Please! Your thoughts: Sandy's health

MzWiz0915 · 10-12-2011, 02:48 PM

Please! I am very in need of your thoughts, concerns and/or experiences related to this thread! I know it's a little long, but it's very important for the survival of my Syrian, Sandy, who is 8-12 months of age.

I posted a previous thread, and I got some great feedback, but I'm growing more confused and concerned with Sandy.

I plan to take her to the vet in the next day or two and I'm not too worried about her passing suddenly because she seems very stable. However, because most of the vets here in the US don't treat hamsters often, they usually grab a textbook and give me their best guess about what they think could be the problem. The last vet I went to actually said that the experienced hamster owners and breeders on this forum probably have more knowledge about hamster health than he does. So I want to do my best to research her symptoms before I take her to hopefully have some info to share with the vet. With the help I recieved from HC when Pica was sick I was able to treat her effectively and now I know how to better manage her health problems.

Sandy is no longer passing loose stools. She is urinating, stooling, eating and drinking as normal. Her mouth, nails, eyes and ears are all in great shape. In fact, feeding time is the only time of day she bothers to come out of her nest unless she is thirsty or needs to pee.

For the past week or two I thought she was slowly gaining a little weight and last week I was trying to offer her extra play time to get her to be more active. Her abdomen became noticeably large over the past two days, she's pear shaped now: but not symmetrical. Her right side is a bit larger.

She stays in her nest all day and night and has no interest in grooming, playing, cuddling or her wheel. However, if I get her out of the cage against her will, she scurries about like normal until I touch her. I have to be very carefull to scoop her up gently because her abdomen does seem to cause her pain when prodded.

Finally, today I found a mass on the right side of her abdomen. It's fairly large considering I couldn't feel it yesterday when I checked her over.

My thoughts, after checking hamsterlopaedia and a couple online sources are possibly impaction (new, secondary to something), bladder infection, tumor, viral infection or possibly pyometra (if pyo, definitely closed pyo). This is obviously a broad list of possiblities to discuss with a vet, and I want to do my best to narrow down her symptoms. If it would help, I can take new pics of her this evening and post them.

Thank you to all who have read this and to those who respond, without your help I sincerely fear that the vet will say there's nothing that can be done for her and suggest euthanasia. She's a wonderful, spunky girl and deserves so much better than that.

emilyweb · 10-12-2011, 02:53 PM

Awhh I don't really know what it could be, but I just want to say that me and tessa are sending hugs to you and sandy

And I really hope someone on here knows what it could be.

**Roxie** · 10-12-2011, 02:57 PM

My initial thought was perhaps Pyo but tbh it could be any of the things that you've listed. Hopefully the least serious one.

I'm afraid I'm not knowledgable enough on health issues to offer you a definite opinion but I wanted to reply to lend my support. I shall be thinking of you and Sandy x

MzWiz0915 · 10-12-2011, 02:59 PM

Thank you for the support Roxie and emilyweb, it means a lot to us. I'm so frustrated trying to be a good hamster owner in Rhode Island

The pet supply stores and vets all seem oblivious to the needs of a hamster.

firedrake13 · 10-12-2011, 03:03 PM

Gosh I don't know what it could be, but I just wanted to post to say myself and all of mine are sending lots of thoughts your way.

I wish I could help suggest a vet to you...I wish you were closer to me because I do know of some here...if only we could teleport hammies

StarlightSerenity · 10-12-2011, 03:04 PM

Oh hon

Wish I had some idea but I dont, like Roxie said, it could be any number of the things you listed.

The breeder where I got Luna has a good section on hamster health which might help you a bit - Hamster health

Noodle · 10-12-2011, 03:06 PM

It sounds like you've already done you're research well. If nobody can advise further you should be happy with all the info you've got

It's a shame about the vets over there, but maybe your vet will be wiser when given these options and be able to narrow it down along with his own knowledge for other animals.

Good luck, hope everything goes well x

firedrake13 · 10-12-2011, 03:13 PM

I had a thought MzWiz, have you tried Cornell Veterinary Hospital, its part of Cornell University here in NY. They are probably the best place I can think of here in the US and you might even be able to call to get some advice?

MzWiz0915 · 10-12-2011, 03:27 PM

Thank you all very much for your support! I hope I can get her some treatment, I don't agree with letting her suffer, but I'm not ready to even hear the alternative suggested by a vet...

firedrake13- I will keep that in mind, traveling to Cornell is not really optimal for her as we live two states away, but if I could get advice it would be helpful.

StarlightSerenity- the Hammy's World is one of the online web sources I researched the past couple days. It's the information on that website makes me think Sandy does not likely have pyo, based on her assymetrical shape and some other things...

firedrake13 · 10-12-2011, 03:37 PM

Yeah I realize it's pretty far...I've made that drive from where I live (30 minuets from Cornell) to RI. But I figured it couldn't hurt....also it's possible they would know of a vet in your area that knows more about hamsters? I wish I could do more to help you