Mr Maggie's Diary

[Magpie]

All is well!

He popped out of his burrow around 8.15am so I managed to pop him in the carrier ready for the vets.

When in there I could see his wound much better (but didn’t get photo!) and it looked absolutely fine!

Vet is happy that it’s healing well and no sign of infection. He’s To stay on the soft food until mid week when we will be 2 weeks post op then back to normal.

Skimmed off the top layer of his bedding and sifted through it, removing any pee/spoiled food and wood I found.

There was surprisingly little spoiled food- only a couple of pieces. He had obviously cleared out his stashes too as I found little to none in there. And he must have eaten any of the soaked pellets he had taken away last night.

I haven’t put any food back in as replacement hoards as he’s still to stay on soft foods for another 4 days. Hopefully he will just rebuild when I can put his mix back out again.

I removed all of the bottom layer in the deep half of the tank as that’s where there was still some shavings/wood. So for the time being I think it’s safe enough.

I remembered to pop him on the scales and he now weighs 158g! (Up from 130g about a month ago) so he’s definitely not wasting away. Phew!

He was curled up asleep when I went to put him back in the tank. I scooped him out and he let me give him a few strokes before heading into his burrow.

I notice he is pouching a lot of bedding (using both pouches! ) to take away into his nest- I wonder if that’s just because he is desperate to carry out that natural behaviour? Poor boy.

 

[Maz]

That’s good news . It’s probably because his cage/bedding was disturbed that he started pouching bedding to rebuild some of it. That suggests the pouch doesn’t hurt any more.

Re the food - I tend to find they don’t hoard soft food, only hard food. They tend to eat soft food straight away, but that’s why it’s best to only give a small amount as well just in case. They actually only eat tiny amounts which is all that is needed for daily nutrition. Maybe 5 soaked pellets once a day is more than enough IMO

It sounds like a good idea you giving him the baby food and porridge later.

His weight is a healthy average now . How old is he? He may still have a bit more growing to do.

He sounds like a little sweetie - nice you had a little bit of a stroke of him

 

[Maz]

I just edited that last line as it sounded a bit odd!

 

[Magpie]

I’d guess he’s about 4-5 months old now- assuming he was 8 weeks old when we brought him home on 15th Dec… they couldn’t actually tell us how old ‘she’ was! He does look like he’s grown a fair bit but still seems small compared to photos of some of the other Syrians here.

He’s had a lot to deal with in that time, bless him. I do feel bad for messing up his bed again but hopefully that’s eliminated as many of the sharp bits as possible for now.

He usually only comes out around midnight and eats the 5 or so soaked pellets so last night was a bit of a change from the norm!

When I do go back to putting his usual mix back out should I just go straight back to putting the normal amount in his bowl as before? I’m guessing he’ll be doing a lot of shopping to build back up his stores!

 

[Maz]

Well at least it's done now and you won;'t need to worry about sharp bits. They are supposed to be fully grown by about 6 months, but can keep growing a bit up to 9 months really. Weight for a fully grown Syrian can vary widely, between 100g and 300g! Some are just smaller, and some are extra large - just like humans His weight sounds average to me

 

[Magpie]

Well I guess he may still grow a little more over the next month or two then but he’s definitely not going to be a whopper!

Ideally I would remove all the bedding and start again but I’ve done as much as I can to avoid that for now and hope it’s enough to keep him from being too disturbed but also safe from any harm.

He is a sweet boy like you say- and I think he will be THRILLED to have his mix back in his bowl and his sprays back to pick at in a few days. Not to mention his favourite thing… SAND!

 

[ShelbysMum1984]

Well I guess he may still grow a little more over the next month or two then but he’s definitely not going to be a whopper!

Ideally I would remove all the bedding and start again but I’ve done as much as I can to avoid that for now and hope it’s enough to keep him from being too disturbed but also safe from any harm.

