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AndTheSwiftCriedNews! · 08-31-2013, 08:24 AM

I came in on Friday night to find Smokey, my seven month old Winter White, lying still and unresponsive on his cage floor. Despite his brother Cloud being snuggled next to him, he was cold.

We took him out and warmed him in our hands. He seems to have lost a lot of weight very suddenly (considering I played with him just the night before and he was his usual shiny, happy self). He was floppy and lopsided. His breathing and heart rate were erratic and barely there. His eyes were all squinty. Every now and then he'd try really hard to get up and it seemed like he had a stroke, only half his body was working. When I found him I genuinely thought he was dead.

We gave him regular water and some water with honey in it. We thought it might be diabetes as he's a Russian dwarf and he'd been exercising excessively these past few days. I had actually been more worried about Cloud than Smokey, who was friendly and dapper. We had to keep trying but he perked up a lot and began to eat a little.

I popped him in a carrier by my bed with one of my socks and some shredded toilet paper for warmth. I gave him some dwarf hamster mix (he loves his mealworms) and filled a little dip box with regular water. I woke up ~hourly to give him some honeyed water, as that seemed to give him strength. He started licking my fingers to get it. I tried to arrange an emergency vet call out but I couldn't afford the £130 consultation fee.

Today I took him to the vets. They said it was unlikely to be diabetes as he wasn't drinking excessively. They were worried by how thin he was. He'd always been thin (I thought Cloud had been taking his food so had tried hand-feeding him his half a couple of times) but looked so much more so. He's frail and shaky. They said I had two routes:
1) Investigation: to get a proper diagnosis would entail taking blood. From such a small animal they would need to put him under general anaesthetic which is both risky and expensive.
2) Monitoring: I cancelled my weekend trip to London to keep checking on him and cuddling him. The vet said to see how he fares for the next 24 hours.

So here's my problem. He's slightly better, but he's still not my robust little baby. I can't put him back in his regular cage with his brother Cloud as he'll get bullied and not be able to get to his food and drink properly, which means he's stuck in his tiny carrier apart from when I take him out to cuddle and kiss him. It doesn't seem right to get him PTS as he's wandering around and being curious (just about) but he's so frail and shaky. I don't know what to do.

Please help.

08-31-2013, 08:24 AM
AndTheSwiftCriedNews! Newborn Pup Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Birmingham, UK Posts: 31	Smokey's very ill. I came in on Friday night to find Smokey, my seven month old Winter White, lying still and unresponsive on his cage floor. Despite his brother Cloud being snuggled next to him, he was cold. We took him out and warmed him in our hands. He seems to have lost a lot of weight very suddenly (considering I played with him just the night before and he was his usual shiny, happy self). He was floppy and lopsided. His breathing and heart rate were erratic and barely there. His eyes were all squinty. Every now and then he'd try really hard to get up and it seemed like he had a stroke, only half his body was working. When I found him I genuinely thought he was dead. We gave him regular water and some water with honey in it. We thought it might be diabetes as he's a Russian dwarf and he'd been exercising excessively these past few days. I had actually been more worried about Cloud than Smokey, who was friendly and dapper. We had to keep trying but he perked up a lot and began to eat a little. I popped him in a carrier by my bed with one of my socks and some shredded toilet paper for warmth. I gave him some dwarf hamster mix (he loves his mealworms) and filled a little dip box with regular water. I woke up ~hourly to give him some honeyed water, as that seemed to give him strength. He started licking my fingers to get it. I tried to arrange an emergency vet call out but I couldn't afford the £130 consultation fee. Today I took him to the vets. They said it was unlikely to be diabetes as he wasn't drinking excessively. They were worried by how thin he was. He'd always been thin (I thought Cloud had been taking his food so had tried hand-feeding him his half a couple of times) but looked so much more so. He's frail and shaky. They said I had two routes: 1) Investigation: to get a proper diagnosis would entail taking blood. From such a small animal they would need to put him under general anaesthetic which is both risky and expensive. 2) Monitoring: I cancelled my weekend trip to London to keep checking on him and cuddling him. The vet said to see how he fares for the next 24 hours. So here's my problem. He's slightly better, but he's still not my robust little baby. I can't put him back in his regular cage with his brother Cloud as he'll get bullied and not be able to get to his food and drink properly, which means he's stuck in his tiny carrier apart from when I take him out to cuddle and kiss him. It doesn't seem right to get him PTS as he's wandering around and being curious (just about) but he's so frail and shaky. I don't know what to do. Please help.