Help! Wet tail URGENT PLEASE!

[Stardust79]

Hi guys,
My 5 month old roborovski has wet tail. I only found out 2 hours ago. Phoned the vet, I already had baytril here left over from a few months ago. Have been told to give 0.07ml which I did, no idea if I got it all in her mouth. She has been such a nervous hamster since I got her in August, if you read my post from then you will understand. I hadn't seen or heard her since the weekend, her food bowl has been full up since saturday. This was no cause for concern to me as she can be like that, and she will never get up until I go to bed. I went to clean her cage at 5pm, pulled off her spinner and she was laying under it soaked, skinny and covered in diarrhoea. She has had a fair amount to drink since then, and the vet told me to give her the baytril so I did immediately. She looks very sick and dehydrated. I have heard giving dioralyte can help. Could someone with extensive knowledge please confirm this, what type to get and how much to give her. I am so worried I am going to lose her and she needs hydrating. The vet cannot see her as they are fully booked and told me baytril is her only treatment. But I still need to hydrate her and give her a fighting chance. Pleas help if possible. I am so worried I am going to lose her.

[souffle]

Dwarf hamsters don't get wet tail stardust so it isn't that.
I would say she needs examined by a vet as soon as possible to establish the cause of the diahorrhea and to see if treatment is possible Any number of things can cause it from womb infections to contaminated food.
I wouldn't dose her up with Baytril that has been opened a few months ago. It doesn't last much more than 4 weeks before it goes off.
I'm sure the vet will see her as it is an emergency - if not find another vet who will. Baytril is not the only option. They can also give subcutaeneous fluids if they hospitalise her however you need an opinion on which to base your decision on.
I hope she can be seen soon and recovers.

[Stardust79]

Originally Posted by souffle

Dwarf hamsters don't get wet tail stardust so it isn't that.
I would say she needs examined by a vet as soon as possible to establish the cause of the diahorrhea and to see if treatment is possible Any number of things can cause it from womb infections to contaminated food.
I wouldn't dose her up with Baytril that has been opened a few months ago. It doesn't last much more than 4 weeks before it goes off.
I'm sure the vet will see her as it is an emergency - if not find another vet who will. Baytril is not the only option. They can also give subcutaeneous fluids if they hospitalise her however you need an opinion on which to base your decision on.
I hope she can be seen soon and recovers.

Thank you. I didn't think dwarf hamsters could get wet tail. But the vet said on the phone yes they can? I have never heard of it either. It looks like wet tail, I have experience wet tail once years ago with my Syrian. There is no explanation for it. She hasn't been stressed, her diet hasn't changed and there is no rotten food in her cage. I will insist on the vet seeing her tomorrow. She keeps getting up to drink, which is good, but she never gets up when I am awake, so for her to keep getting up to drink and by looking at her bones, she is dehydrated. I live in the UK, they do not take hamsters in overnight. Nor have I heard of a vet in the UK giving hydration. My current vet is a "if all else fails then put them to sleep" I will if she is suffering, but right now she has a chance.

[Coco61]

Hello Stardust. So sorry about your little one. I see you are based in London. If you want a first class knowledgeable vet in London then you can do no better than CJ Hall in East Sheen. They are exotic specialists including hamsters. I speak from personal experience. You can give them a call in the morning and see if you can get advice over the phone. That will be a start and then you can decide if the journey to them is possible.
Check their contact details on their website. Just search CJHall.

[souffle]

I'm in the UK too and our vet will definitely hospitalise a hamster. Our vet does have a central 24hr care centre though so I do realise not every vet would. Fluid can be injected under the skin but this would be a last resort I'm afraid. You can only try your best though and sometimes your little one will choose their own path. Coco' vet sounds ideal so may be worth finding out about.

[Stardust79]

Thank you for your replies. East Sheen is way too far for me to travel. I literally cannot get there due to mobility problems. I am calling my vet first thing in the morning and insisting Cookie be seen, if not then there is a vet 5 minutes further away that I will call. I just hope she makes it through the night. I am clueless as to what has caused this. I am wondering if she got stuck under her flying saucer, as she was under there when I lifted it off earlier to clean her. Though surely she would of dug under the carefresh and made her way out! She has been getting up and drinking a lot this evening. Just going to try to give her a tiny bit of hard boiled egg. Have moved my Syrian to another room just in case. My Syrian is perfectly fine. I feel so bad. I should of checked on her when I noticed she hadn't eaten anything for days. But my experience with her and since I got her, is a very unusually (even unusual in my experience with robo's) Is she has been so nervous since I got her in August, that I had to accept that she is a hamster that needs to be left alone, other than her weekly clean. She does not like movement in the room and has never got up until I have gone to bed ever! So a lot of this was not unusual behaviour for her. She has never been one to eat much either. So no alarm bells were ringing for me. But when I went to clean her today and saw her food was untouched yet again, then I was a little concerned and found her soaked in her own poop and soaked from the neck down.

[Pebbles82]

Good that she has got up and been drinking this evening. How does she seem in herself? It's difficult to know when Robos have eaten or not as we rarely see it and their food goes down so slowly - plus you never know if it's been hoarded or eaten. They usually eat from their hoards I think.