He is a sweet boy like you say- and I think he will be THRILLED to have his mix back in his bowl and his sprays back to pick at in a few days. Not to mention his favourite thing… SAND!

What shavings do you think may have caused this if you don’t mind me asking? Glad he is healing well. Xx

 

[Maz]

What shavings do you think may have caused this if you don’t mind me asking? Glad he is healing well. Xx

Most wood shavings are not the best substrate for hamsters due to them being pine usually. Even kiln dried and dust extracted pine isn't good for hamsters. However they don't normally have sharp bits of wood in as @Magpie showed above. Sometimes aspen can be a bit pokey.

Paper bedding is usually considered a safer option generally.

 

[Magpie]

What shavings do you think may have caused this if you don’t mind me asking? Glad he is healing well. Xx

This was all from a bag of Pets at home wood shavings. As I say- I can’t be certain that this was the cause but regardless of that, the amount of sharp pieces of wood I’ve now come across make it completely unsafe.

I do think they would be considered unsafe bedding anyway due to most likely being pine. (Did not state wood species on the packaging)

Will stick with paper bedding for evermore now. It holds tunnels well and is easy to spot clean as I use white paper.

 

[Magpie]

Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since Mr Maggie’s surgery. All still seems well.

I am not sure if I need to keep him on soft food for tomorrow as well?! They just said 2 weeks. So not sure if that includes tomorrow or not?

I guess one day isn’t really going to make much odds by this point though?

He’s still without his sand bath- but planning to put his sand back in again tonight or tomorrow too- as should be safe by now?

 

[Maz]

He’ll be so happy . I’d err on the side of caution and do the baby food another night personally.

 

[Steve]

What a little trooper Mr Maggie is, bless him he has had no luck at all. I've been reading his updates regularly and I'm so glad he is doing well after his latest op. He is very lucky to have someone taking such good care of him.
Stay well handsome little man.

 

[Magpie]

What a little trooper Mr Maggie is, bless him he has had no luck at all. I've been reading his updates regularly and I'm so glad he is doing well after his latest op. He is very lucky to have someone taking such good care of him.
Stay well handsome little man.

Thank you Steve- that’s very kind of you to say.

So far so good this time round… still feeling a bit cautious about it all but keeping everything crossed that we are out of the woods now.

 

[Magpie]

Quick update to say All seems fine with Mr Maggie… He’s still inside in!

He is loving having his sand back and has been building up his stashes I think- as I can hear the seed mix rattling away at times under the surface!

 

[Socks' Mum]

Lovely, great to hear the op has been a success

 

[Maz]

Aw he is such a sweetie - he seems to just hamster along in a good natured way despite all his ordeals I bet he's loving having proper food and sand again. You can relax now

 

[Magpie]

Its a big relief! I will admit I am still a bit paranoid about it happening again... but that's just my nature. I'm so glad he can have his sand back and I think he's pleased to have that, his real food, daily veggie portion and his sprays back in to pick from.

I got some flax sprays which I have now been able to put in for him now he's past his soft food only period, and my goodness he LOVES it! I put in a small bundle and it was stripped overnight. I read somewhere that it is quite high in fat content so they shouldn't have too much at a time though- so he will have a break from the flax while the next small bundle spends a week in the freezer.

I've gone back to hand feeding him a couple of treats at night if I see him before I go to bed and have been able to give him a few gentle strokes while he is munching away- the weeks of peace and quiet with no handling while he recuperated from surgery thankfully don't seem to have sent us any further backward in that sense which is a bonus. I need to start getting him out into the playpen again soon, but he's so late getting up it makes it quite difficult. The couple of times he has been in it I think he finds it quite stressful (I guess because it is new and he's not used to it) I also think he doesn't like the noise of the base (its just a pop up ball pit style one I have) so will try putting a blanket or something in the base to make it quieter for him.

All in all- like you say, he's been through the wringer a bit and he's still just trucking along quite the thing. Amazing really!