Sparkles the female Syrian

Matt_S

Matt_S

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Pictured here is Sparkles my female Syrian.

She will be 2 years old soon.

I have taken her to the vets and they say she's eating normal, she's drinking water and seems fine but she is very slow.

Is this a sign of her declining due to her age - only 2 months ago she was a hyper Syrian running around.

1. She don't use her wheel anymore.
2. She sleeps most of the night too (and isn't out at all during the day).
3. She no longer responds to us when we call her.

I am just wondering if its old age as the vet checked her out, gave her some pain meds just in case she hurt herself some how.

She was breathing heavy but that's stopped now.

So the vet seems happy so as she is drinking from bottle and eating, is she just slowing down due to her age?

She is not the same Hamster she use to be.
429769440_317261387994020_662257957982083623_n.jpg
 
Hello & welcome to the forum.

Sparkles is a beautiful hamster.

Two is a good age for a Syrian hamster & they can sometimes begin to show signs of aging quite suddenly, everything you mentioned is normal for an old or aging hamster.
Is your vet an exotic vet with experience treating hamsters? It doesn’t sound as though they missed anything but sometimes an experienced exotic vet might pick up on something a vet with less experience might not be aware of.
Heavy breathing is also not uncommon is older hamsters, as they age the heart can get weaker & tis can effect the lungs & make breathing a bit harder & as that’s stopped it doesn’t sound like an illness, infection or anything like that.

It is sad to see them age & our relationship with them & how we interact with them can change as they get old but it can be a good time too, keeping them comfortable & providing them with all they need in their old age as we treasure the later stages in life.
I hope she will be fine for some time yet & you can enjoy your time together.
 
Hello and welcome :-) Sparkles is lovely. I'm so sorry to hear she is slowing down. It's good the vet gave you some pain relief meds as they can have all sorts going on by this age - she's the equivalent of an 80 year old human approximately. They can get arthritis and toothache so a bit of pain relief can help perk them up sometimes. However I think you might need to be prepared for the fact she is at a time where she is nearing the end of her life. Two is quite old for a Syrian. Some will live a few months longer than two but keep declining during that period usually.

As they get older, their organs don't work as well as they used to, and often a first sign is the kidneys starting to fail a bit - ie they drink more and pee more. But they can be fine with that. There are other organs as well though and if she's had heavy breathing it may be her heart. And unfortunately sometimes they have some kind of internal tumour and there isn't much to be done.

She could carry on like this comfortably, if she's on pain relief. But if she's sleeping most of the night as well as the day, that does sound like she is very much in her last phase of life. All you can do is keep her comfortable.

If you think she is in pain though (pain relief sometimes isn't enough if there's an internal tumour for example) then the kindest thing then is to take her to the vets to be helped on her way. Not something we want, but see how it goes.

If it's her heart she maybe just doesn't have the energy. I had a Syrian who was still running around with laboured breathing - he would just stop for a rest and pant now and then.

Signs of pain are - ears flat all the time. It's normal for their ears to be flat when they've just woken up, but if they're down all the time then that suggests they're in pain. Also sitting in a hunched position a lot. And sometimes just looking "drawn" around the eyes. As a prey species they are quite good at hiding pain, but these physical signs can give an indication.

Are you sure she is sleeping all night? As Elusive says, they do slow down when older and will sleep more. Is she able to get up to get her food and water? If she seems to be struggling with that, it can be an idea to move them closer to her house/nesting area.

Also I'd avoid cleaning her out too much now so she doesn't have the stress and upheaval of that. They do find cleanouts quite stressful. You just need to "spot clean" the pee area really. How much depth of substrate does she have?
 
elusive said:
Hello & welcome to the forum.

Sparkles is a beautiful hamster.

Two is a good age for a Syrian hamster & they can sometimes begin to show signs of aging quite suddenly, everything you mentioned is normal for an old or aging hamster.
Is your vet an exotic vet with experience treating hamsters? It doesn’t sound as though they missed anything but sometimes an experienced exotic vet might pick up on something a vet with less experience might not be aware of.
Heavy breathing is also not uncommon is older hamsters, as they age the heart can get weaker & tis can effect the lungs & make breathing a bit harder & as that’s stopped it doesn’t sound like an illness, infection or anything like that.

It is sad to see them age & our relationship with them & how we interact with them can change as they get old but it can be a good time too, keeping them comfortable & providing them with all they need in their old age as we treasure the later stages in life.
I hope she will be fine for some time yet & you can enjoy your time together.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your response, I think this was just a vet I took her too, I may explore the other options of an exotic vet.
 
Maz said:
Hello and welcome :) Sparkles is lovely. I'm so sorry to hear she is slowing down. It's good the vet gave you some pain relief meds as they can have all sorts going on by this age - she's the equivalent of an 80 year old human approximately. They can get arthritis and toothache so a bit of pain relief can help perk them up sometimes. However I think you might need to be prepared for the fact she is at a time where she is nearing the end of her life. Two is quite old for a Syrian. Some will live a few months longer than two but keep declining during that period usually.

As they get older, their organs don't work as well as they used to, and often a first sign is the kidneys starting to fail a bit - ie they drink more and pee more. But they can be fine with that. There are other organs as well though and if she's had heavy breathing it may be her heart. And unfortunately sometimes they have some kind of internal tumour and there isn't much to be done.

