T
Tosan
Hi, I've been here a few times asking questions. I got a new hammy about 2 months ago, she's been great so far, but recently I noticed her getting "chonkier". At first I thought she's just growing, but her behavior has changed a bit, she comes out to drink and collect food, but instead of coming out every to free-roam like usual, lately she only wakes up and asks to come out every 3-5 days. The chonkiness didn't seem really obvious at first, but now she's more pear shaped so I'm almost certain it's belly swelling.
I've had a hamster before who got really bad cancer, and it was similar to this, but this isn't so large and obvious yet. The one that got cancer, her belly got noticeably large pretty quickly, but I noticed she stopped coming out of her nest except for food and water - same as how this girl is behaving
Comes out just for food and water, she also SEEMS to be drinking more water than usual, it's not by a ton so I can't be 100% but it definitely feels like her water bowl empties faster than my other hammies.
I'm really worried, I'm going to take her to the vet anyway but it's the weekend so the good vets aren't open. But my question is, is there any hope for her? Are there any belly-bloating ailments that are curable? My first hamster with cancer, I paid a lot of money to get her surgery because they said often it's uterine cancer and they can just spay her and she'll be fine - but upon operating they found it was very aggressive cancer all over her body and they couldn't save her.
I guess I'm just looking for hope, I've only experienced this one time and it did not end well, she's a very young baby, I've only had her maybe 2 months. I don't want this precious little life to leave so soon. I've read it could be tumor, cysts, kidney failure, heart failure (unlikely for her age but you know, animal mill breeding practices cause a lot of genetic defects). Are any of these hopeful for treatment or is she doomed? :'( I hate animal mills, these poor creatures often get short lives because of their greed and neglect.
I've had a hamster before who got really bad cancer, and it was similar to this, but this isn't so large and obvious yet. The one that got cancer, her belly got noticeably large pretty quickly, but I noticed she stopped coming out of her nest except for food and water - same as how this girl is behaving

I'm really worried, I'm going to take her to the vet anyway but it's the weekend so the good vets aren't open. But my question is, is there any hope for her? Are there any belly-bloating ailments that are curable? My first hamster with cancer, I paid a lot of money to get her surgery because they said often it's uterine cancer and they can just spay her and she'll be fine - but upon operating they found it was very aggressive cancer all over her body and they couldn't save her.
I guess I'm just looking for hope, I've only experienced this one time and it did not end well, she's a very young baby, I've only had her maybe 2 months. I don't want this precious little life to leave so soon. I've read it could be tumor, cysts, kidney failure, heart failure (unlikely for her age but you know, animal mill breeding practices cause a lot of genetic defects). Are any of these hopeful for treatment or is she doomed? :'( I hate animal mills, these poor creatures often get short lives because of their greed and neglect.