Twinkle had concussion & a contusion

[LunaTheHamster1]

Originally Posted by Ria P

Yes, i think he's annoyed that his things are not where they should be and wants to let you know that he wants them back.
Twinkle looks alright and well recovered to me but i hope that you are starting to recover from whatever traumatic accident it was that happened.
Twinkle is fine so please take care of yourself. You must be so shaken up and upset by it all.

Thanks Ria, I just worried so much and yes I was, I went into shock myself when it happened. I had to turn the heating on, put my dressing gown on (which I have never worn since I moved into this house 3 years ago) and wrapped my duvet around me. I spent the night on the sofa watching over him the first night it happened.

I think I just need to relax a bit more now and trust that he is ok.

[LunaTheHamster1]

Originally Posted by Presley524

I'm sorry that happened to you. I'm glad Twinkle is feeling better though! I hope he continues to heal. My hammy chatters a lot when something isn't where it is supposed to be. As Serendipity said, it sounds like he is just grumpy from all the changes. I also hope you get well soon too!

Thanks Presley

[LunaTheHamster1]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

One thing that might help him settle is putting the meds in food. Baytrill is difficult to disguise and important they get the full dose regularly. Loxicom is the same as Metacam I think and not so crucial if they don't eat all the food its in. But you could put that in a little bit of baby food on a separate dish and I'm sure he'd enjoy that. I use one of the baby food lids as a separate dish - about half a teaspoonful of the baby food and drop the metacam on top - so it usually gets eaten first and they usually eat all the babyfood.

You could do something similar with the baytril - it tastes nasty and they may not eat the food - but the beefy country hunter dog food worked for me (tip from Vectis). Some people use runny honey in the syringe with the baytril. I've never yet had a hamster who would take meds from a syringe and they would just get very anti the syringe and attack it and be annoyed with you for it.

You might want to get some probiotic as well if he's on baytril. I didn't give it until the baytril was finished. You can give it at the same time but I'd give it at a different time of day than the baytril. I used this Benebac one. It is just the probiotic and no other additives. The dosage is easy to work out for their weight - for our robo it was an eighth of a teaspoon - which worked out as a "pinch" and I mixed that into baby food as well. He was also on baytril and metacam so he had lunch,dinner and supper!

Lunch was the baytril in dog food (middday),dinner was the metacam in baby food and supper (later at night) was the benebac in baby food. And his hamster mix of course.

This is the beefy dog food - in little pouches. You end up chucking most of each packet unless you have a dog! Keeps in the fridge for two days so you get three days of "doses" out of it. It looks a bit like corned beef in jelly but disguised the baytril very well.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Natures-Men...3-09163b7d9294

I am sure all the chuntering will be stress after effects combined with the hassle of the meds.

Thanks for that long reply Serendipity.

When it first happened he didn't eat or drink for the first few days, so no choice than to stick the syringe in his mouth. He didn't even fight it. I have probiotics as Star is on antibiotics permanantly.

I tried hunters food in the past with Luna, but she wouldn't touch it which is why i swopped to baby food.

I tried him with metacam in baby food last night - he touched a bit of it but not all.

I rang the vets this morning to see if I should keep him on painkiller longer or stop as originally planned. waiting for a call back

In the meantime the rescue got back to me and they think the squeak is hiccups- so now I feel a bit daft It would make sense I guess, it happend when he wolfed some food down and had a stretch. Maybe he just needs some time for his whole system to get back to normal.

He only chuntered once at me last night when he wanted to come back out again after I had him out for a quick cuddle. I woke him up gently for some medicine last night and the only time he squeaked was after a stretch he did.

[LunaTheHamster1]

Twinkle update:

I finally put everything back in his cage last night and he is active for about 3.5-5 hours every night.

He is still squeaking and less of the chuntering, I am not sure the squeaking is hiccups like the rescue said, i think it is part of his 'not happy noises'. He squeaked when I was putting his shelves back in his cage last night (he was still in his house sleeping, woke up, squeaked but stayed inside)

Anyway, I stopped all the medicine to see if he stops the noises when he isn't getting disturbed as much. But I am keeping an eye on the noises. Other than that he seems happy enough, running around, wants to be out, happy to be picked up etc.
He has been in his run, but not free roamed in the entire conservatory yet. Maybe tonight or tomorrow.

Photots taken last night

Twinkle happy forum.jpg

Twinkle happy 1 forum.jpg

[Ria P]

Aww, Twinkle is so so cute!
Was he a squeaker before he had the accident? He may still be a bit upset same as you probably still are. Ok, you are not expressing yourself by squeaking but you may well have to work through it still and fully come to terms with the accident by talking it through with family or close friends.

