Hamster gaining massive weight in last 2.5 months

[Crovax]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum. I have had many hamsters in the past, most of them pass away from tumours.

This time, my hamster has gained an enormous amount of weight in the last 2.5 months or so. It is even around his stomach so I'm sure it is not a tumour. His poop and peeing are normal. He is around two years old now.

He is so big in fact that recently, he has having difficulties walking because of his big belly. He is bored of the wheel and ball. I even built him a bigger cage but his excitement for that only lasted a couple days.

I put him on a diet but it seems that it is not helping at all. His diet consists of some commercial food but also a big portion of veggies including lettuce, and broccoli.

He has never had a lot of energy. I would let him explore around the room and he would eventually find an area and fall asleep. It's worse now as he is old. If he finds a blanket while exploring, he will make it into his nest and fall asleep.

Pictures are attached.

Any advice would be helpful!

PS. As I was typing this, I had my hamster free to roam on the table. He found the blanket, made a nest out of it then fell asleep...

[souffle]

This is definitely something going on inside him and could be down to a number of reasons. He is really quite an elderly hamster now and things do go wrong. I'd suspect kidney problems either cysts or tumours but you can't be sure.
Don't put him on a diet as this can unbalance his food intake and hamsters won't overeat. He may not feel his best and being elderly they don't exercise so much. You could see the vets but with this amount of swelling they may be unable to do anything.
Things like heart failure also cause fluid to gather in the abdomen making them look big. I hope he continues to behave normally and eat well and he can enjoy his twilight times in comfort.

[Crovax]

Hi souffle,

Thank you for your reply.

There is an update. Yesterday, he was roaming around the table and he decided to fall off. I was able to catch him in the air so he seemed fine.

But what did change was the texture of his stomach. I looked at it before and it felt solid but now, it is definitely water. I think something has burst. He feels like a water bed. It's not firm and now he is moving even less than before.

So sad.. he even fell asleep with his head in the food dish while getting the food..

[Maker]

I’m so sorry your hamster is poorly, such a beautiful looking old gentleman, spoil him as much as you can, if he seems to be in pain then i would take to vets otherwise as souffle says enjoy the time he has left with you. I agree about the food, give him what he normally eats and enjoys, this isn’t fat.

[Crovax]

Thank you so much, Maker.

He was enjoying himself until the fall.. I may have to take him in to the vet soon..

[souffle]

I would take him to the vets now as it could be a ruptured tumour and he may need some help on his path to the bridge. It is the last great gift to save them from any pain.

[Crovax]

Hi Souffle,

Yes, yesterday I had done a lot of research on euthanasia and cremation options. But he passed away this morning at 10:21AM.

Here is the story:

Yesterday, I woke up at 3:30AM to see how he was doing. I sorted out his food dish to put the smallest and easiest foods to eat. I was able to feed him a little bit.

At 9:35AM, I checked him again and saw that he had not moved from his spot. I observed him for a while and saw that he was not breathing at all. I picked him up and mourned for a while, but to my surprise, his body was not stiff. Five minutes later, I noticed what seemed like the smallest breath but I thought my hand had just shaken, it was so subtle. And a couple of minutes later, it turned into big breaths every 10 seconds or so.

I’m not sure what had happened as he was definitely not breathing before. I knew his time was near so I placed him on my stomach as I lied down until he would pass.

10 minutes later, he stopped breathing.

I was very fortunate to have been there when he passed away.

Now, Pietro can eat all the broccoli he wants in hamster heaven.

[NutMega870]

Crovax, I am so sorry for your loss. He'll have a wonderful time in hamster heaven.

[Maker]

RIP Pietro, he had gentle passing and was very loved, may your grief pass so you can remember him without sadness.

What you describe with thinking he had passed is not unusual, my old hamster man also did this before passing gently away.

On a lighter note my mum when we were very little wrapped my hamster in newspaper and put him in the dustbin as he had died and found him later in the day sat on the top of the bin.

[Pebbles82]

I am so sorry for your loss. I also think it was fluid as have had this with two hamsters over the age of two when they were close to passing. Whatever the cause, it was his time and I am glad he passed peacefully at home x