Princess Periwinkle;Secret Agent P!

Jaybee · 01-31-2012, 05:44 PM

Periwinkle is my sapphire winter white dwarf hamster. She is a year old, born on the 23rd of December 2010. I've had her almost a year now, I adopted her Feb 5th 2011, so just a few more days! She was an itty bitty baby when I got her, picked on by her litter, and now I think she's the sweetest thing! Out of all the hamsters I've had, she and I have a special bond. I was worried about her because after I brought home Benny in November, she started acting funny. She was hiding a lot under ALL of her bedding and staying under there. She also lost about 10-20 grams!!!!!!! She was around 55g, and she dropped down to 34g. She is currently gaining, and is back up to 38g. I got her looked over, nothing seemed to be wrong. Her nails got trimmed, her teeth looked okay, she didn't look too skinny and boney, she just wasn't fat anymore. She stayed active the whole time, I'd catch her out running on her wheel around 5am. She still ate, pouched food, I saw her eat her lab blocks, etc. I'm starting to think maybe that was just her way of responding to winter. Her coat I guess maybe looks a little lighter or so, I can't tell. But now that it's been in the 80s all week where I live, I've caught her running around her cage more and picking different places to sleep rather than just her complex tunnel system she's got going under the Carefresh.

So, here's what all of you really clicked on this thread for.... PICTURES!

Some people can't always tell what is going on in this picture. She is using her front hands to hold a piece of a peanut that she is eating, she's got one of her back legs stretched down to the ground, and the other is sticking out of the cage door. She sat like this for about 5 minutes or so, until she finished her peanut.

Videos in a new post

Jaybee · 01-31-2012, 05:52 PM

MzWiz0915 · 01-31-2012, 09:43 PM

SHe is lovely

Jaybee · 01-31-2012, 09:46 PM

I think "Princess" is very fitting, don't you ?

**Hamtastic** · 01-31-2012, 09:56 PM

Yes, she most certainly does! Lucy waves hello to her fellow sapphire princess. She's got that thinner slightly shaggy look Lucy had a few months ago when she started losing weight, though not that skinny of course (my girl's only 36 grams nowadays, down from 59).

Important announcement: Izzie would like me to say that she is the true princess among hamsters, and I have to oblige and pass it on

Jaybee · 01-31-2012, 10:58 PM

I thought they looked alike! So Lucy was losing weight, too? Do you think it has to do with winter? Have you noticed anything else? Peri was hiding a lot under all of her carefresh or she'd go in the igloo and cover it all round with CF so you couldn't see in or anything.

souffle · 02-01-2012, 05:52 AM

Aww she is a real beauty and looks very cheeky.
Those are beautiful pictures too

**Hamtastic** · 02-01-2012, 07:56 AM

From what I've read, winter whites in the wild (or more attuned to conditions outside, such as natural light and temperature variations) go through weight and coat changes annually. They switch to a longer, denser, and whiter coat for the coldest months of the year and gain some weight. They are lightest in the summer. Of course in artificial home conditions, with artificial light, which can skew natural length of day time for them, and also temperature conditions different from their natural habitats can all make a winter white's body pretty confused about any sort of an annual cycle.
Djungarian hamster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lucy's specific issue is kidney failure (diagnosed by my vet), and was the cause of her weight loss. She weighed 59 grams at the end of last May and then 37 grams at the end of September on the same diet. That's how I knew something was wrong (and her teeth were fine, no diabetes). We don't know the original cause of kidney failure, as it could be a consequence of some other disease, such as Cushings--it is hard to confirm without a very stressful blood test.

This was Lucy when she was a chunky girl last summer:

And lean nowadays:

Jaybee · 02-01-2012, 11:02 PM

I'll keep paying attention to Periwinkle, I hope she doesn't have kidney failure or anything like that. Did you have any other symptoms other than weight loss? I know in the summer Peri was around 55g, and a few days ago she was 38g (which is up 4 grams from the last time I weighed her about a month ago). She's been on the same diet her whole life as well.

**Hamtastic** · 02-02-2012, 01:38 PM

Oof, it sounds similar to my story, except Lucy kept losing weight. She lost that much in about 4 months or less (I was very busy at the time so did not immediately notice she was getting skinnier, as it was gradual), at which point I brought her to a good vet and had her diagnosed. 55g--> 34g is a pretty dramatic loss that I'd say is worth looking into as a possible indication of kidney impairment. The only symptoms Lucy had were the consistent gradual weight loss (a gram every few days) and bit more "bitiness". She was under 1 year old when the weight loss started happening. Her diet was RMH3000 pellets, freeze dried mealworms, Ecotrition Organic, Hazel Hamster, and some other things I was adding from Whole Foods--pretty good food. I was really at a loss as to what was going on with her.

During her vet visit, Lucy had all her vitals check out good, was calm, and her teeth were well. Her coat was fine. The vet kept saying that she was all good until he could get a urine sample (and a blood test, which we both thought was unreasonable for tiny Lucy). The urine test confirmed kidney failure, as her urine had specific gravity of 1.02, which is quite low (S.G. of water is 1.00, and normal S.G. of a healthy hamster is around 1.05-1.06. Essentially 1.00 is diluted as water, and 1.06 is more concentrated) and she was losing proteins through her urine, hence the weight loss. I know you have connections to the CHA, and perhaps Linda Price or someone else could recommend a good vet. I'd have Peri's urine tested for kidney function parameters if she loses more weight. But that change that you quoted is dramatic enough.

On the note of weight gain, Lucy was steady at 32-33 grams for a long time until she suddenly jumped to 35-37. I think the jump corresponded to me adding a small dash of kelp flakes to her soup (salty, so some water retention, perhaps), but it did also get colder in the bedroom, so it could be her trying to fatten up a little.

I hope Peri is okay!

I'm about to submit my Chronic Kidney Disease (Chronic Renal Failure) care guide here, and if Peri happens to have it, you might find the information in it of use.