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Oaky's Diary

After a week or so of Oaky returning to this behavior of coming out super late, we've caught her for some short stints for bathtub time. She was super cute tonight. It's also really interesting after having had two males to see the growth difference. I mean, obviously they all get bigger with age, but she is such a chonker now and she was such a tiny thing when we adopted her. Also I read that scent glands are more prominent in males, but hers are way more obvious to us than any of our males' were. Maybe it's age though? Because she has sort of little bald areas around them now that make them stand out to me? Or maybe it's just because she has dark fur, and our last two hamsters had light fur? Either way here is a cute video😆
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She’s so cute 😊. What does she think of the snooze cube? She seemed more interested in getting out of the bath 😊
 
She definitely was ready to get out then. She had been in there for about 20 minutes or so and had her forage time and had stuffed cheeks to deposit. I was just thinking last night how funny it is that we won the fuzzbutt for Cinnamon but she loves it when she's having out of cage time. It's her preferred hideaway after she's gotten some seeds. Yesterday I didn't initially have it in there because I had used it the night before to transport her back, and as soon as I brought it over, she ran right into it, even though there were other hideaways in the bath.
 
Oaky has really retreated from playing above ground in recent weeks, only coming up for food or water a couple times a night, I think. She seems to be moving fine when I do see her, but i'm concerned enough that i'm going to take her to the vet. I was going to take her last week when I was taking one of our rabbits, but she wouldn't come out of her deep bedding (she was sniffing at me, annoyed, from deep underground). At the time I was thinking it wasn't pressing enough that I dig her out, because I would have had to tear up a lot of the cage to get her out because she was so deep under a hideout. But now that I feel like she's coming out so little, I'll have to get her checked :/ she's about a year and 2 months.
 
Here are some videos from the pet cam from a few days ago.
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She looks fine on the videos :-) Maybe the colder weather making her stay snug? A year and 2 months isn't very old but I can understand you being concerned after previous experiences and a vet check could be reassuring.
 
Maz said:
She looks fine on the videos :-) Maybe the colder weather making her stay snug? A year and 2 months isn't very old but I can understand you being concerned after previous experiences and a vet check could be reassuring.
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I know! (about the age) Yes, I am hoping that it's what you said- the weather/ season is just changing her behavior. Yeah, I keep thinking that I don't see any of the signs that I saw with Cinnamon, but the extent to which she is staying hidden is just such a shift! I would definitely feel better if a vet could check her out. I think the lack of issues with her movement is why I hesitated to dig her out a week or so ago- I didn't want to traumatize her by digging her out if there was nothing wrong. The vet suggested that if I could catch her when she's out early and then let her rest in her travel carrier until it's time for the appointment that might work. I'm glad to hear that you didn't see anything either, though!
 
I think it's good too take them for a check up every so often anyway, especially rodents as they assure prone to tooth issues. Socks is so old and fragile now, I want to avoid journeys and handle him as little as possible. I can feel his tiny sternum bone through his skin as he has no padding to protect him ❤
 
Socks' Mum said:
I think it's good too take them for a check up every so often anyway, especially rodents as they assure prone to tooth issues. Socks is so old and fragile now, I want to avoid journeys and handle him as little as possible. I can feel his tiny sternum bone through his skin as he has no padding to protect him ❤
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Yeah, Oaky has never been to the vet, and I feel like it's not a bad thing anyway to do an annual visit, which is about how long we've had her.
 
So, we have a vet appointment for January 24th. We're feeling a little less nervous because last week she came out while we were about to go to sleep. Needless to say, we got up to say hi to her. I briefly picked her up and then we watched her pouch food. We've gotten to see her do the same thing a few other nights. It definitely seems like she's just moved to a much less active personal schedule than she used to have, though we can hear her busy underground. She comes up to drink extensively at least twice a day and forage food. When we saw her we did not observe any movement that was concerning, which is what happened when Cinnamon developed a tumor. SO, I think for whatever reason the winter coolness and/or a shift in her age and comfort has just made her less compelled to be above-ground active.
 
Yes maybe it's just the colder weather and being a bit more mature? :-) How is she when she's out of the cage?
 
Maz said:
Yes maybe it's just the colder weather and being a bit more mature? :-) How is she when she's out of the cage?
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We haven't taken her out of the cage in weeks! The first reason is that she is often getting up now after we go to sleep. But the second reason is a couple of the times when we have caught her up slightly before our bed time, she has seemed genuinely disinterested in coming out. She has ignored the opportunity to climb into my hand or her transport. She seems to just want to forage and drink and then retreat underground.
 
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Sitting in the vet's office right now waiting for x-ray results :rolleyes: Oaky has continued to be low energy and her coat has been a little duller and thinner than it should be. She got a skinography to test for an skin infections or skin-related ailment, but that all looks good. However, she had some vulvar discharge that had bacteria, so now we're doing an x-ray to see if there is any sign of blockage in her fallopian tubes (?)...I guess this can happen in unspayed females and if it does, it's a bigger deal (surgery necessary), but if not, it may just been a UTI. 🤞
 
Okay is super-displeased with getting x-rays and totally in hiding in her carrier after having been pretty relaxed earlier (I had her on the floor free-roaming while waiting for results of the skinography). X-ray didn't definitively show evidence of blockage, but did show inflammation, so I'll be going with a couple of medications for now and monitoring. If she gets better, awesome, it was probably just a UTI or other infection. If her belly starts getting distended, then it could be that blockage is in fact there and is getting worse, which would mean surgery 🤞 prayers and fingers crossed that it's just this infection that is treatable by antibiotics!
 
Hamster Haven said:
Okay is super-displeased with getting x-rays and totally in hiding in her carrier after having been pretty relaxed earlier (I had her on the floor free-roaming while waiting for results of the skinography). X-ray didn't definitively show evidence of blockage, but did show inflammation, so I'll be going with a couple of medications for now and monitoring. If she gets better, awesome, it was probably just a UTI or other infection. If her belly starts getting distended, then it could be that blockage is in fact there and is getting worse, which would mean surgery 🤞 prayers and fingers crossed that it's just this infection that is treatable by antibiotics!
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I really hope the antibiotics help. It may be a uti. It may be a womb infection. Fingers crossed.
 
Maz said:
I really hope the antibiotics help. It may be a uti. It may be a womb infection. Fingers crossed.
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Indeed. They saw a lot of inflammation, but it didn't clearly show obstruction OR clearly disqualify it, though the doctor said that they would have expected worse symptoms in the timeline Is given if it was an obstruction. Still, medicine and monitoring.
 
Did they give meloxicam as well? For the inflammation?
 
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