She could carry on like this comfortably, if she's on pain relief. But if she's sleeping most of the night as well as the day, that does sound like she is very much in her last phase of life. All you can do is keep her comfortable.

If you think she is in pain though (pain relief sometimes isn't enough if there's an internal tumour for example) then the kindest thing then is to take her to the vets to be helped on her way. Not something we want, but see how it goes.

If it's her heart she maybe just doesn't have the energy. I had a Syrian who was still running around with laboured breathing - he would just stop for a rest and pant now and then.

Signs of pain are - ears flat all the time. It's normal for their ears to be flat when they've just woken up, but if they're down all the time then that suggests they're in pain. Also sitting in a hunched position a lot. And sometimes just looking "drawn" around the eyes. As a prey species they are quite good at hiding pain, but these physical signs can give an indication.

Are you sure she is sleeping all night? As Elusive says, they do slow down when older and will sleep more. Is she able to get up to get her food and water? If she seems to be struggling with that, it can be an idea to move them closer to her house/nesting area.

Also I'd avoid cleaning her out too much now so she doesn't have the stress and upheaval of that. They do find cleanouts quite stressful. You just need to "spot clean" the pee area really. How much depth of substrate does she have?
Click to expand...

Thank you for your response.

Yes she is eating and getting out of her burrow to drink water using her water bottle.

Her ears are up most of the time but she just sits and stares now, sometimes in the same position for 30 mins or so.

So yesterday we kept an eye on her. She wasn't out once all day and all night apart from 06:00-06:15 to get food and drink water from bottle so she pretty much stays in her burrow for 23 hours at times.

But when you pick her up, she just sits there now, doesn't bother moving or trying to run, it's like she's always day dreaming.

I think the vet I went to was a standard vet, not sure if exotic but they've seen her a couple of times when she had infections and had to have antibiotics. I am sure the vet said this will keep happening and happening but this time it was different, she didnt loose weight, just very slow and not active, hasn't used her wheel for weeks.

I am starting to think, with her ears up, shes eating and drinking is this just old age?

But also I was told by the vet that this is the last time they can give her medication as it could be more serious and we'd need to think of her quality of life which I know what that means :(

She's burrowing and digging and doesn't seem in pain! It must be old age right?
 
It could well just be old age. There may be something going on in the background but if she is digging, eating and drinking, she has quality of life, and personally I would want to keep her on pain relief for the rest of her life. And only if she starts to show signs of suffering and no quality of life take her to be put to sleep. That situation is hard to quantify though and you have to make a judgement call at the time.

It could be worth finding an exotic vet and saying she's getting elderly and slower and is on pain relief and you'd like to continue the pain relief for as long as is necessary.

Some vets will do that. Others will want to see them after the bottle runs out, before prescribing any more. But a bottle should last about six months.
 
Maz said:
It could well just be old age. There may be something going on in the background but if she is digging, eating and drinking, she has quality of life, and personally I would want to keep her on pain relief for the rest of her life. And only if she starts to show signs of suffering and no quality of life take her to be put to sleep. That situation is hard to quantify though and you have to make a judgement call at the time.

It could be worth finding an exotic vet and saying she's getting elderly and slower and is on pain relief and you'd like to continue the pain relief for as long as is necessary.

Some vets will do that. Others will want to see them after the bottle runs out, before prescribing any more. But a bottle should last about six months.
Click to expand...
We had a Dwarf hamster too but he only lasted 13 months he had a heart attack sadly.

Sparkles means a lot to me as a person who suffers from depression she cheered me up, when i was off work long term sick seeing her at night and bonding cheered me up, helped me look forward to waking up the next morning.
 
It does sound like it is most likely just old age to me, if they’re in pain or unwell their ears aren’t usually up as normal.
At this age you do need to keep a close eye on them for any changes that could suggest she is in pain or suffering but her quality of life sounds ok to me.
I can understand how much she means to you & you’re doing your best for her.
 
I'm really sorry about your dwarf. And yes we can form a special bond with them and they bring us joy. Have you considered getting a second Syrian as well? After our first one died, it hit me so hard that I found it easier to keep two hamsters after that. It was selfish in a way but if one died, I still had the other one who needed me and for comfort and still had the same habits of feeding and hamster care so everything didn't just stop. Nothing can replace a hamster who goes but it can help to have another hamster friend if it happens.
 
Gorgeous photos. She's a beautiful hamster. Have you seen our photo competition? They probably wouldn't fit this month's theme but the would next month's - which starts in about a week's time :)
 
How do I share videos on here? I wanted to share one of my fluff ball but it says mov file is not allowed - no idea how to convert it? its only 14 seconds long!
 
The best way is to upload it to youtube and paste the link in the message box then it embeds the video on the forum. If you don't want it to be public on youtube, set it to unlisted, then it'll only show wherever you paste the link.
 
Sparkles passed away peacefully on the 11th April in my partners arms. I woke my partner up at 04:00 before work to say that Sparkles was very cold, her body was shutting down. My partner held her in her arms for 2 hours until she passed away in her arms. So Sad, we will miss her!
 
🫂 So sorry for your loss. Sparkles was a very loved, cared for hamster. It's so hard when they leave us. She is playing free over the Rainbow Bridge now, free from pain and suffering. And I have seen that you have found room in your hearts for another hamster x
 
That is an adorable video clip :-) She lived a full, happy and loved life until the end.
 
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