Tiny Runt Baby - wet tail?? HELP

[lmh]

Not sure if this should be here in Healthcare or in Breeders since is has to do with tiny runt baby that is 3wks old....?

Here is the issue - mom had 16 babies, three small ones in the group. The largest of the three steadily put on weight and its hard to tell he started small. The really little one seems to be doing great, gaining weight, all other milestones met on time. The middle little isnt doing as well. Started fine but now not so much.

On Sunday evening they turned 3 wks old and I was looking at all the babies trying to figure out which babies had long hair. I noticed that the tail of one of the babies looked different. I was looking for longer hair and thought 'her tail looks longer but the hair doesnt' and its a bit darker on the base. Didnt think anything of it. Was only looking for long hair vs short hair.

The next day I looked at that baby again, and saw the same thing - I picked her up to see WHAT was different about her tail and OMG! She was WET! Her whole bottom was wet! It was the wettness around the base of the tail making her look different. Ohhh noooo!

I immediately got out all of the extra cages and started seperating everyone.

I have the little girl by herself but I am a bit confused at her symptoms. She has solid poo in the cage, it does look small and dry, but NO indication of diarrhea, NO SMELL in the cage, I even did a very close sniff of her bum and it doesnt smell like anything unusual. I started her on Bayril and have been trying to make sure she drinks/gets some fluids in her.

I have checked all of the other babies and mom and everyone is fine so far.

How fast does wet tail show symptoms? If she has been eating fresh veggies since birth can I still give them to her so she gets more fluids in her? I wasnt sure if it would make it worse?

The ONLY thing that was different the day before I noticed the wet bottom, was that I added ONE grape and diced up one tiny piece of cheese to add to the mix of over a cup of broccoli, carrots, egg that all of the babies have eaten since mom was pregnant. Fresh food isnt 'new' to them - but the tiny cheese and grape was but it was in such a large amount, I know the scoop I have them couldnt have had much in it!! ???

Is it wet tail or just digestive issues do you think? Is there really a difference??

None of the others are showing any signs/symptoms of being ill.....today would be day 4 of me seeing the wet bottom. (The photos that I take everyday also show that she was DRY down below the day before then).

Sooooo - from what I have read now on wet tail, I need to hydrate, keep medicating, fresh or no fresh foods? keep warm - and pray....

She is not hunched over, she has been eating, she runs around the cage, she made a nice nest in the corner with the extra shredded toilet paper, she has a poo area... I havent actually seen her on the waterbottle, that is why I wanted to keep up the fresh veggies, but I can hand feed/syringe water if I need too.

Is there a special food or something else I should give her or something else I should do for her?? I dont want to lose this precious baby. Everything says alot of times they only live 24/48 hours and that its soooo hard to keep them a live.

Any information/comments are welcome!
Thanks!
Lora

[souffle]

I wouldn't have separated them Lora. They are a bit young for that and especially with it being such a large litter. They still need their mum really. Did you just take the one out or all the pups separate?
I would put my bets on it being that one was sensitive to the cheese or grape. If she is now solid there should be no further issues and Baytril is not needed however if she or any others have symptoms then you need to see the vet with them.
Sometimes babies have not learnt the signal to eat the special poops that they pass through twice and get a bit messy or don't clean as well as they might.
This baby really does not sound like a pup with wet tail to me. It may be a pup that will not thrive or something else but you would know if it was proper wet tail.
See a vet before medicating such a young hamster. They need the bowel bacteria to digest their food so you need to start her on probiotics like avipro or pro C.

[lmh]

Thank you for answering so soon. Lesson learned on this issue - so now I have more questions.

Do you think that I should put them ALL back with mom? Or is it too late for that? Do you think she would reject them? She has the other small ones with her, I kept the bigger ones in groups when I seperated so I could monitor everyone and hopefully contain any transferring of something bad. I perhaps jumped the gun on this one but it really scared me, if it was/is wet tail I didnt want it to spread to everyone if I could be of help.

If it is a digestive issue, and her poo is solid - - how long would it take for her bottom to dry out?? She is still soaked on her backside with still no signs of diarrhea anywhere.

I did talk to the vet, that is why baytril came into play. He as been our vet for 20+ years. When I called, he didnt mention that she needed to be brought in, just start her on baytril - is there an actual TEST that they do to see if its wet tail or not?
Hmmm...perhaps too much faith in this vets word and perhaps she should have brought in and evaluated? But - what is done, is done and I now have to make good with the situation.

Hopefully she will get better.

Thanks!!

[souffle]

What is the wet on her bottom then? Is it urine or what is it? Is there a discharge?
If there is a bug they will already have spread it around so there won't be much you can do about that.
I can't tell you what to do with them because I don't know them and how they are. You need to judge this. I imagine she would take them back if you mix them all again in a play box then pop them back in but I don't know them. You'd need to supervise closely.
If they vet said to give her meds then you need to go with that I guess.
I'm not going to be online for a few days so I hope everything goes well with them.

[lmh]

That is why I was confused. No smell/odor. Its not feces, cant tell if its urine. Its not a waterbottle leak, its not her sitting in urine, its not her sitting on fresh/wet veggies, doesnt appear to be a discharge that I can see, no cloudiness or oozing of anykind..just wet.

When I saw that her bottom was wet i assumed wet tail - the vet assumed the same apparantly. Now that I have been trying to research about it - her symptoms do not totally fall into the wet tail catagory.

I will call and get her into the other vet tomorrow and see what he says. Perhaps he can figure it out.

Thanks for all the input!!

In the mean time I am going to slowly incorporate mom back in with the other babies and see how she handles it - I agree its too early to pull the babies - I only did because of the situation.