sick Hamster

Ronika

Hey there
I have a sick hamster at the moment. She has been to the vet three times and is on antibotics and I have been told to give her a small bit of actimal but still hasn't improved much. I was told she has a bacterial Infection and has diarrohoea. Does anyone have any idea if I can treat this herbally or something? She's after losing alot of weight and Im really worried about her.

Please help:(

FAYESY

I'm sorry to hear about your sick hammi:( I breed a lot of small critters & know how hard it can be to get them well again. What are you feeding the hammi?? cut out all fruit & veg just until she is better, not sure of any herbs that would help but try doing a search on the net, what type of antibiotic is the vet giving the hammi?? check this on line as well to make sure it is suitable for hammis.

Keep us posted on how the little guy does.

Regards

Faye

Falkorre

As far as the actimel goes, make sure its not the flavoured kind and give her no more than 3 small drops in a full water bottle. every 2 days.

Hamsters are very very difficult to treat, however with a bacterial gut infection you need to act swiftly. Make sure she never gets dehydrated, plenty of water, NO fruit or veg as faye says, it can cause the runs therby causing dehydration.
So dry food only.

As far as herbs go, its not really a great idea, you can never tell what effect any particular herb will have on somthing as small as a rodent. Besides, most are greens and no greens for the moment remember.

Have you checked his teeth? Somtimes the teeth grow so long it makes it impossible for them to eat certain foods and their diet becomes unbalanced. Also ask the vet to check his pouches, if there is an abscess or infection in there he will get ill very quickly.

If she has lost a noticable amount of weight, it sounds to me like she *might* be having trouble eating, that could have caused a bacterial infection by itself, so i suggest again, *make* the vet check her cheek pouches and teeth lenght. Often they dont do it because they are afraid of getting bitten an some just dont think a hammie warrents getting bitten. :rolleyes:

B

Ronika

Hey thanks for the tips. Not sure what the antibotic was called but they were big and yellow and only gave her 1/8 of a tab a day mixed in with actimal. I have stopped giving her fresh food for a while. I have been giving her d orange flavoured actimal so im goin to give her d orginal from now on. She's actually eating fine, there doesnt seem to be a problem with her teeth, she's jus got a swollen tummy and not her normal 'trying to escape' self.

Thanks for all your help I'll let you know how I get on

Cheers
Ronnie

Ronika

Hey

I got home last nite & my little hamster had got considerably worse. Brought her bac to the vet and he said she had pneumonia from the bacterial infection and all he could do was give her a stronger injection. Unfortuately at 12.10am this morning 'Hope' passed away in my hands. Its very upsetting. You cant help but get attached to them.

Hope- March '03 - Aug 03- RIP