Wet tail recovery we hope

[pophammy]

My best friend got a new baby hamSTER from Pets at Home last Friday. They said he was 10 wEEks but he was tiny. He is much smaller than Nelson who is 5 wEEks. On Sunday he started with diarrhoea and they took him to the vet who said it was Wet Tail. Poor little Chip was in such a mess with it up to his neck and so tiny and untamed. The vet gave an antibiotic to be syringed into the mouth and we have been helping her with advice on nursing and giving her special food and do you know he seems to be getting better. We made a soup with boiled chicken and rice and he is loving it. He also has Avipro probiotic to try and replace the good gut bacteria and she is giving him baby food and baby rice plus porridge oats. He was up and running on his wheel last night so fingers crossed. He is also being kept very warm in the airing cupboard! We will keep you posted. We think it is our home made chicken soup but still wait with bated breath. We cannot go near him for fear of bringing it to our hamsters. Does anyone know if a hamster who recovers from Wet Tail can still be a carrier as they have another hamster and we will not be able to look after him in the holidays if he could possibly spread it. How long after recovery can he be socialised without risk?

[SnuggleHam]

I’m glad your friend caught this in time and sought veterinary treatment and I’m glad to know that the hamster seems to be alive and perky I'll but out positive thoughts for you friend and Chip.



I’m not sure what kind of medication the vet prescribed but a little snipet from a Wet Tail / Dri-Tail article on Hamster Central says ..

Resident bacteria are usually kept in high numbers in healthy individuals, which compete against lower numbers of "intruder" bacteria. Dri-Tail is not effective at clearing out the intruding bacteria, thus allowing the pathogens a chance to gain resistance to the drug. Dri-Tail may temporarily relieve symptoms, but the pathogens still remain.

I’m not sure if the same thing can apply to such medications like Baytril which I think is administered orally. I’m assuming your vet must have given this since it knock out most anything wrong with hamsters. Maybe someone else can explain further.

[babyboos]

A hamster with Wet Tail should be given his antibiotic (preferably Baytril), a probiotic and dry hamster mix only - no soup or baby foods etc. until the course of antibiotics is complete. For Chip to showing such a good response so quickly I would hazard a guess that he may not have Wet Tail in the true sense (also known as proliferative ileitis (PI) or hamster enteritis) but certainly he may have had a severe digestive upset. The only way to tell for certain would be to get the vet to send a stool sample to microbiologists and/or epidemiologists to identify the organism responsible. The most stressful time in any hamster's life certainly is when it first leaves its mother then moves to a pet shop and then moves onto a new home. In the space of 2 or 3 weeks a hamster has been subjected to removal from his mother and change of owner and home twice.



I would suggest they treat him as if he has Wet Tail and remove all the additional foodstuffs until his antibiotic is finished. Rehydration is often a bigger killer than the infection itself and the vet will hopefully have given a fluids injection? Rehydration treatment along with the antibiotics greatly increases the chances of survival when treating Wet Tail. I would recommend replacing lost fluids further by giving a salt and sugar (electrolyte) solution mixed with water (this can be bought in chemists or prescribed by a vet - Lectade in UK). Pedialyte is the US equivalent for everyones' information.



Continue with the Avipro as this is a premium pre- and pro-biotic and should be very beneficial - this is almost certainly having a greater benefit than the chicken soup etc. if Chip has Wet Tail. Sorry Great idea for dogs though, speaking from experience with a delicate stomached Golden Retriever...



As to long-term... Any hamster which has suffered from Wet Tail does tend to show a genetic propensity to this condition, and therefore should NEVER be bred from, and therefore socialisation should not be an issue with his own species. I would give him a good week after complete recovery and completion of his course of antibiotics before moving him into the same room as another hamster - the longer you can delay really the better. I would not think you should have any problems for the holidays unless they are very soon. As you currently have two boys, and these being SOLITARY Syrian hamsters we are talking about, I don't imagine them having to get up-close-and-personal, so as long as you maintain good hygiene as usual you should be fine. Remember when bringing any new animal into your home it should be quarantined for at least a week, preferably two, and this includes "pet sitting".



Hope you encourage your friend to join us, and Chip will feel well enough to enter the competition! Oh, and I hope your friend has informed Pets at Home of this situation so they can remove all their other hamsters from sale until determined clear of infection - it can take up to 7 days to be apparent.

[pophammy]

Thank you for the info babyboos. We do of course know that syrians are solitary and we mean socialisation with the family and into family life and coming out, being tamed etc. Chip did not have any fluid injection but was given a rehydration fluid for his water bottle. He was not eating dry hamster food at all and getting him to take something seems to be helping him. The vet he went to was at Pets at home as they have a vet surgery in the store here so they do know but my friend says they still have some of the hams on the floor that were there when she chose Chip so they have not removed any. Chip has Baytril by mouth which is very hard to get into a tiny frightened, untamed baby but she is managing. Will keep you updated. Beth does not have internet but maybe we can let her join via ours.

[babyboos]

We have a couple of these type of stores here - I am quite concerned about them to be honest - how can they let some of the dubious practices we encounter go on in these stores? And not to give a fluids injection which takes seconds and is very low cost for them and the owner consequently... Oh well Chip sounds like he is feeling much better and certainly all the handling he is receiving in order to administer his Baytril will hopefully help him when it comes to proper socialisation with his new "family" (human). The good thing is it doesn't sound like it is further stessing him out or he would not be improving so much. Hope she hasn't been nipped too much! Give Beth my best wishes and encourage her to go to good hobby breeder for any new pets in future!

[pophammy]

Great news about Chip. He is still very much alive and getting perkier by the day. Last night Beth was so happy to find solid poos! He is getting more inquizative now and coming out when she comes into the room. He is eating some dry food and continuing with the gentle diet to try and build him up. He is a cute little dark grey banded lad and hopefully will make it now.

[SnuggleHam]

I'm glad he's doing better... One thing that's so funny about your post, when our hamsters get sick, and only a hamster owner can appreciate this, and that is how much joy we get out of seeing solid hamster turds LOL!!



A hamster owner never takes seeing soild hamster turds for granted lol.

[babyboos]

How true Candace

[Emma]

Great news that it sounds like the diarrhoea has cleared up, sounds like your friend nursed him well.



One small point though, I don't know how the vet diagnosed Wet Tail just by looking at the hamster!! Wet Tail is technically a specific infectious cause of diarrhoea, not all diarrhoea is Wet Tail, although many hamster owners, pet shop staff and vets will call any diarrhoea in hamsters "Wet Tail". It could just as easily have been bought on by the stress of leaving the litter, moving house, changing owner, diet, environment etc. If it was true Wet Tail then other hamsters from the shop would likely have gone down with it.

[pophammy]

I think you may be right and I think vets see a messy rear quarters and say wet tail. It may have been stress but he was still very poorly and I am proud of the way Beth pulled him through and her dedication in helping him regardless of the cause