Advice Please - Breathing funny and very unstable

[Richwright]

Hi All,
New to the Hamster world having purchased a winter white for my daughter.
So we have had Cookie since early December and she has been great.
Last week he was breathing extremely fast and just sat in the corner of her cage looking very sad and lethargic, we watched her carefully and saw her fall over a few times too. Once we got her out she seemed ok (breathing fast still). We continued to watch her and then took her to the vets. They said a respiratory infection and dehydrated, they gave fluids and antibiotics and said she should be ok but at these guys are so small of fragile she may not.
Now a week later and having given the antibiotics daily shes still not good, and last night she was on her side looking like she was about to pass and then put of no where leapt up and couldn't wait for cuddles, still breathing heavy too.
She is just not right and i wondered if anyone could shed any light on if they had had this with their hammy's?

[souffle]

She does look very unwell. Ears back and hunching like that show she is poorly.
Chest infections are very difficult to clear in hamsters due to the tiny airways and lungs as they get blocked up so easily. Hammies can't cough either to clear it so it sits there.
I would take the shavings out and use just paper bedding and ripped up loo roll. Keep her warm but not hot and provide fluid in a small bowl. Get some babyfood like grandmas chicken dinner to try and tempt her to eat plus some cucumber to help hydration. A small hospital cage is best just now. They usually need the meds for longer than a week if it is a chest problem so you might want to have her checked again by the vet. Was she a pet shop hamster?

[Richwright]

Hi @souffle
Thanks for your reply and advice. Yes she was from a shop, a local indipendant that specialise in reptiles and exotics etc, I wont name but we did our research and they were highly recommended. She was fine until the past 2weeks, very frendily and active however now shes just sat there looking very sad and unwell.
I will speak with our vet again, there were not too hopeful last time but another course wont hurt. I suspect she wont last much longer looking at her this morning.
Should we loose her we will look for another, any recommendations for breeders of Winter White/ Russians in the Herts / Bucks area?