Got to take Meat to the vet

[Fluffagrams]

I've got to take my little old guy to the vets this morning because he's got what looks like a cataract in one of his eyes. I know this can affect older hamsters and at the age of three years and four months, he's getting on a bit but what do they normally do with cataracts? I am a little bit worried that they'll say that he'll be on a downward slope until the end anyway and suggest putting him to sleep. I obviously don't want my lovely boy to suffer but I'm worried that his age won't be doing him any favours.

[Pebbles82]

I don't know if there's anything can be done about cataracts. In humans the effect is gradually losing sight in that eye - or at least poorer sight - and an operation to replace the lens with a synthetic one is the solution for humans (the lens in the eye goes cloudy). But I wouldn't have thought that would be appropriate for a hamster. I'm sure he will manage with reduced vision. Some hams go blind and manage but maybe best not to move things in his cage if his eyesight is affected, so he knows where everything is.

[racinghamster]

I would say it`s a good idea to have a vet see him anyway at this age just to re-assure you if you are worried. Old age brings with it failing bodily function and cataracts can be one of those. Hamsters rely more on smell/scent anyway, so even if nothing can be done, his overall wellness is what matters. What a grand age. Hope all goes well at the vets. x

[cypher]

Poor little Meat, hope it goes well at the vets.
I agree with the others, there may not be much that can be done for something like this & old age does bring some health problems inevitably but Meat should be able to manage just fine even if his sight is effected, hopefully he'll be able to go on happily for a while yet.

[Fluffagrams]

Thanks everyone.

I've not long got back from the vets and rather than being the cataract that I thought it might be, the vet said that Meat had an ulcer on his right eye and some irritation in his left. She thought that there was a good chance that it was caused by the woodshavings that he used to have in his cage which I thought might have been the case as he was scratching a fair bit before I changed his bedding. His scratching has probably made things worse but he couldn't help it. I did the right thing by changing his substrate as things could have got worse if I'd have left him on the woodshavings and he's got some eye drops too.

The vet complimented him on his age and his behaviour which made me feel quite proud.

[Thin Lizzy]

Poor Meat but, the eye drops will clear his ulcer and irritated eye. What wood shavings were you using that had him scratching? And what did you change to?
Get well soon Meat xx

[cypher]

It's good that you know what it is now, I really hope the eye drops help, now you've changed the substrate he should have a good chance of getting better.
It's great that he did so well at the vets too, you should be proud!
Wishing him all the best.

[Fluffagrams]

Originally Posted by Thin Lizzy

Poor Meat but, the eye drops will clear his ulcer and irritated eye. What wood shavings were you using that had him scratching? And what did you change to?
Get well soon Meat xx

I was using Pets At Home's own brand of woodshavings. I'd used it a few times in the past but I've now swapped it for Carefresh after I noticed him scratching a lot.

I've managed to get a 60L bag of Carefresh from somewhere I found online so will also be swapping May over to Carefresh as well.

[racinghamster]

How strange. I always use wood shavings these days rather than Carefresh as I always found Carefresh troublesome to my small rodents! The two brands of shavings I like are Pets At Home (non-scented own brand) and Snowflake shavings.

Carefresh is very absorbent, but that`s the only positive I found with it. x

[Thin Lizzy]

I've never used P@H own brand shavings.
It's always been Bob Martin's wood shavings in 16 years of being a hammie owner.
However, there was a brief spell where I had trouble getting it and I used SmartPet wood shavings but my hams didn't like it.