Please help, swollen injured hind leg

ferrinawibawa · 02-13-2017, 10:10 AM

Momo, my 7months old female WW has her hind legs injured, red swollen and bleeding. I used to let her out and play in my room, so she isn't happy whenever I put her back in her aquarium cage. She started jumping and trying to escape, and 4 days ago her leg is suddenly swollen. I live in Indonesia, the vets here won't help with hamster since they're too small. So I give her doxycycline in a very small dosage (i googled it) they don't sell baytril here. So after 4 days her left leg is already healed, but her right leg is still as swollen and it looked like she licks or bites her wound so it wont dry. What can I do? Should I let her lick her wound? Should I put betadine on her wound? I'm so afraid she might die because of the infection, or she won't be able to walk normally again. I bought her yoghurt to help with her digestion, but she won't eat it. :'(

Drago · 02-13-2017, 12:34 PM

That sounds pretty painful

the best thing you can do, is to keep it clean with hamster safe antiseptics. Wounds will heal fairly easily granted nothing becomes infected. I've seen some people crate makeshift "hamster cones" and you could perhaps try this to get her to stop nipping at her leg as this will slow the healing process. Are you completely sure there's no vets around to help? With a wound as advanced as hers, it would be best to try and look into going, even if it's over an hour away. I hope she feels better soon and heals up without issue.

Use this link to aid in your search, I hope you are able to find a vet

Vetectiveâ„¢ - Exotic Mammal Veterinarian Search

racinghamster · 02-14-2017, 06:20 AM

Hi. What a shame. Sounds as if she`s badly injured her leg. Is she able to use it or do you think she`s broken a bone? Does she drag the leg or limp on it? Doxycycline is an antibiotic, so if it hasn`t been prescribed by a vet, I wouldn`t use it. It can be sold over the counter for treating birds, but it`s a weaker version. Still dodgy to dose in small animals with high metabolism though, so it may or may not be beneficial to her problem, which is pain/inflammation.

She will require rest and monitoring for signs of pain/discomfort. If there is anything in her tank that could have caused this? If you think she done it inside her tank, inspect all of the toys, especially the wheel if the wheel is not a solid wheel. She may have caught her legs between rungs or fell from a height?

Wounds can be cleaned gently by using saline. To make saline, boil the kettle and add one tablespoon of salt to a glass jug and add one pint of boiling water. Stir in the salt and allow it to cool down. Use a new/clean sterile bottle and keep the saline in the fridge. You can make it up fresh each day and allow it to cool right down before using. It should either be luke warm or cool. NOT hot.

Apply/wipe the cut or injury gently with a cotton swab or pad. Always use a clean pad for each application.

Pebbles82 · 02-14-2017, 08:11 AM

It might be an idea to hae her in an environment where she can't climb or run on her wheel for now. So make her cage like a hospital cage or moe her to a small bin cage for a while so she can't reinjure herself and has to rest it more. If it is swollen it doesn't sound that good in my opnion and is normally something requiring vet treatment. But if that really is an impossibility then the best you can do is let her try and heal.