Broken back leg, can I please have good wishes?

[cypher]

I'm sorry this is such a difficult time for you all but it sounds as though she's in good hands with your vet so fingers crossed things will go well for her.
Wishing you all the best for Thursday.

[Rads]

Hi Angie,
So sorry to hear about what is going on with your Hammie, your vet sounds like a very switched on chap indeed, all being well Twinkle will come out of all this and survive and have a long active life too.
You have our very best wishes and thoughts for Thursday too.

[Angie B]

Thank you everyone (again) xx

She deserves to live after what she's been through in her short life;

1) Dropped by my daughter as she decided to make a run for it, from chest height, falling onto carpeted floor. (my daughter's the same height as me).

2) Dropped by me immediately after my daughter as I had the brainwave of picking her up (no, me neither in hindsight) to put her back in her cage instead of catching her and putting her into the carrier to put her into the cage. Again, from chest height onto carpeted floor.

3) Escaped from her cage from the top bars as they weren't meshed and fallen, again from roughly chest height. Not sure what she landed on, hopefully Niamh's pile of soft teddies but could have been carpeted floor.

4) Escaped a second time but on floor level after chewing through the plastic of her Zoozone 2, wandered around for a few hours, climbed onto my son's bed who unfortunately was dreaming of giant spiders. She was then a "giant spider" and thus was launched by my son's right knee into outer space, splatted onto his door or cupboard, before falling onto the floor. Wandered around for a while longer before I discovered she'd escaped at 3am, found her, dumped her into the (empty) bath where she spent the night on a bath towel with food, water, and her bed. She was lucky she didn't fall down the stairs. (You have to laugh at this one!)

5) And now this.

So she deserves to live, she's had a hard 4 months so far!

[BorisPasha]

Aww she sounds like such a daredevil. I'm sorry to hear about her leg and I hope it all goes well for her on Thursday

[souffle]

How is she doing now? If the foot still has a good blood supply and you can keep her fairly inactive in a small hospital cage (bin storage box is best) the break may not mend however the injury will develop a strong network of scar/callous tissue round the break which often supports the foot quite well even if the foot is a bit crooked. It can allow natural movement as well so it would be worth seeing if this happens given time if she apears content enough. Watch for a cold foot or any blackness on the foot as this can mean blood supply is failing. Feed some extra calcium in the form of milky porridge to help it heal. Give her sheets of kitchen roll to rip up, nibble stick chewies, cardboard tubes, boxes to trash, nuts to chew open so she does not need a wheel while it heals. Hope you can avoid the surgery. Is she placing the foot yet?

[Thin Lizzy]

Twinkie's a very active ham, got my fingers crossed with the vet appointment. I'll be thinking of the both of you.

[SimonandSyril]

I hope twinkie heals and she is better soon. Keep fighting twinkie I'm sure you will win the battle

[Angie B]

Thank you everyone, and for the tip about milky porridge souffle, I take it that's just ordinary porridge for humans but just with extra milk? I've never made it before for a hamster but I guess you've realised that with my question!

Yesterday's vet visit went really well, the vet is very pleased indeed with Twinkie's progress and particularly pleased that she is very active and happy in herself. Her foot is lovely and pink and should stay that way now given it was exactly a week yesterday it happened. As you have said, Souffle, the vet is also hopeful that with cage rest and no wheel the leg should begin to form some sort of hardened scab around the area so that the sharp bone inside won't poke though as at present it is very close to the skin - that's his main worry at the moment. If that happens of course it opens up the way for infection which will cause other problems, but fingers crossed it won't.

She's on Care Fresh which is nice and soft and is still on pain relief which she is taking very easily - becoming a bit of a junkie I think, haha, and we're due back at the vet (to see the same one for continuity) next Thursday. He also would prefer her to keep her foot as she is using it for balance and kinda when she scoots about in her cage, but mainly of course because the outlook isn't great if she goes under a GA.

I think he's quite taken with her zest for life and so is doing his utmost for her - but he is a lovely man and a great vet (we have rabbits and he's seen to those too) and will do what he can anyway. When we walked in yesterday, after greeting us he informed us that he'd been on the phone to an orthopaedic vet specifically about Twinkie to get his specialised opinion, how marvellous is that?! So she is in super hands .

With luck, between the vet and our aftercare, and Mother Nature of course, and Twinkie's general want to live, I hope it all works out well in the end, but we'll just have to wait and see. Niamh is still fully aware that "what will be, will be" but we are all very hopeful at this stage as it's looking very positive .

[souffle]

That all sounds very positive Lets hope it starts to heal round the break very soon. We use about a dessert spoon of porridge or ready brek and make it up with water in the microwave (only takes about 30sec) Cool that then add a splash of milk and mix that till soft. A teeny sprinkle of sugar tempts them to eat it better! Make sure it's cool and remove any uneaten next day. Only give what she will eat as you don't want wet stuff in the store.

[Angie B]

Thank you, souffle. I made myself some porridge this morning with milk and saved Twinkie half a tablespoon full, but added extra milk as by the time I'd finished mine, what was on a saucer had gone a bit gloopy. When Niamh put the saucer into the cage, Twinkie stirred and came out - and really tucked into the porridge, seemed to thoroughly enjoy it! We've left what's left in there for her to enjoy if she stirs during the day and we'll leave it overnight too. But yes, she was devouring it quite nicely so that's definitely a hit . We also have Ready Brek too so that's nice she can have an alternative .