"Star-gazing" Robo?! +Diabetes?!

[MzWiz0915]

I am becoming very concerned about the health of my Robo, Pica. Pica has had multiple difficulties since I got her, including trying to eat sand, potty litter and other inappropriate items (hence the name Pica).

This morning Matt called me while I was at clinical to tell me he had been watching her stand up on her hind legs, tilting her head back and then flipping on to her back. I have seen her do this a handful of times in the past 8 months, but I wasn't concerned because it didn't happen often.

Unfortunately I have not been able to spend as much time observing my hams over the past few weeks since I am nearing the end of Nursing school and my course load is heavy. Matt says he's noticed the behavior several mornings lately.

I affectionately refer to Pica as my "problem child" since she is VERY aggressive towards her sister and was challenging to tame. She has also exhibited a textbook presentation of diabetes. I have not been able to test her urine, unable to get a fresh sample (she only pees on the couch....). I put more protein in her diet and it seems to help stabilize her symptoms. But if I try giving her a small piece of fruit she clearly has trouble with the sugar.

Her temperament has suddenly changed the past two weeks too. She has always been nervous and aggressive towards me, but now when I wake up in the morning I find her begging for attention.

I also have her sister, their from the same litter and were never separated until Pica began attacking Astrid. Astrid has no health issues that I can tell and is an exceptionally easy to handle and affectionate hamster.

[Pompompoms]

Diabetes is very rare in robos, you could try getting some diastix and ketone sticks and testing her urine. When I did this with Jam I put him in a tub till he had a wee which wasn't that exciting for him, but didn't take too long. I then just dipped the sticks.

It may be a kidney issue in which case the extra protein isn't actually so good as it overloads the kidneys forcing them to work harder at exactly the time they shouldn't be.

Hams can be completely different, Jam and The Cloud were brothers and couldn't have been at more opposite ends of the spectrum character and personality wise. The Cloud was hugely aggressive and completely untamable, but that was just him and I accepted him and loved him the way he was.

I have to say all my hams will eat poo at times, and they've all eaten sand too, hams are just different, and we have to accept that some of them they do things that we think are a bit gross, but to them it's completely normal.

I can't help with the standing and falling backwards as I've not had this before. If you feel her health is not as it should be, if she's showing signs of illness and struggling to do normal hamstery things, then it really is the best idea to take her to the vet

[Vectis Hamstery]

I'm sorry to hear your little one isn't well. I would agree with pompompoms about testing her urine. I have found in hamsters that kidney problems can also give similar symptoms to diabetes (but usually in a species which is less prone to diabetes, such as a robo or syrian). Keto-diastix are good for diabetes, but if you have access to multistix, it may be useful to dip for protein in case it's a kidney problem.

Head tilts, spinning and flipping can indicate neurological problems, so it may be worth visiting the vet for a check up.

[MzWiz0915]

Thanks for the advice

She has no difficulty doing hamster things and is usually very very active. She even gets up during the day to play and go for a run a few times. I accept and love her the way she is, I just worry about her a lot! I want her to have a high quality life and be happy. I will try to get her to pee for me, but she gets really anxious and panics when I put her in a tub or bin.

I will keep an eye on here behavior, if the head tilting and flipping continues or gets worse then I will have to bring her to a vet.