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Old 01-19-2022, 05:17 PM   #11
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Bloated tummy / possibly coughing?

She might be scared of the syringe. I tend to give the meds in food so as to minimise stress for them. Some hamsters hate the syringe coming towards them. It’s easier if it’s soft food like baby food, porridge or even a bit of mashed banana. But just a tiny amount - pea sized. You can either put it on a teaspoon and leave it in the cage (but then the metacam can run off a bit as the spoon slopes). Or put it on a separate dish - I use a jar lid. That’s fine for the Metacam/anti inflammatory. You can just leave it in the cage and let her eat it when she wants.

As Ria said, the baytril is trickier - I do the same with that - put it in food but it needs to be something that disguises the bitter taste. You could try a blob of honey. One member used to mix it with runny honey.

I just wanted to say though that she is a very old lady and we need to balance things sometimes. Any bloating is never a good sign and at her age is not likely to be curable. You’re really looking at palliative care - keeping her comfortable.

As they get old their organs start to gradually fail and bloating could be fluid - either from kidney or liver failure, or heart failure or ascites from a tumour. The diagnosis almost doesn’t matter as it’s old age.

The Metacam is important as it’s pain relief in case she has any pain. But the last thing we want to do in their twilight time is stress them out with lots of procedures.

If she’s crying that’s not good. I try and make the meds something to look forward to by giving them in food they really like!

It’s a fairly standard thing for vets to give Metacam and Baytril mom the hope it fixes something because there’s not much more they can do at that age without adversely affecting their quality of life.

I do hope the meds help. But you may need to prepare yourself that she is now in her twilight time. When you described the swaying and the noise it did sound fairly terminal to be honest. If it’s a chest infection the antibiotics will sort that, but she has the bloating as well. And heart failure can cause respiratory issues too.

Main thing is keep her comfortable, give her nice things - even unhealthy treats like a bit of cake! (within reason).
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Old 01-20-2022, 02:12 AM   #12
Azula
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Default Re: Bloated tummy / possibly coughing?

I just gave her meds (and bit of baby foor before and after the syringe) and she went to pee and after that started acting really strange. She unpouched a big piece of a dried bug, starter cryign a lot and looked like she's trying to throw up (I know they can't throw up) similar to how yawning looks like, tongue out. She was leaning to the side and did that for a minute or two and then just stopped and started grooming herself. I was preparing to take her to the vet, but then she stopped. I observed her after that and decided not to cause I don't wanna stress her out even more.
She's hiding in her nest now.

I'm prepared that she's probably not gonna be here much longer, but with my previous hamsters I always knew what was wrong. Here she looks great except the midly bloated tummy now, but she's really inactive and squeaking a lot. Before I started giving her meds she was smelly real bad. Idk how to describe it except say she smelled sick, but I think that smell is getting better now after she started taking her meds. Even my bf said she smells better today.
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Old 01-20-2022, 11:53 AM   #13
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Bloated tummy / possibly coughing?

Glad she's seeming a bit better. She can probably taste the baytril. If you can disguise the taste it would be better or it may put her off eating things - they get suspicious! Do you have honey in the house?
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Old 01-22-2022, 03:33 AM   #14
Azula
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Default Re: Bloated tummy / possibly coughing?

I tried honey, but she's not really a fan. The way I do it now is I give her some baby food just before the syringe so it tastes a bit less bitter.
She's now crying pretty much all the time only when she's in her nest it's very quiet, but as soon as you try to pick her up she goes in this super crying mode. When I pick her up she's crying, but she's also licking my fingers and sometimes grooms.
Her tummy seems less bloated now and I really still have no idea what exactly is wrong with her. She smells much better too, but she's less active even tho when she's out of her nest she's fast, running around the cage so she seems to be getting better and worse at the same time... Maybe it's the stress from having to take the meds cause it's 3 different meds per day which is super stresful.

Oh and she's still eating and peeing normally as well as cleaning herself in the sandbath.
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Old 01-22-2022, 11:43 AM   #15
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Default Re: Bloated tummy / possibly coughing?

She got diarrhea and only now could we find a petshop that actually has probiotics. We must've called 10 petshops. In the meantime what food would you recommend that I give her?
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Old 01-24-2022, 08:50 AM   #16
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Default Re: Bloated tummy / possibly coughing?

Hope you don't mind me triple posting, but I wanted to post an update from the vet.

She has now finished all her meds so I took her to the vet for a checkup. Because it was a different doctor (same vet clinic), the first thing she asked me when she saw Aloy was if she was a young hamster so she was really suprised when I told her Aloy's 2 years and 2 months. She said she looks incredible for her age and that usually you can tell by the way their fur looks if there's something terribly wrong with them.
She felt her tummy again and said she doesn't think it's (that) bloated and cause she has a runny poo she'll keep her off any meds for now cause even painkillers can cause issues with digestion cause they're quite strong. She said because Aloy walks normally, breathes normally, eats and pees normally and becase she finished her treatment, she wants that we leave her alone for now and just observe. She also said the constant crying can be psychological due to stress from meds.

If anthing changes I'll take her to the vet and thankfully the trips aren't stresfull cause the vet is like 5 minutes away from where we live.
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Old 01-25-2022, 01:42 PM   #17
Ria P
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Default Re: Bloated tummy / possibly coughing?

That sounds like a good plan. I'd keep her off fresh veg, salad and fruit while she has diarrhea and her gastric system recovers from the meds.
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Old 01-30-2022, 08:29 AM   #18
Azula
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Default Re: Bloated tummy / possibly coughing?

Update on Aloy: she's still having diarrhea. I have been avoiding all fruits/veggies. I am cleaning her bum cca three times a day. She's still eating/drinking/peeing normally. She's constantly nibbling on her wooden bridges for some reason.
Her tummy is very bloated and at this point I don't think there's much to be bone, however she's stopped crying entirely. She's now back to doing just the clicking sound, but the crying's gone completely so I do think that was due to stress from being scared of taking meds.
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Old 01-30-2022, 09:57 AM   #19
Ria P
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Default Re: Bloated tummy / possibly coughing?

Hmm, a very bloated tummy and diarrhea doesn't sound good and there's something going on inside her. I think what you need to watch out for are any signs of discomfort like ears down and hunched posture because hamsters will try and carry on even if they are in a lot of pain.
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Old 01-31-2022, 03:12 PM   #20
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Default Re: Bloated tummy / possibly coughing?

She's been hunched since she was little so it's gonna be tricky to tell, but her ears are up which is good.
I hope she's okay and that maybe if she's really in pain she'll let me know cause it wouldn't be the first time. The reason why I got her to the vet in the first place is because one time she saw I entered the room and came up to me, got on both legs and started squeaking and she's never done that before. She's definitely the smartest hamster I had.
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