Sick Hamster

JazzyJ

Hi,

We've a very sick hamster (syrian) at the moment. She became very lethargic and stopped eating/drinking last Monday night/Tueday morning, so we brought her down to the vet who put her on some Baytril and kept her in overnight. He said she was suffering from dehydration and had a respiratory infection. He wasn't too optimistic for her.

She's still struggling on at the moment and has a lot of difficulty breathing, is wheezing a lot, and not moving about at all. We're still feeding/watering her using a syringe (water/honey & milk), but she doesn't really seem to be getting any better. She doesn't have any wet tail.

Is there anything else that we can do for her?

Schlemm

How old is she?

JazzyJ

Not too sure as we got it off my niece who didn't want it anymore. Definitely at least a year. We have it about 6 months.

In fairness though it was in very good health right up until it got sick.

dontdoit

Not sure where ur located but Bairbe OMalley in Bray is vet specialising in exotics and small furries, the absolute best in the country so if ur really worried id suggest worth a visit. Best of luck

Sigma Force

If it is a respiratory infection the Baytril should help. Did the vet give you some to give to her when you got home for the next week or so? Other than that keep her warm, plenty of bedding and avoid woodchips like the plague use carefresh or a lot of plain kitchen towel for now.
You can also buy from Bairbre stuff called Critical Care to syringe feed it's good stuff and as far as I know it's ok for hamsters but just ask her just in case. The antibiotics will take a few days to work ie if she's still been given them (a drop a day is the norm for small animals) also a pro biotic would be good like a drop of acidopholis (can never spell it) the plain one in capsules in the chemist just snip open the capsule and give her one drop a day an hour before the antibiotic.

Hope this helps let us know how she gets on.