Sore foot help

8piggie3hammies · 07-03-2011, 02:27 PM

I have my daughter's friend's robo hammies here as she want's my daughter to tame one of them as it can be nasty and my daughte don't seem to mind getting bit, anyway it came witha sore foot due to her shutting it in cage door, he keep's cleaning it and it is swollen he also has a cut on his leg im guessing cos he keep's cleaning it but it could be where it was trapped, he is running around ok but holding that leg up, any suggestion's on what might be wrong infection or broken apparantly it happened a couple days ago. I have seen the girl's mum and told her that i personally thought it was infected and probably just needed antibiotics but my knowledge of hammie's is very limited.

I have told my daughter that we can't keep it to tame as it need's veterinary treatment so she will have to take them back tomorrow, they can come back when it's got med's and i don't mind administering them, but obviously i cant afford to pay someone else's vet bill but then i can't see it suffer either (and is seriously have no money that i can justify paying when i have my own animal's and my guinea pigs are just recovering from ringworm which caused stress and then caused mite's and fungal and i just had our syrian PTS

racinghamster · 07-04-2011, 07:49 AM

It`s not your responsibility to pay any vet bills it`s the owner, so if you are concerned that this little robo does have a sore leg (and it`s obviously holding the leg up) so chances are he`s in pain or needs an anti-inflammatory or Baytril, I would suggest the owner seeks their vets advice before any further handling is done. A minor cut can be swabbed with saline (one teaspoon of salt to one pint of boiled, cooled water) but if the leg is swollen aswell, it may need a few days for the selling to go down.

Something as small as a roborovski needs very careful and gently handling as they can be very fast and feisty little hamsters! How old is the owner?

wiggle'smommy · 07-04-2011, 08:10 AM

:/ She shut it in the cage door? How long ago, why hasn't the hammy already gotten vet attention? They can't just give him to you if he's injured!

If he's cleaning his leg you'll want to get something to make sure it doesn't become infected, in the meantime the saline solution that RH talked about would help to try and prevent that. Obviously they will need to take him to the vet to make sure there's no other meds he should be having.

I'm really sorry to hear about your hammy, RIP little one. And your piggies, though glad they recovered.

8piggie3hammies · 07-04-2011, 08:25 AM

Thanx for you replies, i called the vet today and said i would hapily take him in but as it's not my pet i couldn't let them do anything drastic, I did get in touch with the owner's mum and told her that it needed to go in, her daughter (age11) didn't tell her anything about the hamster untill last night on her way out the door to bring him to mine but that it had been like it since friday, anyway we went vet's on the offer to pay for treatment and she could pay me back,

The vet (didn't know much about hammies even what breed it was) but did say there wasn't much could be done and that it was suffering and the kindest thing was to put to sleep tho she did say we could try treatment tho it would be more pain and with him constantly nibbling/cleaning it it wasn't likely to improve his condition.

My vet also said if i wanted to put money on my account then they hold it incase it's needed like a saving scheme at your lesiure and you can have all the money back at any time should you need it

Windle · 07-04-2011, 08:31 AM

If the vet doesn't know much about small animals you should really take it to one who does, as a sore leg is something that is most likely curable and wouldn't normally be something that requires him to be PTS!

wiggle'smommy · 07-04-2011, 08:37 AM

Oh my that's horrible that she didn't tell her mother, I can't believe he's been like that for so long

I agree with Windle, if she's not experienced with hammies it could be the simplest thing to fix but you are being advised to euthanise him. Have you tried the vet you take your piggies to or is she the vet you take your piggies to? Generally if they can see pigs they can see other small pets too. Other than that I can't really give you any advice I'm afraid

Did she say it was broken? I hope the poor little hamham gets better soon and he doesn't have to be PTS.

8piggie3hammies · 07-04-2011, 11:18 AM

He was PTS and it wasn't my hamster, it is my vet's but that wasn't the small animal specialist who i would of insisted on seeing had it been my piggies, tho the same vet put my two hammies to sleep but i know they were very old and showed it so i wasnt really asking her advice with mine i knew it was their time and i roared like a baby

i really didnt have much say over it other than i can lend you the money it's up to you i don't even know her that well i just didn't want money the reason it suffered, i think she just thought it had suffered enough there were two cuts on it one below and one above the swelling where he may of been chewing and i think that upset her so that's what she decided

wiggle'smommy · 07-04-2011, 12:09 PM

Aww poor thing

RIP little one play well at the bridge, you tried your best at least he's not suffering anymore...