Snowy

[Banned Member 1]

I love how she poked her little head out the bedding and looked around. She is so cute. She looks happy with the changes you made.

Yeah I think she's loving having the shelf to burrow under and enjoying having a wheel that she doesn't struggle with. She rarely ever even went in the big box of sand, she'll probably enjoy it having beech chips in much more.

 

[Banned Member 1]

Unfortunately I am making an unscheduled trip to the vet. I thought her circling and unsteadiness the evening I made the enclosure changes was just her being stressed by the disruption but it has continued and she seems very wobbly. I managed to get a short notice vet appt today and am taking her there now.

I had to dig her out in a hurry and felt so bad about stressing her but she was fast asleep in her MCH under the bedding completely unaware.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Oh I am so sorry to hear this. Do not worry about waking Snowy as that cannot be helped. I hope the appointment goes well. I will be thinking of you both.

 

[Banned Member 1]

Thank you very much. Hoping this might just be an inner ear infection because the alternatives are worse

 

[Member ID2]

Keep us posted and don't feel bad about waking her. It's always best to catch things early.

 

[elusive]

Hope all goes well at the vet & it’s nothing too serious.

 

[Banned Member 1]

The vet couldnt see any sign of an inner ear infection but said that she got too stressed to fully check her out. We're proceeding on the assumption that that is what is wrong because its most likely based on symptoms and other options aren't very treatable anyway

 

[Member ID2]

Is Snowy on a course of baytril to eliminate the possibility of an infection?

 

[elusive]

Hopefully it is that, it does seem quite likely, hope she improves now.

 

[Banned Member 1]

Is Snowy on a course of baytril to eliminate the possibility of an infection?

She has been given ear drops and metacam (an anti-inflammatory). If this doesn't help then the vet will try other options.

 

[Banned Member 1]

Giving her 0.01ml of metacam is going to be tricky...

 

[Maz]

Did they give you a 1 ml syringe as well as the Metacam Syringe? That has the 0.01ml marking on. The first tiny marking before 0.1. I'm sorry she's had this. It does seem a coincidence that it was when the cage set up changed though so maybe it will settle down, but belt and braces - stress can lead to lowered immunity and infection so it could still be an infection or inflammation. Assume you've given both before? I used to put the baytril in a tiny bit of meaty dog food for our robo because it used to stress him too much to be held to give it daily. That worked very well - not only did he enjoy it, he used to lick the plate clean and push it around and demand more! The metacam you can give in anything if she won't take it from the syringe.

So with our robo I'd put the baytril out about lunch time in a tiny bit of meaty dog food (literally about a quarter of a pea size or half a pea size!) and that was gone mid afternoon usually. Then I'd put the metacam out in a tiny bit of baby food in the evening when I did the rest of the food and he'd eat that at some point. The metacam is less crucial if they don't eat it all at once, than the baytril which needs the full dose. Sorry if you know that already.

I know you were worried about the change stressing her, so seems she is susceptible to it. Some are more than others. Our first Syrian was terrible with even the slightest change.

 

[Banned Member 1]

Did they give you a 1 ml syringe as well as the Metacam Syringe? That has the 0.01ml marking on. The first tiny marking before 0.1

Yeah and they made sure I knew it was the tiny first marking not 0.1mg. I am used to giving small doses of meds to rats (though not this small) so am always careful about this.

 

[Banned Member 1]

Not just pet owners who make this mistake. A vet once prescribed me 10 times too much of a medication and i was glad I double checked

 

[RainbowBrite]

I hope the medication helps Snowy and she recovers from whatever is wrong. Good luck with giving her the medication.

 

[Maz]

Same happened to me! Actually they prescribed it correctly on the bottle but the vet showed me the wrong marking on the syringe! Of course I forgot you'd know all this from having rats!

Some vets have a lot of difficulty working out the correct dose of metacam as well. Mine said it doesn't just go on weight, but they have to factor in hamster metabolism as well and found metacam had been underprescribed for years! 0.01 to 0.02 sounds about right for a dwarf hamster. I think my robo was about 28g and was on 0.01.

There is quite a bit of leeway in the dose though (but not 10 times as much - scary!)

 

[Member ID2]

At least they like taking the metacam. Some of my dwarfs were on it permanently and took it in different ways. One looked forward to lick his "treat" from the syringe and another ate it with a tiny piece of shreddie. She refused to eat a piece of shreddie without the metacam topping though.

 

[Banned Member 1]

At least they like taking the metacam. Some of my dwarfs were on it permanently and took it in different ways. One looked forward to lick his "treat" from the syringe and another ate it with a tiny piece of shreddie. She refused to eat a piece of shreddie without the metacam topping though.

I am hoping she is ok about taking it. My rat Ivy was a nightmare with it. Had to wrap her in a burrito and have someone else holding her so I could get it into her... x.x

 

[Banned Member 1]

The vets was in a Pets At Home. While I was there someone was looking at hamsters and I got talking a bit about care requirements and got her looking online for 30cm wheels and suggested a cage at least 80cm long with space for at least 6" of bedding. Hopefully this helps a hammy get a better start

 

[RainbowBrite]

The vets was in a Pets At Home. While I was there someone was looking at hamsters and I got talking a bit about care requirements and got her looking online for 30cm wheels and suggested a cage at least 80cm long with space for at least 6" of bedding. Hopefully this helps a hammy get a better start

Well done! You did so well to help the person.