Death in the fur family

twins2003 · 06-01-2016, 11:22 AM

Hi there,
My son had a syrian hamster that we acquired from someone in the the neighborhood at the end of last summer. They had her for a year before giving her up due to allergies. This morning, when I went to wake my boys, I noticed her moving around in her cage. I went to see her and noticed her almost all the way on her back and her breathing was labored. I picked her up and she was cold. We put her in a towel and held her, obviously realizing she was dying. She kept gagging and some fluid started coming out of her nose. Very traumatic for my 13 year old twins to witness.

Just wondering if anyone has any idea as to what might have went wrong. My son said she was perfectly fine last night and even gave her some treats. It seemed to be such a traumatic death...like she was in agony. We felt so bad but didn't know what to do for her. Within 15 min of finding her, she passed.

Rsclio197 · 06-01-2016, 12:55 PM

So sorry you had to go through that. Must have been awful. I have no idea what could've happened but there's certainly nothing you could do about it. Sadly we can't actually monitor our little friends 24/7 so these things can happen. Some experienced members will try and suggest what could've caused her death. Poor thing. How old was she?

Hope your all OK. It's never ever easy. But in time the pain goes away.

twins2003 · 06-02-2016, 10:02 AM

Thank you so much for the response.

We are hoping someone may know what might have happened. Very sad!

cypher · 06-02-2016, 09:13 PM

I'm really sorry that must have been very hard for both you & your sons.
It sounds as though she must have been a good age, at least nearly 2? That is considered old for most hams & their health can sometimes fail very quickly, it's almost impossible to really know what the problem is with something like this, at a guess I would think her heart or lungs, heart failure due to age could have symptoms like that. It's not uncommon for them to have a stroke when they are older so that's another possibility.
The main thing is to know that you couldn't have done anything differently, she showed no signs that you missed or anything by the sound of it & you were there for her at the end, often that is all we can do, hold them & try to give them some comfort as they pass away.