Quote:
Originally Posted by souffle
Normal pregnancy lasts 16 days. If they go on longer then there is a much higher chance of the pups being born dead and over 18 days I would see a vet.
The fact she is acting oddly is a bit concerning. After the pups arrive the mothers do stay in the nest all the time practically to tend the babies. Are you sure she hasn't had them.
After this time she does need checked though so I would encourage her out with some babyfood or tasty veg and use a clean spoon rubbed in the pee corner to part the nest and check for pups. If she is still very swollen there could be dead pups inside her and this is a dangerous situation. Having pups at this age is also not recommended as the mothers can have delivery problems but accidents do happen so you just have to do what is best for her. Older hamsters are also more likely to have a womb infection after mating which can cause swelling.
Is there any odd smell about her or any discharge? Is there blood on the bedding?
|
I checked her bedding and there is no sign of babies and no strange smell. Just a slight hamster urine smell because I've been doing my best to not disturb her for these past few days and mess up her tank. She's not too swollen, just enough that if I touch her sides I can distinctly feel little bean-like structures which I'm assuming are the pups. No strange smell on her either and no odd discharge. Her bottom is the same color it usually is, which is a bit darker than her other fur and skin.
I called the only vet in my area that sees hamsters and they refused to see her out of fear of stressing her out further. Ugh. They just said to sit back and "let nature take its course" with her. Of course, this did not help me and made me feel even worse. I felt like they were my last hope for this and now I just have to continue to wait.
For now, she's eating normally, sleeping normally, and drinking normally. I would say she is still nesting more than usual. Definitely not bigger today than she was yesterday which I'm grateful for. I will say today she has slept a lot, but it is not quite her usual awake hours yet and I did check her out this morning so she could be tired from that. Yesterday she was up a bit earlier which was unusual for her but not unheard of. No signs of pain or anything like that from her. She's been her usual friendly, spunky self throughout the pregnancy.
I am hoping and praying with every fiber of my being she makes it through this okay. I wish I could have at least taken her to the vet to find
some answer, but I cannot do anything about that. I will let this forum know how it turns out either way. I just can't believe she's going on 20 days pregnant. I am so anxious.