Henry and Gordon

[Ria P]

Henry licked his Metacam off a spoon so i didn't have to squirt it in his mouth. Thank you all for your advice and support.

[LunaTheHamster1]

Brilliant stuff Ria, I hope the little guy feels better soon.

[Charlie Dunn]

Hi Ria how is Henry getting on? We now have Boo on metacam (he is an 18/19 month old dwarf ham) and he will eat it if it is on a bit of chopped up pea or sweetcorn. X

[Ria P]

Why is Boo on Metacam? I hope its nothing too serious.

Henry licks his Metacam off a spoon and takes it no problem but i can't help thinking that the vet should have prescribed Metacam and Baytril instead of Metacam only to be taken till the end of the week.
I have found traces of blood on his wheel this morning and other places in his cage. Ok, i don't expect the Metacam to work overnight as an anti inflammatory that is but i'm really wondering if i should take him to another vet or wait till the end of the week to see if he improves. Henry is currently sleeping in his nest and didn't appreciate me cleaning a corner toilet in his house. He turned round and covered himself with substrate.
My biggest fear is that he could be in pain and suffering. I fear this even more than losing him.

[LunaTheHamster1]

Ria, with more blood appearing I would ring the vets and not wait, I do really think he needs to be on antibiotics to at least see if it helps. It helped massively with Luna if it is his age and kidneys failing and/or UTI. If that then doesn't work they may need to investigate further, Luna had x-rays and scans. With him loosing weight though, I would also keep an eye on that.
The metacam will help with pain, I think you would know if he was suffering.

Sorry, I really don't mean to be telling you what to do, these times are stressful enough as it is. I just thought it was common practice to put them on antibiotics when bleeding is involved.

[Ria P]

Originally Posted by LunaTheHamster1

Sorry, I really don't mean to be telling you what to do, these times are stressful enough as it is. I just thought it was common practice to put them on antibiotics when bleeding is involved.

Luna, i really appreciate your opinion and thank you for that.
I took Henry back today and saw a different vet who immediately prescribed Baytril. I gave it to Henry like the vet suggested in a drop of Ribena and he licked it off the spoon but i'm not 100% sure he got it all because he cleaned his front afterwards. Must get some babyfood or squirt with the syringe if he doesn't eat it.
Anyway, there is hope now of a recovery. If i don't see an improvement after 4/5 days of the 7 day course its likely to be cancer anyway.
I was concerned about the weight loss but the vet called Henry fat.

[LunaTheHamster1]

Ria, glad you went back. Did they say they think it is cancer? Just Luna bled and hers was kidney/liver failure. Not very well today, I forget which, or maybe it was both. They could tell by the scans /x-ray they did.

Even with Luna on the medication she lasted another 5 months, and there were occasions of bleeding,but her quality of life was ok, still eating, running around and on her wheel. She was under the vets guidance all this time though. I knew the end was near when she lost 10g in a week I think it was.

If you do end up doing the syringe method, you could put medicine in first,then same amount water and then a dab of honey on the end.

Henry is a fine weight still, Luna got up to 230g+ when she got older and less active, before that she was 180g+ The vet told me not to worry, it was good for her to have a bit of weight to her, as when they start to loose it, it can help them.

Do keep us posted Ria.

[Ria P]

Vet only mentioned cancer in case Henry still passes blood after the course of Baytril but that's always a possibility in animals or humans.

Henry himself was surprisingly layed back about the vets visits and handling by the vet. Maybe its a bit of a myths that hamsters get stressed by visits to the vets. He was in a big transport box with his spare house in it, an emergency hoard and plenty of bedding which may have helped.

I'm off to buy babyfood now.

[LunaTheHamster1]

I was so worried about taking my hamster to the vets the first time because so many people say it can be so stressful for them. I have lost count how many times i have been to the vets now, and not one of my hamsters has ever shown stress. I take them in a big enough cage that I can lift their trixie labyrinth house into and for the most part they sleep through the entire thing. I think you may be right that it is a myth. That is why whenever anyone says they don't want to go the vet because they don;t want to stress their hamster out, I tell them to go. It's weird because I have never heard it being said about any other animals, and lets face it some dogs are brilliant at going to the vets and some hate it, but people never seem to question whether they should actually take their dog to the vet. I think people worry about wet tail far too much. (This is just my opinion and I am sure there are exceptions).

Please do bear in mind that like i said before, many people report that it can take 3-4 weeks for the baytril to work, I certainly found that to be the case from my experiences.

You may want to look into getting some benebac, if he ends up being on the baytril for a while.

Goodluck with the babyfood.

[Ria P]

I share your views regarding vet visits after my experience with Henry. Wet tail isn't really mentioned much here and i don't think a visit to the vet would trigger it.

Have your hamsters ever been prescribed Baytril and Metacam at the same time?

The first vet put Henry on 0.2ml Metacam once daily and the second vet prescribed Baytril 0.1ml twice daily. I asked if Henry can still take the Metacam as well and now wished i hadn't asked because he reduced it to 0.1ml every second day. I just hope that is enough to keep Henry comfortable.

He's hamstering about as per usual but i'm the one getting myself into a knot here.