Age: 1 year and 10 months
Gender: female
Species: Syrian
These are the details of my hamster's ailment -
When did it start: 18 July
Description of Ailment: rapid breathing, lethargic, walking with difficulty (dragging legs), not eating, nor drinking, not moving much at all. Choosing to sleep in different spot too.
Any specific physical changes:
sudden weight loss (as a result of appetite loss and not drinking as much water)
This is more an alert as I was stupid not thinking that she was getting severely ill. So if you see the symptoms above, be wary and take them to the vet immediately (and before doing that place them on a cool place for a while, provide water with a syringe, purée some vegetables that they like and give this every 2 hours).
I just thought she was lethargic as I was because of the heat… stupid stupid me!
It just started with the lethargy. I booked an appointment then but didn’t say it was an emergency. Second and third day the same, but she was still eating and drinking, less but nothing that made me worry more. She wasn’t interested to come out and play though (she normally plays outside her cage in the morning for 40 minutes and late at night for about 2 hours). On the fourth day I got frantic as she, for the first time, wet her bed. I had been helping to groom her, so I cleaned her and tried to see the vet on the day but they didn’t have a spot. I even tried other vets but it was impossible to find hamster’s specialists with a slot. By the time I took her to see the vet, about 5 days later, she was dragging herself and she even let herself be weighed as she wouldn’t normally (always moving around).
She was poked and checked all around and she bit her vet (first time too as she is very docile)… in a way that’s a good thing because it means she was reacting.
My little fighter did fight. And she is now on the mend but the period of time that I left her be has dramatically changed her life. And I feel so so very bad about it. They are totally dependent on us and if we don’t take proper care, they can die! She could have died!!
Anyway, 1 month has passed and she is drinking and eating as before, with fierce dedication stuffing food in her pouches (solids now). I still grind a little of her dry foods but I think I can stop that now. She pees in her litter as before (she only wet her bed once), and she gained her weight back. But her walking is still a bit wobbly.
She was on antibiotics, and anti-inflammatory. I gave her electrolytes too. She now wants to come out only in the evenings; she changed her schedule for around 7PM every night, more than ever she wants to stay close to me following me around all the time or just wants to be picked up. She is like that for about 1 hour or more every evening when I give her dinner.
So, I’m not sure she will relapse. I’m keeping two eyes wide open on her now.
A few things I changed to adapt to her condition: I contained her space to a single level floor (her home has 3 levels). I made all as flat as possible to make it easier for her to move to places, and her bedding is all in a little hut I got for her.
I had wooden steps placed for her to access her litter pot. The water dispensers all have little bases for her to lean on when drinking water. And I removed her running wheels (for now at least).
If any of you had a hamster survive heatstroke, i would love to hear from you and learn from you too. Maybe this is already the new Pedrita and she won’t improve from this point. I have to just make sure she is as happy as she can be. So if you have any advice or suggestions, I’m all ears please!
Edited by Pedrita, 20 August 2022 - 09:39 PM.
