Hello everybody!
I’m new to here so please bare with me
I currently have two Campbell’s Russian dwarf hamsters that are brothers and from the same litter. We have a winter white called Luka and we have a sapphire blue called Makari. A few weeks ago Luka grew a huge tumour in his front right paw, he has been to the vets and they’ve said that they’ve done all they can do for him (Bar amputating his whole leg but I think this is not an option I’m willing to go through with). They have lived very harmoniously together in a large ikea hack cage for the past year, the odd dominance squabble here and there but nothing has ever got nasty. However, the vet suggested that for Luka’s ‘end of life’ care we separate them and put them into different cages as 1) makari is likely to become aggressive towards Luka when he realises that he is weakened and 2) to give Luka the most comfortable and stress free palliative care possible. I did a lot of research into it and believed that separating them was probably the best thing to do. However, since the boys have been apart (6 days now) I quite literally NEVER see either of them. They are ALWAYS sleeping with the very occasional glance of them I’ve had where they go to their water bowls or for a nibble of food. Before this they were both incredibly active and playful boys that would be out for hours at a time on their wheels or exploring their cage. This is greatly distressing to me as it was an incredibly hard decision for me to make to split them up and now I feel like I’ve made the wrong choice. Is it because they’re moping about their lost brother? Is it because they are under stimulated?
Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated! I know it’s probably not a super common thing to happen to people but any insight would be great.
Sorry for the long post also! Xx