Possible blood found on Pumpkin's wheel

[racinghamster]

Whatever the cause, you can still use this wheel but some sites recommend light sanding to the running surface just to smooth out any tiny splinters or rough edges, although the manufacturers should really be more careful than to sell a product that more than one person has had this issue with.

They are really good wheels, but seeing blood where the hamster has been running isn`t ideal and can cause upset. I hope the vet thinks the same and you can relax! x

[Leila0420]

The vet agreed that the wheel was the cause. She was really good with Pumpkin but in the end had to scruff her to get a proper look because she's still so skittish. The vet said there were some tiny cuts on her feet and due the amount of blood on the wheel Pumpkin needs at least 2 days rest, ideally 3, with all toys that could possibly aggrevate her sore feet removed from the cage. So I've replaced her usual wood chips with ripped up toilet roll and her usual recycled paper bedding and replaced her digging tower etc. with some cardboard box houses and tubes to play in.
She said that plastikote on the wheel could work but that I should be wary and monitor her closely but that she would strongly advise getting a different wheel. Also, again, no wheel at all until she'd had at least 3 days of healing time.

I'm relived and certain she wil heal fine since she's still incredibly bright eyed and hyper, eating, drinking and playing well but I am upset that something I bought her could do such damage... I'll stil try the plastikote but I'm definately going to feedback to zooplus where I bought the wheel what has happened.

Again, thank you all so much for your support and advice, you've really helped put my mind at ease and hopefully Pumpkin will have a speedy recovery! On a positive note she also seems to love burrowing through the mounds of tissue in her cage I'll try get a photo of her burrowing and post it for you all to see

[Shana]

I'm glad to hear that the vet doesn't think it's something more serious. Given that she's young, and healthy otherwise she'll probably recover quickly. Don't beat yourself up about the wheel - we all make mistakes, and fortunately this one was relatively minor. I'd love to see a photo of her burrowing

[Thin Lizzy]

Leila, so glad Pumpkin's going to be OK, it's always scary when you see blood.
I like the changes you've made to her cage and 3 days rest will help her feet.
I went for the smoothe wooden wheel which is from P@H and it's really superb.
Since you've got a plastic one, then once Pumpkin's rested I would use that.
Sounds like your vet has good knowledge on hamsters and I would stick with her.

[Pebbles82]

So glad it's nothing more serious. I'm sure they'll heal up in a few days and it sounds like she won't miss her wheel too much with all that paper to dig in! It's such a shame when this happens as it would put me off a wheel as well, but there are many people who have no problems with them at all. I can see you might want to try a different one though. I shall be checking mine over thoroughly when it arrives!

[cypher]

Great to hear it was only the wheel & nothing more serious, it does seem to be very rare for this to happen with the wonderland wheel & lots of us use them without a problem, I think if you plastikote it you shouldn't have any more problems, I always plastikote mine before using them (to pee proof them as much as anything else!) & give them regular checks & they've always been fine.
I think you' & your ham have been unlucky with this one but I wouldn't blame you for being very wary of it in future, I think I would be too!
Hope she heals quickly & has lots of fun with her burrowing meanwhile.

[racinghamster]

Sorry for my lateness in replying Leila, I`m really glad the wheel turned out to be the culprit and it wasn`t anything more worrying. Plastikote with maybe five layers slapped on individually between coats to cover the wood completely would work. Your right too about giving feedback to Zooplus on this matter because although the Wonderland wheel is a good, quiet wheel, it should also be safe for use, which in some cases, it isn`t. These wheels should have some kind of quality control going on before they are safe to sell and it seems to me they are not given those vital checks and unsuspecting owners don`t know to check the wheel before giving it to their hamster, but at the end of the day, it shouldn`t be the owner who is responsible for a wheel being safe from the point of manufacture?

Hope you can use the wheel again soon once it`s had a re-vamp! x

[Pebbles82]

All thanks to you Racing Hamster for finding those photos! Otherwise the vet may have been doing all kinds of tests and not checking the feet!

[racinghamster]

It was something I remembered seeing a few days earlier and when Leila mentioned she had the same wheel, I put two and two together and though it might be helpful to show this wheel image and thankfully it helped identify the issue, which is pleasing. x

[Leila0420]

Thank you all again for your kind comments, if only Pumpkin could know how many people she's had thinking about her!! Shana she was too busy burrowing to be still enough for a good picture so this is a photo of her peering at me from her bed box (I startled her by turning the light on - she was not impressed!) Thanks for the P@H wheel recommendation Thin Lizzy. I'm definitely going to need a bigger wheel for her in the long term because she loves to have full stretch before running.
Cypher and racing hamster, thanks for the plastikote recommendations I think I'm going to at least try the water based plastikote but monitor her really carefully. Just can't decide whether to buy garden green or buttercup yellow (honestly I'd quite like to cover the blood stains). I was also looking at sticky backed cork strips, have any of you had experience with them before? It seems like it would be nice and soft on Pumpkins feet but maybe not a good idea if she chews it??
Serendipity you're totally right, I'm really so grateful for the photo racing hamster posted! My vet did immediately looking at her feet before I'd finished explaining, she said she'd recently lost her own Syrian of many years. Once when I was younger a vet dropped my little campbells Stone which was terrifying because she was in with a broken leg from fighting with her cage mate (long story - they should have never been sold to us together!).