Roborovski Hamster bleeding in urine

[barrattg]

Hi all,

Had a Roborovski Hamster for 9 months, was being bullied by siblings so we took him from a relative and he has had his own cage living with me.

He has been completely fine until 3-4 days ago when I start noticing blood in urine, took him to Vets, and had 0.01ml of 2.5% oral Baytril a day prescribed, however this is almost impossible to try get it into his mouth to syringe it out, I have done the best I can with regards to getting it in and have been keeping his cage clean, it seems to of got worse now a few days later. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Vet seemed to say if its not cleared up in 2 weeks to take back in then.

The Hamster still seems alert eating and drinking, despite what seems like a lot of blood being passed in urine.

[Charlie Dunn]

Dear Barrattg I am sorry to hear your ham is not getting better. As he seems to be getting worse I would be tempted to take him back to the vet or give them a call and see what they recommend. I hope he gets better soon. Charlie

[alpacassei]

Instead of giving him the baytrol directly, try putting it on one of his favourite foods. For my hamsters I’ve mixed it into porridge or inside dried mealworms (since they’re hollow inside). Some vets can prescribe a flavourited/sweetened version. Just put it on a small dish in his cage or see if he will take it from your hand.

Don’t try to scruff him unless you’ve been shown how to do it correctly otherwise you could hurt him, and don’t put the baytril in his water unless it’s a last resort because there’s a lot of calculations involved to make sure he gets the correct dose that way, especially since robos drink so little.

If he doesn’t seem to be improving or has gotten worse after 1 week then take him back for further tests to see whether it’s a UTI or something more serious. I’m surprised your vet said to wait as long 2 weeks to be honest.

[Ponymad2104]

If he's getting worse I'd take him back, it may not be the correct diagnosis, vets aren't mind reader so sometimes, especially with small animals like hamsters, you have to treat for the obvious ones before you go looking for other causes but that means they rely on us, as owners, to report back to them if the treatment doesn't work or the animal is getting worse

For example with sneezing and bad breathing the first thing you'd treat for is respiratory infection, if that doesn't work you look at what else could be causing the symptoms