Nose Bleeds & Blindness

[Erin Loves Dwarf Hamsters]

Truffle my robo, has suffered from nose bleeds for about 4 months now he gets them from time to time and they just seem to be quite natural and dont bother him in the slightest. He got his first one whilst I was handling him one day, he squirmed and I tightened my grip on him but I think I broke his nose because there was a small craking noise and a blood started coming out of it. I was devistated at what I had done but he didn't seem to be that fussed. Since then he has been seen in his cage once or twice a week with dried blood on it - again he doesn't seem to care.

I noticed that this last week his nose bleeds have been more frequent he has had about 3 since Sunday. Today I put him and Cookie into their recreation cage so that I could clean out their main cage and when I put Truffle down I noticed his nose had been bleeding again. He was fine for about 3 minutes then out of nowhere he began running around the cage squeeking out of terror. Then when I put him back into his main cage he ran around squeeking for another minute, then he ran face first into the wall of his bin cage! A second nose bleed followed this.

It seemed as though he had out of nowhere gone completely blind! He almost ran head first into the cage walls twice more and couldnt seem to find the doorway to his house. I put my fingers in front of his eyes and whereas he would usually run before I even got close to him he didnt notice that I was there until I touched his head. Then he got onto his wheel and was running about, so my dad tried to stroke him, again Truffle didnt run away or even notice anyone he just kept on running and when my dad stoked him, although he still kept running, he started squeeking again everytime he felt someone touch him including Cookie!

Does anyone think there is some link between his nose bleeds and the blindness or is it just a big coincidence? I know that a vet can do nothing for either but if the two are connected as say symptoms of a bigger illness then it would be great to know now so that I can get him to a vet asap.
I will be keeping an eye on him for the next week and if the nose bleeds increase and his site doesnt return I will take him up to the vets. Just to be safe.

[Ham Ham Hamstery]

seems to me that he lost to much blood and I think it may be causing his blindness I know for sure its linked

[Hamtastic]

Oh no, Truffle!!! Dora and I send all our love and hope he will be okay.

[Ham Ham Hamstery]

my Grandma is kinda a Paramedic by the way

[Erin Loves Dwarf Hamsters]

seems to me that he lost to much blood

But when he has a nose bleed its bearly that much. Its just enough to make his nose look a little red where it has dried on the hair. Though he is a tiny size hes only 26g I think. Do you think thats still enough blood loss to cause him to go blind? Its less than the equivilent to 1 drop of blood from a pin prick.

and Truffle says big thanks Hamtastic and Dora!

[Hamtastic]

I don't think 26g is tiny, I think it's normal, judging by my girls. I'd look into the bleeds/blindness with a vet... he could be having some internal bleeding that does not originate in his nose but comes out of it, and connected with the eyesight issue. The two could of course be completely unrelated, but worth looking into.

[Ham Ham Hamstery]

Originally Posted by Hamtastic

I don't think 26g is tiny, I think it's normal, judging by my girls. I'd look into the bleeds/blindness with a vet... he could be having some internal bleeding that does not originate in his nose but comes out of it, and connected with the eyesight issue. The two could of course be completely unrelated, but worth looking into.

yeah true never thought of it he could have internal bleeding

[Erin Loves Dwarf Hamsters]

I don't think 26g is tiny

I actually ment as a general comparison Such as losing a pin prick of blood for a human is nothing, but for an animal so small it could be a lot.

I will keep a close eye on him though, I'll check in the morning to see if his site is back. Im not sure on the internal bleeding though because that would have killed him by now after all he has been getting nose bleeds for nearly half his life now :/

[Gillzy]

Oh no I hope he's alright. He does sound a wee bit distressed, poor wee man! I know nothing about the medical aspects, but might they be related to some sort of stroke? I just thought I'd put it out there, but pay no attention to the suggestion really.

[fluffymunchkins]

Oh gosh poor lil un, hugs from me and the hams xx