Grainy substance coming from hamsters mouth?
Hi, so my hamster, the sweetest girl, Frankie, had to be PTS tonight. I really want to understand what happened and if it was preventable and I could have done something or at least so it doesn't ever happen again as the vet unfortunately didn't provide a clear answer and I was too upset to ask the right question understandable so hoping this community can help.
She's was a female Syrian around 1y and 3months or so old and had been healthy as anything up till now. She was eating and drinking normally and no diarrhoea or anything either and coat looked good.
I saw her yesterday evening and played with her as usual for a while and fed her etc, she was asleep in her burrow this morning but when I went to check on her this evening, I found her in the middle of her cage and honestly thought she had already passed she was so still. She was still breathing and had a heart beat but was pretty cold to the touch and when I got her out I noticed what honestly looked like vomit - grainy (kind of looked like bits of sand and she does have a sand bath which she was sitting on top of when I found her) slightly smelly and a light cream colour, over her nose and mouth and down her front. I know hammies can't vomit so it wasn't that. She was very unresponsive, only reacting when I wiped her mouth and nose off and she moved a bit when I put her on a heating pad but didn't open her eyes.
Obviously rushed her to the vet but by the time I got there her HR and breathing had slowed right down and they said they couldn't even get a temp from her and it was best for her to be PTS because even if they tried to give her fluids etc, she wouldn't survive. The vet said said it could have been a ruptured pouch but after googling I'm not sure what he meant by that and wondered if anyone had any insight.
I know they can get abscesses in their pouches that could have ruptured as well but surely she would have been off her food or something? Unless she was just gathering it up and hoarding it in her nest (which wouldn't be uncommon) and I just assumed she was eating it?
She seemed really perky and active and bright yesterday and about an hour before this happened today when I checked she was still asleep.
I'm absolutely heartbroken and just don't know what to think if there was something I should have seen or noticed and could have done.
I fed her the hamster full nutrition pellets with dried meal worms and hamster safe veggies and the occasional fruit treat and she had nothing sharp or pointy in her cage or access to anything like that when I take her out.
Sorry, I know this is a super long post, just wondering if anyone else has seen the grainy exudate from their hamsters mouth and has any insight.
Anyway, I got to say goodbye to her, she opened her eyes for the first time since I found her for a few seconds despite not breathing well, almost like she knew it was goodbye and she went peacefully but it was just so awful and wanted to know if there's anything I could have done.
Thank you in advance for any insight
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