Decisions for Chewbacca

[Hope]

Glad to hear that all went ok at the vets, bless him, he is a little charmer isnt he

Glad that he is looking a bit brighter today and eating a bit more, suspect that it was just the effedts of the anesthetic and the upheaval generally, its a lot for a little critter to take.

Sending lots of positive vibes your way, your doing us proud Chew!

[Gillzy]

Glad he's feeling a bit better. This is a tough time for you and we all know it, so we are ALWAYS here if you need us (and just a PM away and I'll come running I know that). I went through something similar for Noodle - who had a cyst on his mouth that I'd had removed and it grew back again and so I had to have him PTS before it really stopped his eating and drinking. The worry of wether or not it was the right thing still haunts me today - but I know in my heart of hearts I would have hated to see him suffer. *massive hugs* you are coping admirably with this all. Sending Chewy my love x

[Teddybearhamster420]

Im so happy to here hes doing well! brought the biggest smile to my face! i actually closed my eyes and sent good thoughts, seriously, i did Im addicted to this thread, maybe later you can manage to take i small pic of him, ive been wondering what he looks like right about now, but hey, you dont want to stress him out so if its not possible that fine hoping evreythings going by good xx

[Sammybingo]

Hmm. He's sleeping non stop really. He gets up to reposition himself, that's about it! I yoinked him out ten minutes ago for medicine / banana. He's eaten most of it >.<.

Some pictures.. I've taken a few when I've just been all 'awww!'. He has his moments.

These are pre vet -





^^ He isn't showing his teeth here - he is breathing through his mouth a lot.
Well, he could be showing his teeth :S

This is tonight during the voting on Eurovision lol -



He's back in his massive open nest under his shelf now. He'll have to come out again in a bit to finish his medicine banana stuff I made. I just can't make portions small enough for him at the moment. What looks minuscule in the kitchen (and in front of him, to be fair), he can't finish. I guess it can't be easy if your trachea isn't working.

Edit - this is just to add I know there isn't much in his cage at the moment - most things are just proving to be obstacles to him, rather than things to enjoy as usual. Most stuff has been taken out. I've made him a new nest box, and left his wheel in just in case he fancies a stroll at any point. He has a few things to walk over and chew should he fancy it, but nothing really to climb or throw himself about on. Going to see how he goes tonight and tomorrow, I'm going to try and clean his cage tomorrow if I can get him comfortable elsewhere for a while. I might remove his shelf, I'm not sure yet. x

[Sammybingo]

Originally Posted by Gillzy

Glad he's feeling a bit better. This is a tough time for you and we all know it, so we are ALWAYS here if you need us (and just a PM away and I'll come running I know that). I went through something similar for Noodle - who had a cyst on his mouth that I'd had removed and it grew back again and so I had to have him PTS before it really stopped his eating and drinking. The worry of wether or not it was the right thing still haunts me today - but I know in my heart of hearts I would have hated to see him suffer. *massive hugs* you are coping admirably with this all. Sending Chewy my love x

I'm so slow at reading back. Thank you so much. I'm certain you did the right thing. When our little ones begin to slow down, we know we have to consider these things, and do what is right for them. At the moment I'm still not sure if I am doing right by him by agreeing to treatment, but the vet seemed so optimistic. I suppose time will tell. If he begins to worsen, I will have to have him *gulp* PTS, as I don't want him to end up in pain - much like yourself. I am sort of steeling myself for this eventuality.

He is still able to curl up to sleep, which I am told is a good thing - if he really needed to use his whole body to breathe (sort of use muscles below the diaphram) he wouldn't be able to.

His breathing sounds a little better to me today, and he has looked quite bright on his tiny jaunts out of the nest. I do feel concern about him not getting up for more than a minute or so at a time - a couple of times today. And he has no strength at all.

So I am questioning myself constantly about whether I should be doing this or not, but he was so bright before we went to the vet, I didn't want to give up on him. Come on, Chewy, heh. x

[Sammybingo]

*HAPPY DANCE*

I went for a bath and came back to get him to finish his banana, and sit by him and do some coursework / watch Firefly, and who was up and about.. Chewy!

He came to his door when he realised I was here and asked to come out (although he couldn't spider up his door as usual for a belly tickle and had a little help climbing out).

I took a couple of snaps as I was impressed with how perky he was, all considered. I thought I would share them, as the pictures before are almost a little sad. Although he looks quite tired here, I think you can see that he is still "Chewy".



He was having a sit on my knee and I thought I'd pop out his play tent for him to hide in if he fancied it





So that was a nice five minutes. I've given him a scatter feed of dry food to find, although not buried it, I don't think he's there yet . He had a little bit of chicken and squash baby food too. I've popped a couple of toys in (a tube, a ball and a ropey thing) as he seems able to climb over low things.

He's in his nest now sorting his stash out.

Progress! Thought I should share it after all the sadder stuff. I don't expect him to be like this all the time, but he's definitely quite content. What a super-star.

[Teddybearhamster420]

This made me soo happy! xx

[amyXlovesXhamstersX]

Aw that is great! Hope he continues to get better!
Give him a hug from me and Ruby

[KatiePillow]

what a little trooper, he's such a beauty!

[Gizmodo ^_^]

Awww how lovely Chewy really is gorgeous