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Happyhamster8 · 04-08-2020, 04:22 AM

My Syrian hamster Sandy is around 2 years and 2 months old. She was doing well but a week ago I started noticing that she's been waking up during the day to drink some water and then go back to sleep. She used to do that before and I know it's a normal thing, but last week I've seen her up during the day a lot more. Also throughout last couple of months she's started to get a little less active. So I just figured she's just aging. However, two days ago I went to spot clean her cage. I saw she was trying to get out of her nest and was struggling to come out (her nest was in a tunnel burred under the bedding). I see something is wrong and when she managed to get out my heart just broke. She was barely walking and kept her eyes closed. While walking often falls on her side. I removed the tunnel, but left her nest and put a bottomless hut over it to make it easier for her to get in and out. But then she decided to go to her grass nest/hide. Then I noticed she is breathing really fast. I thought she won't make it through the night. I'm now not sure is this all because of aging (because I'm not sure she can age like that overnight), or she had a stroke or something like that. I would've phoned my vet (to see if it's necessary to get her to the vet, because it is a lot of stress especially for an old hamster) , but my city was hit by a terrible earthquake and a lot of buildings are quite damaged and aren't safe including the building were my vet is so he had to temporarily close. There are not so many small animal vets where I live and it's really hard to find someone I can trust. Yesterday I' ve seen her come out and was drinking some water and took some food. Her eyes ere half open for a couple of minutes, then she closed them again. She was still struggling to walk and was falling on her side (a family member pointed out it' s always on the right side, but I'm not 100% sure)
I'm just asking for some opinions because this is the first time in my hamster owning experience that my hamster gets unwell in one day.

04-08-2020, 04:22 AM
Happyhamster8 Hamster Pup Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Croatia Posts: 57	What's wrong with my hamster? My Syrian hamster Sandy is around 2 years and 2 months old. She was doing well but a week ago I started noticing that she's been waking up during the day to drink some water and then go back to sleep. She used to do that before and I know it's a normal thing, but last week I've seen her up during the day a lot more. Also throughout last couple of months she's started to get a little less active. So I just figured she's just aging. However, two days ago I went to spot clean her cage. I saw she was trying to get out of her nest and was struggling to come out (her nest was in a tunnel burred under the bedding). I see something is wrong and when she managed to get out my heart just broke. She was barely walking and kept her eyes closed. While walking often falls on her side. I removed the tunnel, but left her nest and put a bottomless hut over it to make it easier for her to get in and out. But then she decided to go to her grass nest/hide. Then I noticed she is breathing really fast. I thought she won't make it through the night. I'm now not sure is this all because of aging (because I'm not sure she can age like that overnight), or she had a stroke or something like that. I would've phoned my vet (to see if it's necessary to get her to the vet, because it is a lot of stress especially for an old hamster) , but my city was hit by a terrible earthquake and a lot of buildings are quite damaged and aren't safe including the building were my vet is so he had to temporarily close. There are not so many small animal vets where I live and it's really hard to find someone I can trust. Yesterday I' ve seen her come out and was drinking some water and took some food. Her eyes ere half open for a couple of minutes, then she closed them again. She was still struggling to walk and was falling on her side (a family member pointed out it' s always on the right side, but I'm not 100% sure) I'm just asking for some opinions because this is the first time in my hamster owning experience that my hamster gets unwell in one day.