It takes a while to put traumatic events behind and get on with life.

I think that once everything is back in place as it was before and Twinkle realises that nothing bad is going to happen to him and he's back to his usual routine he'll relax and get on with the wonderful life he has with you.

I don't know what exactly happened but you said that you went into shock which gives me a good indication of the seriousness of the incident.

You both need time to heal mentally, time, talking, squeaking, spoiling and pampering yourselves will all help you two on the road to recovery.

[Vierville]

Shame LunaTheHamster1, what an awful experience! To be honest it sounds like you were worse affected than Twinkle in the end, thankfully he is looking good and seems to have recovered.

Nanuk is on long-term oral medication and we just syringe it into the corner of his mouth but handling them can be tricky so I would recommend putting the mefication in a bit of baby food. Nothing with tomatoes in the mixture though.

I really hope Twinkle makes a complete recovery and that you feel better about everythibg soon.

[LunaTheHamster1]

Originally Posted by Ria P

Aww, Twinkle is so so cute!
Was he a squeaker before he had the accident? He may still be a bit upset same as you probably still are. Ok, you are not expressing yourself by squeaking but you may well have to work through it still and fully come to terms with the accident by talking it through with family or close friends.

It takes a while to put traumatic events behind and get on with life.

I think that once everything is back in place as it was before and Twinkle realises that nothing bad is going to happen to him and he's back to his usual routine he'll relax and get on with the wonderful life he has with you.

I don't know what exactly happened but you said that you went into shock which gives me a good indication of the seriousness of the incident.

You both need time to heal mentally, time, talking, squeaking, spoiling and pampering yourselves will all help you two on the road to recovery.

Twinkle was very verbal when he arrived. he chuntered a lot, in fact on his first day the whole time he was tunneling out his man cave under his house(2 hours) he chuntered away. Never heard him squeak before though.

Everytime I hear him nibbling away in his nest I am so grateful. He is doing it now.

Basically he shot out from hidding under my yoga cushions and zoomed under the door as I was closing it. I knocked him out cold- I thought I had broken his neck and killed him. It was horrible. There was a cracking noise as it happened, maybe it was just the force that he got squashed. it gives me chills thinking about it, I know i am so lucky that he survivied. I broke my golden rule of don't move if you can't see the hamster, Lesson learnt in the most horrific way. Also the new rule is don't open or close the door if hamster is not in my hand. It has never been a problem with any of my other hamsters but Twinkle is just so fast. So now you know what happened.

[LunaTheHamster1]

Originally Posted by Vierville

Shame LunaTheHamster1, what an awful experience! To be honest it sounds like you were worse affected than Twinkle in the end, thankfully he is looking good and seems to have recovered.

Nanuk is on long-term oral medication and we just syringe it into the corner of his mouth but handling them can be tricky so I would recommend putting the mefication in a bit of baby food. Nothing with tomatoes in the mixture though.

I really hope Twinkle makes a complete recovery and that you feel better about everythibg soon.

I think time will help Vierville. I just need to trust that I am not going to wake up one morning and find him dead, I think time will only help with that. He is off his medication now, I could get it in him fine, well he struggled the better he got, but I think he just got fed up of being disturbed 3 times a day,

[Ria P]

That rule of don't open or close the door unless hamster is in my hand i will adhere to myself from now on.

Thank you for sharing the details of Twinkle's accident. It will help others and make people more aware.

Edwina is so fast and being the same colour as the carpet and having a fascination with feet and shoes doesn't help. I get nervous when my OH and his big feet are in the room while Edwina is buzzing about on the floor.

As you say, time will help you to gain the confidence that Twinkle is going to be alright.

[LunaTheHamster1]

Originally Posted by Ria P

That rule of don't open or close the door unless hamster is in my hand i will adhere to myself from now on.

Thank you for sharing the details of Twinkle's accident. It will help others and make people more aware.

Edwina is so fast and being the same colour as the carpet and having a fascination with feet and shoes doesn't help. I get nervous when my OH and his big feet are in the room while Edwina is buzzing about on the floor.

As you say, time will help you to gain the confidence that Twinkle is going to be alright.

Ria thank you for your reply, it gave me the courage to share on my Instagram account and hopefully help others too. He seems to be fine, still a bit squeaky, but far less chunterring going on unless I do not respond quick enough for him to be let out. He is back to free roaming