I should do handwashing after being near her cage etc and particularly before doing anything in your Syrian's cage - just in case it's anything infectious. Don't feel bad - Robos are quite elusive.

They do look skinny when wet So maybe it is more the diarrhoea and wetness that is making her look awful. I don't think they get really skinny in a day or two. Is it definitely diarrhoea? She didn't get soaked under a water bottle or something?

Assuming she has had diarrhoea then something is going on and I hope you manage to get to see a vet. If she is up and drinking that is a good sign.

[Stardust79]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

Good that she has got up and been drinking this evening. How does she seem in herself? It's difficult to know when Robos have eaten or not as we rarely see it and their food goes down so slowly - plus you never know if it's been hoarded or eaten. They usually eat from their hoards I think.

I should do handwashing after being near her cage etc and particularly before doing anything in your Syrian's cage - just in case it's anything infectious. Don't feel bad - Robos are quite elusive.

They do look skinny when wet So maybe it is more the diarrhoea and wetness that is making her look awful. I don't think they get really skinny in a day or two. Is it definitely diarrhoea? She didn't get soaked under a water bottle or something?

Assuming she has had diarrhoea then something is going on and I hope you manage to get to see a vet. If she is up and drinking that is a good sign.

Yes. It's definitely diarrhoea. It was all over my hands after I eventually managed to scoop her up and lay her on her back. It's all around her anus. She even tried to run on her wheel earlier, but couldn't get the energy up to move it. She just looks so tiny and pathetic. She hasn't been up for a few hours now.
Oh I scrubbed my hands with anti bac soap and then dettol before I cleaned my Syrian out, and I let my Syrian climb into the ball rather than pick her up. She is in my bedroom now away from Cookie. Just very odd for a robo to get wet tail, especially when she is not stressed, is never handled or fussed. I live alone with hardly any visitors, so she hasn't been stressed out by noise. I have only dealt with wet tail once, many many years ago. My Syrian did make a full recovery, but it was caught so early. Trying to find some prob biotic online that can be delivered tomorrow, but can only find one for rabbits, guinea pigs and rats....

[Pebbles82]

There are other reasons for diarrhoea, not just wet tail. Diarrhoea is a symptom of wet tail which I think is caused by a particular organism. But diarrhoea can be caused by other things as Souffle mentioned.

There is some information about diarrhoea in hamsters here (link below). It could be any number of things from a food intolerance, to catching something from you, to something in the water bottle. I am sure there is nothing you have done wrong, but you should try to get her to a vet in the morning for rehydration. I don't think there's much you can do until then unless your vet does out of hours work. Which doesn't seem likely at this time of night, but check their website for emergency information.

Diarrhoea in Hamsters

Other advice is to only put dry hamster mix out for now, and no other food - no vegetables for a few days or until the diarrhoea has stopped.

Is her water bottle ok? Sometimes they can get a bit funny inside and have bacteria. Seems unlikely though or you'd have noticed. I think Tyzers disease causes diarrhoea as well - that is carried by mice. But I think you'd know if you had mice.

A change of diet can do it. Stress can give them diarrhoea I think so best not to do full clean outs every week as this can really stress them. Partial clean outs are best and every week isn't necessary - although no idea what your routine is there, it's just a tip.

I hope your little girl does ok tonight and that you find a vet in the morning.

[Stardust79]

UPDATE: Cookie went to the vets today. The vet said it didn't look like wet tail, but obviously she has an upset tummy and a messy bottom. I asked for new Baytril and probiotic granules. They only had ones for rabbits, so I have to put the tiniest pinch of it in her water with the Baytril in the water too. It usually wouldn't be done this way, but I cannot get hold of her and she squealed in the vets when I had to grab her. It's so stressful for her. I am a little concerned that she won't be getting the correct dose from her water, and I am also not sure that I should be mixing the Baytril and the probiotic in the water together? But the vet has told me to do it... :/ I have mashed her up some hard boiled egg again tonight and sprinkled 5 tiny grains of probiotic on the egg too. She ate all of the egg in the night that I gave her yesterday night. I now believe she was trapped under her flying saucer base for 4 days This has obviously led to stress and dehydration which has let to her upset tummy. I feel so bad. But I don't see her for days usually anyway, she won't come out whilst I am awake. I could hear movement in the cage when her bowl hadn't been touched, so I assumed she was okay. But yesterday I knew something was wrong when her food was still untouched and got the shock of my life when I lifter up her flying saucer, so bony and wet bless her. I will never make that mistake again! It is so difficult when you have such a nervous hamster, especially when you only see them once a week to clean them. If it was my other hamster who hadn't touched her food for a day, I would know that something was wrong, as she is very sociable. You don't want to stress them, but then there comes a time when you have to know when to check them, and I have learned from this. Never in 20 years of owning hamsters have I ever had one that refuses to come out at all until I go to bed.

Anyway, she looked a little better today, she had fluffed back up quite a bit, and she drank lots in the night and ate a fair bit, which has led me to the conclusion that she was actually trapped under that wheel. I am keeping everything crossed that she comes through this. Thank you all for your replies.