Larry-Jasper's thread

[Hamsterita]

I suppose that you already have your puppy! If you don't want to open a new thread for him, I hope that Larry Jasper doesn't mind to share his for one time and that you share his photo!!

Thanks for sharing Larry Jaspers's food recipe. It looks very interesting... but I was wondering, what the hell is thrive chicken??

If you want to try a beach theme, Crystalroborovski has a cage with a beautiful beach theme that you could check to inspire you

[chesca_27]

Yes - I got my puppy yesterday ! I will share some photos and create a thread this evening. Thrive Chicken is just a specific brand of freeze-dried chicken that I add to Jasper's mix. I get it from the pet shop or supermarket. Thanks, but I ended up doing a natural/sand theme . I might share some photos later.

Anyway, I have some not so great news about Jasper . On Thursday morning, I discovered blood all over his belly and I also found some in his cage. To cut a long story short, we took him to the vet, Thursday evening. The vet suspects it's a mild bladder infection/cystitis as he tested Jasper's urine for blood, which came up as positive. Glucose levels were normal so I know it isn't related to diabetes.

Jasper has been prescribed 0.02ml Baytril twice a day for 10 days. He weighs 51g, so would that be the right dose for him? I'm not too sure how to go about giving him the medicine. He had it in some baby food and plain porridge a couple of times, but he doesn't always eat it immediately, so the time frames aren't ideal. I will be getting some more baby food this evening as well, so please recommend any ones that you've found popular with your hamster (especially dwarfs). I do know what to avoid when choosing, but I don't want to waste loads as it's about 90p a pouch. I have checked Serendipity's thread about baby food from last year, but it doesn't specify which ones are popular, only what's safe (from what I can remember).

If his antibiotics don't clear up the blood, he will have to have an x-ray and possibly further testing, which will be stressful and expensive so I really want to avoid that. Thankfully, this ordeal hasn't upset Jasper and he's been behaving normally.

I guess that's my update. I will talk about Hermes more later, as I would to keep this thread related to Jasper as of right now, as I would like some help with the baby food.

[cypher]

Congrats on Hermes chesca, look forward to hearing about him & seeing some photos

Really sorry to hear about LJ, fingers crossed it is just a UTI & the meds clear it up quickly. Been a while since I had to give antibiotics but the dose sounds about right to me, my vet usually just gives me a syringe & says one drop as it's such a small amount to measure!
I've found my hybrids can be quite fussy about soft foods, baby food they like a mostly the veg ones & cauliflower cheese (I think there's a broccoli cheese one too but haven't bought any for ages so not sure) they have never been keen on any of the meat ones.
There's a Hipp organic mixed vegetable medley one that comes in a jar that they really like, Tesco do a new range now, Babease I've only tried pumpkin & pea but that was popular with everyone including Tinwë who's a typically fussy hybrid, not sure if WW tastes vary much from hybrids but hope that helps a bit.

[AprilPearl]

Oh no, sorry to hear about Jasper

Mushu was prescribed 0.15ml of Baytril once a day and at the time he weighed 120g. I remember the vet calculating the correct dose for his weight very carefully lol! If the dose was directly proportional to weight, then Jasper would be on around 0.06ml a day. He's on 0.04ml which is very close. Besides, there are other factors to take into account. For example, some Baytril is more concentrated than others - the one Mushu took was only 2.5%. Also, the vet has to take into account what illness they are treating. Mushu had a respiratory infection, which is different from Jasper's problem. And perhaps being a different species of hamster makes a difference too. I'd stick to the dose prescribed by your vet as it sounds about right.

It's good that he will take the Baytril in food at all. Mushu could smell it a mile away and wouldn't touch anything which was spiked with it. In the end, we had to hold him still and syringe feed it. Have you tried dipping the end of the syringe in something tasty, such as porridge or babyfood? I have heard that this will encourage some hamsters to put their mouth to the syringe and then you can administer the medicine. It didn't help with a Mushu because he could still smell the Baytril, but Jasper will take it in food so he may be different.

To be honest, Mushu liked all the babyfood I tried him on - just not spiked with Baytril lol! His favourites were Cow & Gate cauliflower cheese, Hipp Organic Sweet Squash and chicken, Cow and Gate carrot and lamb hotpot and Cow and Fate chicken Sunday lunch.

Have you tried mixing it with wet cat food? The chicken applaws is a big hit and also hamster safe.

Get well soon little guy!

Can't wait to see Hermes

[Coco61]

Sorry to hear the news about Larry-Jasper. Dose sounds about right. i know you freeze portions of baby food already so a rotation of about 4 should do it. Turkey flavour kitten or cat food could also be used especially if you can use the balance with another pet!

[Thin Lizzy]

Sorry to hear about Larry-Jasper, fingers crossed he's better soon
I used babyfood when giving antibiotics.

[BorisPasha]

Sorry to hear about Larry-Jasper Chesca. Is he taking his antibiotics ok? We couldn't get Artie to take his antibiotics on anything so just had to persevere with the syringe. Hopefully he's taking them ok.

Congrats on Hermes too and i meant to say thank you for linking Larry-Jasper's new food mix the last time I posted but had forgot so thank you! I've not had a proper look yet but plan too

[chesca_27]

Thanks everyone . I was on DofE on Sunday and Monday and I've just been too tired to reply the last couple of days.

According to my Dad, Jasper has been taking his meds well. He really likes his Carrot, Peas and Kale (I think) baby food.

Anyway, I'm seeing Jasper again tonight, so I will check on him then.

I'm just in the process of backing up my phone, but then I will resize and upload some photos of little Hermes and possibly the guins or Jas.

Also it's Pemba's 2nd birthday tomorrow! He's a rescue, so his age and birthday are completely estimated, but even so, I like to give my pets a birthday so they can have an extra day of presents. I have a couple of chew toys, some dried herbs and a new Carrot Cottage for him . I am spoiling him more than Oreo because Oreo has had far more birthdays and Christmas' with us.

[BorisPasha]

Glad to hear Larry-Jasper has been taking his meds well, hopefully he'll make a speedy recovery

Happy Birthday to lovely Pemba tomorrow, sounds like he is going to be spoiled with goodies and quite rightly so

[cypher]

Really good to hear that LJ has been doing well with his meds (& enjoying the baby food!) chesca, hope he's fully recovered soon.

Happy Birthday Pemba for tomorrow, it sounds as though he's going to have a lovely day & they all deserved to be well spoilt on their special days