Twinkle had concussion & a contusion

[LunaTheHamster1]

Hi all,

So last wed night, I had a horrific accident with Twinkle where I thought I had killed him. Long story short, he had a concussion and a contusion, two phone calls to the emergency vet and 2 visits to the vet after several horrible days Twinkle started to come around on Monday night and seemed back to himself. He was up for 5 hours, running around, eating, foraging etc. He has his wheel back in his cage and a few hides, but everything is still on one level. He is on loxicom and baytrill (there was blood in his urine 2 days after the accident, vets thought it was the remains of the initial trauma, no blood since).

Anyway, last night he got up a little bit later than normal, and was chuntering away and a bit squeaky. he was in and out of his house for a few hours, he went on his wheel, moves ok, eats ok, drinking water ok, forgaing ok, can be handled ok, wants to come out onto my hands if I put them there, but I think the squeaking and chuntering may be at me.

I noticed this morning that he was fine when I woke him for his medicine, put him back in the cage, he went into his house, squeaked for a bit, ate a peanut and went back to bed.

He sleeps under his labyrinth house, and I just took the lid off to leave him some cucumber and i heard him chunter away again. Other than that no noise.

Do you think he is just fed up of me disturbing him (although the noises started from when he woke up last night and I hadn't touched him). They aren't constant.
Also, his cage is not set up as normal, s oI wondered if that is disturbing him, now he has come round.

He is so full of spirit now, as it was so easy to get his medicine into him at first and now it has become a bit more difficult- with the syringe.


squeaky noises
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OYtMWC4v_w

chuntering noises
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEc7cvaz6cA

I would really appreciate your thoughts, please be gentle though as I am still feeling really sick and worried over all of this. It has been a rough week for both Twinkle and me.

[hoggy25]

Hi, hope everything gets better soon

[cypher]

Really sorry to hear about the accident, they can happen to any of us however careful we might be so try not to feel too bad about it.
I'm not sure about the noises he's making tbh , he looks ok & it sounds as though he's been recovering well, it could just be the changes in routine, cage & the meds that are causing him to be a bit more vocal but I would just monitor him for now just in case it's a sign of something else going on, I'm not sure you can do more than that but maybe someone else will have a better idea of what & why.

[LunaTheHamster1]

Originally Posted by cypher

Really sorry to hear about the accident, they can happen to any of us however careful we might be so try not to feel too bad about it.
I'm not sure about the noises he's making tbh , he looks ok & it sounds as though he's been recovering well, it could just be the changes in routine, cage & the meds that are causing him to be a bit more vocal but I would just monitor him for now just in case it's a sign of something else going on, I'm not sure you can do more than that but maybe someone else will have a better idea of what & why.

Thanks Cypher, I am monitoring him and I would be on the phone straight again to the vet if needed, i just wondered if anyone out there understood what my hammy is trying to tell me.

I'm also getting the rescues (where Twinkle is from) opinion about it too.

I should have also said when he first arrived here he was a squeaker/chunterer, he spent his first afternoon here tunnelling everything out form underneath his labyrinth house and chuntered/squeaked the whole time.

On occasion he has sat at the front on the cage chuntering at me when I havn't been quick enough to let him out.

Maybe he's just a vocal hammy when things aren't to his liking.

I might put some of his cage back to how it normally is tonight, I just didn't know if that was going to upset him again.

[Pebbles82]

I think that's it, he's just being vocal after his trauma - I expect some of it is being woken for meds! Grumpy. He sounds to be doing well. Must have been a real scare.

[LunaTheHamster1]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

I think that's it, he's just being vocal after his trauma - I expect some of it is being woken for meds! Grumpy. He sounds to be doing well. Must have been a real scare.

Serendipity it has been awful, it certainly is up there in one of the worst times of my life.
I hope I am right and he is just being grumpy. It is honestly a miracle that he is still here I think.

[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.

[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!

[Pebbles82]

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.

[LunaTheHamster1]

Originally Posted by hoggy25

Hi, hope everything gets better soon

Thanks. I think he is, I just need to relax a bit after all the stress.