Hi, this is my first post here.
I have an 19 mth old Campbell Dwarf male which we got out of a rescue centre. He was born there so I know his age reasonably accurately.
I discovered lumps on his tummy on Sunday and took him to a local vet on Tuesday, who put him under for a few minutes to see if the lumps were cysts. However, they are reasonably solid and they couldn't get anything out of them. One is quite small (left hand side near his back leg, while there is a bigger one nearer his middle).
The question is to operate or not? (I'm not that convinced the vet I took him to has a lot of experience with hamsters as he didn't seem to know best how to pick him up and he said they would have to improvise some sort of aesthetic if they did it
)
We have never had hamsters before so, I really don't know what is the best option. I have read some of the stickies so know a wee bit more what post op care might look like but I have loads of questions and wonder would anyone be able to answer them.
What are the chances of him surviving surgery? I read a research paper based in Germany on the types and survival rates of hammies after tumour surgery and it seems they do tend to come through the surgery ok - is this generally the case? Has anyone lost a hammy during surgery?
How do you stop them biting / scratching at the stitches? I read in one of the threads this wasn't a big problem for one of the hammies, is this generally the case?
Is the surgery itself likely to shorten his life and am I better just leaving well alone? Vet says lumps are at an operable size. They don't seem to be affecting him too much/at all at the minute - he is eating and playing etc just as normal - though he has been biting me quite a bit recently. Is it better to monitor the lumps and see if they grow much and make a decision later on or should I try and get them now and hope that he makes it through the surgery?
Really don't know what to do for the best, don't want him to suffer in any way, but don't want to put him through a surgery to either lose him during it or soon afterwards when he might have lived a happy enough life with the lumps.
Would appreciate any real life experience in dealing with this.
Thank you