Please Emergency Possible Wet-tail Please Help

ladyntramp002 · 02-06-2017, 09:44 PM

Kilian showed signs of having diarrhea/wet-tail. Climber and I need help! Please give advice!

We have given new foods,but only small amounts. Kilian has a sensitive stomach, so we are hoping that this is the cause. He is still drinking and cleaning himself like normal, but he is not tame enough for us to look at his bottom to check.

However, our aunt had a hamster die recently of wet-tail and our new baby hamster died, as well, to something similar.

We have not contaminated the different hamsters(Kilian and baby hamster*died*) though. We kept everything separate and sterile. We even washed hands and changed our clothes in between handling hamsters.

Unfortuantely, we don't have any vets near us that accepts hamsters. We will not be able to take him to a vet. Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

Please, please, please help! Any advice would be greatly appreciated. We can't lose him!

~ladyntramp002 & climber008~

Rhine · 02-06-2017, 10:19 PM

I'm not much help, but if you really think it could be wet-tail, you should get him to a vet.
I know you're saying that's not an alternative, but it's not really a choice when you decide to get a hamster (or any other animal).
If they need a trip to the vet, you take them there.
It's really irresponsible not to.

EnerHam · 02-07-2017, 01:36 AM

He needs a vet. If this is wet tail, the chances of him making it without antibiotics are slim. The best you can do for now is make sure he's getting enough water and remove the fresh food.

It's not a good idea to own any animal if you can't take them to the vets. If I were you, I'd start looking for another vet immediately.

Drago · 02-07-2017, 04:40 AM

Though you've said there's no vets available in your area, there's really no other choice. Wet tail kills and fast! If you're left with absolutely no other options, a normal vet would be better than nothing as they could at least prescribe antibiotics for little Kilian.

Vetectiveâ„¢ - An exotic mammal vet locator and review service

Use this to find an exotics vet near you, even if it means driving an hour away

ladyntramp002 · 02-07-2017, 06:19 AM

Thank you for your advice. Kilian seems to be doing much better. I don't see any more soft stool/diarrhea. I checked some of the other strings with similar problems and it sounds like he has a food related soft stool condition.

I am still in the process of finding a good vet for Kili. I am doing the best for my ham. I would never put my ham's life at risk.

@Drago
Thank you so much for giving me a link to find an exotic vet. No amount of distance would stop me for my Mr. Kili. Thanks again!

climber008 · 02-07-2017, 06:48 AM

Hello everyone!

It's not at all that ladyntramp002 and I don't want to take Kilian to the vet. We have driven over an hour away before with our other hams to take them to an "exotic vet" when they really seemed to need one.

We have just had bad experience with one of the few vets available. I had a hamster a while ago that got an injury on her snout, and when we went there to get some medication (It didn't seem to be doing well.), the vet practically refused to help her. And then they said she was far too fat, yet I was still in the process of fattening her up from the pet store. Even I could tell that she was underweight and definitely not overweight. That vet was extremely rough with her, and didn't seem to care or want to help at all.

So we looked for a different exotic vet.

We did find another vet that will see hamsters, yet her knowledge didn't seem to be very extensive. She recommended us to feed oranges and a few other foods that should never be fed.

This new vet seems to honestly want to help and try her best, but I really don't think she has much experience with hamsters at all. When I asked her if she knew what wet tail was, she didn't seem exactly surewhat it was. She knows a lot of other information about hamsters, yet I still don't feel entirely comfortable with any of the vets around here.

Those are the only two vets that we can see unless it is over 6 hours away. I am just not sure if it would be healthy for Kilian to be toted for that long if it really is just a bout of diarrhea due to food. However, if it worsens, we will definitely take him to the vet because we would not want anything to happen to him. We DID take in to account exotic animal vets before adopting a hamster, but they both turned out to be less knowledgeable then we were expecting.

