Clarissa - Page 7

Pebbles82 · 08-25-2021, 05:11 PM

Sorry misread that bit

You meant she was maybe trying to guilt trip you into putting her back in the Hamster Heaven!

Charlie Dunn · 08-28-2021, 02:46 AM

How is Clarissa doing ria? Has she guilt tripped you yet into going back into her HH cage yet?? I hope she is improving every day bless her x

Ria P · 08-28-2021, 08:40 AM

Clarissa isn't doing that well.
Her wound looks fine, dry and not weeping and the vet had tested for a uti pre surgery which was clear, i found out today.
Sometimes she lays there looking more dead than alive, then jumps up to go off nibbling on something.

I think that she's depressed because she looks utterly miserable. I kept her on the metacam for now.

I've adjusted her HH by lowering runs and making things easily accessible but was going to wait till Monday evening to move her back following the check up appt vet's advice.

I'm going to take her sand out for now and fill the bath with a different texture to move her tonight. Just off to the petshed to look for something she may like.

The dark and smelly wee could be dehydration. She drinks from the bottle a little but prefers a bowl and she was struggling with that large mass on her throat. Had to take the bowl out of her hospital cage because she got her wound wet, i think.

Phew, not easy trying to get things right for her because i often feel that i'm getting it all wrong.

Pebbles82 · 08-28-2021, 09:44 AM

You’re doing everything you can. I’m sure she’ll perk up a bit after going back in the HH and having a wheel back - although even that might take a settling in period again. Pickle was out of his cage in the hospital cage for about a week. And seemed not to recognise some things on his old cage Shen he went back. Didn’t find or use his wheel the first few days - until I put a smelly treat in it, then he was off. He was a bit reclusive for about a week then seemed happier.

Clarissa maybe just doesn’t like the bin - especially if she’s used to a barred cage. She maybe tires easily so doing what feels right.

Ria P · 08-28-2021, 11:05 AM

She's back in her HH but i replaced the sand with tissue bedding and replaced cork and wicker tunnels with cardboard ones for now.

She sat on the oilburner hide shelling and eating sunflower seeds but soon as she noticed me she went into this laying flat mode again.

I think she has trust issues with me because i took her to the vets a number of times. I can live with that as long as she gets better.

Yes, could be that she hated the enclosed bin cage. Never thought of that. Don't know if hamsters have a long term memory or get flashbacks but i did rescue her from a stinking habitrail pod she had never been out of.

Ria P · 08-28-2021, 11:10 AM

Ha! I looked at Clarissa and she looked at me, then got up, went inside her house and closed her door with kaytee.

She's always been a great communicator.

Pebbles82 · 08-28-2021, 05:07 PM

Maybe she is a bit pee’d off with you

. But I think now she’s back in her HH she’ll come around. Just keep talking to her. I found myself apologising constantly to Pickle! When I look at that photo of her laying down, I still wonder if she is trying to rest or cool her neck area now and then.

Ria P · 08-29-2021, 01:07 AM

Sadly, i found Clarissa dead this morning.

Her wound had healed but now i think that she had cancer that had already spread. There's been this peculiar smell around her that started before the surgery which i thought was a uti but they checked for that. It's still lingers in the room.

Poor Clarissa. She looked like she died while running with her paws on the move but frozen by death and lying next to a long bendy bridge she liked so much.

I wished i wouldn't have taken her sand out. She was looking for it last night. Sorry Clarissa, sorry for everything, the surgery, the vets and the horrible hospital bin cage.

Pebbles82 · 08-29-2021, 06:46 AM

I am so very sorry. You had a feeling she wasn’t doing well. I think you’re right that the cancer may have already spread and it sounds very quick and sudden if she was mid activity. She wouldn’t have known much about it all - a blessing in a way.

You did everything you could go make her life more comfortable and save her from a slow horrible death from cancer. If she hadn’t been unwell she wouldn’t have bothered about the bin cage much. In hindsight she was maybe trying to say goodbye to you by lying down - to let you know she knew she was getting ready to go. They do communicate in certain ways and it’s hard to know what it means sometimes.

So very hard for you. Any decision we make to try and help them is the right decision. Sometimes I think it helps to say thank you to them for the love and joy they brought us - she knew you loved her. No guilt.

Ria P · 08-29-2021, 11:28 AM

Thank you Serendipity. I think you are right and Clarissa was trying to tell me that she wanted to go home to die. Her behaviour always changed when i was near. When she was back in her HH she run up to her door, looked at me and then run back inside again.

Henry was the same and gathered up all his strength and determination to get back into his coconut when his time was near.