned the blood herself, I guess, because when we came home, the fur was clean and she looked perfectly well. I actually couldn't even see, where exactly was this thing attached. Little Scoop also took the worm from my fingers right away and then went to bed. It was a long day for her and she is not a morning person . I will check her again in the evening at the regular hour.

Thank you for thinking of us!!

[cypher]

Good to hear all went so well at the vets & she doing well after her visit, I really hope the results are good when they come back & your worries will be over & she'll be fine now.

[Hamsterita]

I'm glad that you finally could get an appointment and that everything went well.

I hope she has a quick recovery and that the analysis won't show anything to be worried about.

Keep us posted

[fuzzyfriendly]

Guys ... it's back . Almost in the same spot. Beside her ear, looks the same, just smaller. Hard, lumpy, a bit stringy. Now it's growing a little bit towards her ear canal. The thing went form "nothing to see" yesterday evening to the size of third of her ear today (24hours!!). Her ear looks a little bit funny as well. Somehow smaller?? Like this thing is pushing her ear back a bit and she can't move her ear all the way. This time I did thorough check every day. Whatever it is, it's incredibly fast. So I don't know. I will probably call the vet tomorrow. But I doubt they will be helpful. What can I/they do? I can't keep taking her to the vet every week . She can't go under anesthesia every week. Or can she? They haven't called me about the results yet. Should I wait, till they call me, to see what it is?

Is it possible that the vet didn't go deep enough? But from what I saw there was nothing left, she did a great job, at least above the skin.

This time my hammie is less eager to let me check this thing. Maybe because it's so close to her ear. I tried to take a picture of her as well, but she was wiggling around a lot. So no good pictures. Still eating, drinking, exploring her play-box. A little less time on her wheel, but I can't be sure, since I'm not up all night.

I'm just so sad and scared. I can't imagine just checking new/old growths and waiting for another appointment.

Thank you for reading.

Ps Oh god ... did I make a mistake for letting her take a sand bath yesterday? But it's the same brand of sand I've used for 1,5 year ...

[cypher]

So sorry to hear this.
Given the speed at which this is growing back I wouldn't wait for the vet to get back to you with the results but call them as soon as possible & discuss your options with them.
Let us know how you get on.
I doubt the sand would be a problem tbh.

[fuzzyfriendly]

Thank you cypher ... it's so great to see, that someone cares as well.

I called in the morning right after they opened and they told me, to wait for the results and we will discuss it then. I tried to make an appointment right away, no go. But I mean even if it is something benign, it can't stay there growing at that speed. I don't want to wait another 3 days to get an appointment after that. I hope they will put her first after we get the results. Some dog owner, whose dog has a bump on his leg for a month can wait, as far as I'm considered.

I think it's bothering her. It was a tiny bit redder when I last checked it, probably from rubbing/scratching. No blood, but I think she kind of moves it around and it gets a bit sore.

They asked me if it's big. And I said: Well if something as big as a finger grew on my head overnight, I would be freakin worried. Yeah it's big. Hamsters are small, so if I can see it, it's probably not small anyway. I told them it's about a third of her ear already. Still they told me to wait for results.

She is still drinking, eating. I checked on her every hour or so over night and most of the time she was on her wheel. I didn't bother her again. She actually hid in her house the fifth time, when she saw me. She was probably afraid that I will try to poke her again. I'm gentle but she doesn't like me touching her ear, not even the healthy one. She doesn't seem to be bothered too much by it in any case. Well except for it being itchy, I imagine. Maybe painful? Who knows ...

I'm not even sure what I can hope for at this point, what would be the best diagnosis. I saw that there are pills/medication that can help boost the immune system. But do they really work?

Ps I'm putting the sand away just in case. But it's not like tiny particles of something else can't get stuck somewhere.

[cypher]

I'm sorry this is really hard for both you & her, I can kind of understand the vet wanting to wait for the test results before doing any more but on the other hand I don't really think they should just leave her with something growing that fast without looking first.
Would they book you an appointment so you can go in as soon as the results are back?
What about other vets? Are there any in your area you could try?
Her general behaviour still sounds ok at the moment, I wouldn't keep checking on her so often as it will stress her out & you want her calm & at ease with you right now. Daily checks should be enough.
I doubt this is an immune system issue really & there aren't really any medications that would help, mostly keeping the immune system strong depends on a good diet & keeping them as stress free as possible, giving probiotics can help boost their immune system but I'm not sure it's appropriate right now other than possibly helping her cope with any stress.