Pictures of Abscess vs Tumors
 

Hello There hamster friends!

I have a hamster that I inherited through an unwilling rescue donation and the poor lil girl has something wrong with her. I will post pictures later on this evening and I plan on taking her to a vet.

Under her left armpit area it is blackish in color and looks like there is blood under the skin, she has no appearance of a lump and is very happy and doesn't seem to be in pain. I was wondering if any of you have pictures or abscess and/or tumors that I could look at as a frame of reference?

I know it's difficult to take picture of our lil babies that are not doing well but sometime they end up helping other hamsters. So any pictures are appreciated!

Re: Pictures of Abscess vs Tumors
 

Oh the poor darling :( My passed roborovski Cookie had something that sounds very similar to your description and was also under her left armpit, it was indeed a tumour. It went from being flat to being a lump within a few weeks, the vet drained it twice and she was put onto antibiotics for a few weeks but it kept growing bigger so in the end as the vet trips were too stressful we just let her be and she lived for about three months with it before she became too weak and we made the decision to have her PTS. I have some photos of the tumour here that I hope will help you out, I will warn people that these photos aren't very nice at all and if you are easily distressed please do not look at the third photo.

This is her tumour at the beginning, similar to how you have described however this was after it had started to become a lump -
http://www.hamstercentral.com/commun...r-p1170106.jpg

This was it about 2 months later -
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7018/6...2b1b1dfa_z.jpg

And this was it just before her passing -
http://www.hamstercentral.com/commun...r-p1200066.jpg


I hope these photos help you out and that the little one will be ok, like I say the black patch/lump was the very begining of the tumour and she lived for three months more after this so if the hammie does turn out to have this and nothing can be done she may still have a long time left with you. Good luck at the vets!

Re: Pictures of Abscess vs Tumors
 

I have only had a swelling due to allergys and a blocked sweat pore, it just was puffy and pink with fur loss, no black, I wish I could help further, I would take her into a vet for it to be looked at if you can.
p.s, the babys are gorgeous!

Re: Pictures of Abscess vs Tumors
 

Thank you so much for provided the pics Erin! It is always hard to look at pictures like this maybe a negative thing like this can be turned into a positive by helping other hamsters and I appreciate your willingness to help!

The color looks similar but fortunately there is no lump (yet). I hope that it is a bruise or just an abscess or bruise and not a tumor. I will take a pic and keep you all updated on what the vet says.

P.S. Thanks vanilla on the compliment regarding my babies ;)

Re: Pictures of Abscess vs Tumors
 

I took these two pictures this evening. This are look much better than when I first got her 5 days ago.