As of this morning, Kilian seems to have no signs of diarrhea, so I am hoping it is just the food. It's slightly hard to tell, as he won't let us pick him up in a way that we can check. However I see no visible sign of a messy bum, as he is constantly cleaning. Also there is no more signs of diahrrea in the cage as far as we can tell.

Drago · 02-07-2017, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by climber008

Hello everyone!

It's not at all that ladyntramp002 and I don't want to take Kilian to the vet. We have driven over an hour away before with our other hams to take them to an "exotic vet" when they really seemed to need one.

We have just had bad experience with one of the few vets available. I had a hamster a while ago that got an injury on her snout, and when we went there to get some medication (It didn't seem to be doing well.), the vet practically refused to help her. And then they said she was far too fat, yet I was still in the process of fattening her up from the pet store. Even I could tell that she was underweight and definitely not overweight. That vet was extremely rough with her, and didn't seem to care or want to help at all.

So we looked for a different exotic vet.

We did find another vet that will see hamsters, yet her knowledge didn't seem to be very extensive. She recommended us to feed oranges and a few other foods that should never be fed.

This new vet seems to honestly want to help and try her best, but I really don't think she has much experience with hamsters at all. When I asked her if she knew what wet tail was, she didn't seem exactly surewhat it was. She knows a lot of other information about hamsters, yet I still don't feel entirely comfortable with any of the vets around here.

Those are the only two vets that we can see unless it is over 6 hours away. I am just not sure if it would be healthy for Kilian to be toted for that long if it really is just a bout of diarrhea due to food. However, if it worsens, we will definitely take him to the vet because we would not want anything to happen to him. We DID take in to account exotic animal vets before adopting a hamster, but they both turned out to be less knowledgeable then we were expecting.

As of this morning, Kilian seems to have no signs of diarrhea, so I am hoping it is just the food. It's slightly hard to tell, as he won't let us pick him up in a way that we can check. However I see no visible sign of a messy bum, as he is constantly cleaning. Also there is no more signs of diahrrea in the cage as far as we can tell.

It's good to hear he's feeling better, keep a very close eye on him and avoid feeding any fresh foods for the next week or so. It's such a shame there's not more exotic vets around

I hope he heals up fully soon and hopefully you'll get into a good quality vet eventually!

cypher · 02-07-2017, 07:49 AM

If it's not wet tail but he isn't tolerating foods well I would give him some probiotics. Not sure which ones are available in the US but you should be able to find something suitable.

climber008 · 02-07-2017, 08:14 AM

Probiotics? Where would I find that?

Would it be found at a pet store and labeled specifically for hamsters?

I have noticed that he doesn't tolerate new food very well. He has problems any time we give him any mixture with trace amounts of dried fruits. He had a some soft poo when we first started feeding him a seed mixture without fruit, but he is now not reacting to it negatively after a slow introduction.

We did introduce a small amount of another seed mixture that does have fruit, and I think that may be the cause of his diarrhea. I hope it's that and not something else.

I just don't know if I should change his whole cage, as he gets extremely upset whenever I mess with his cage. (Even just putting a piece of food outside of his dish gets him worked up.) I'm just not 100% sure if there is any residual pieces of the food that is giving him problems in his nest that I missed.

cypher · 02-07-2017, 08:24 AM

If he doesn't have wet tail or any illness then I see no reason to change his cage & the stress may actually make things worse.
They really don't need fruit so if you have a mix without any (can you get Harry/Hazel hamster where you are?) he may do better.
Sometimes if they are removed from the mother too young or under go a lot of stress as pups they don't develop the right balance of bacteria in the gut which can cause problems with digestion, immunity & health in general.
You should be able to find a probiotic for small animals in the pet store or at least something marketed for birds rather than cats or dogs, most say to put it in water but if you get some don't do that, it's better to put a tiny amount on wet food ideally.

I just did a quick search & found a couple that you may be able to get, there may be more & I can't vouch for any of them having only used UK products but this is the kind of thing.
Pure Probiotics Daily Blend for Small Animals | Kordon
https://www.jefferspet.com/products/...-small-animals