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Hamster help needed urgently!

11 replies

BibiThree · 04/06/2012 15:22

I am looking after a friend's hamster this week while they're away. She had a gunky eye the day we picked her up but my friend googled it and said if we wipe her eye with cooled boiled water on a cotton ball that should clear it. It hasn't. she now has two gunked up eyes and is barely moving around at all, even at night - I'm assuming this is because the poor thing can't see.

She also hasn't drunk any water that we know of since Friday evening, doesn't come down from her nest via the tube, only when we lift her down. I put her on the water platform so she'd take a drink, but she didn't, she tried to get down the tube and got stuck. She wriggled for ages and ages while I panicked, eventually H pushed her bottom gently so she could get her legs in and wriggle her way free.

Now I'm terrified I've hurt her in some way. She's shaky on her feet (maybe nerves?) and has made no attempt to clean her eyes.

Any advice would be appreciated, I'm so scared she's unwell.

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tumbleweedblowing · 04/06/2012 15:25

Only have gerbil experience, not hamster, but it sounds like you need a vet. Can you call your friend? I realise they are on holiday, but in that situation I'd want to know. It possibly needs some anti-biotic help.

you've got to deal with this, but good luck.

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HermioneE · 04/06/2012 15:29

Can you call your friend and check if it's ok to take the hamster to a vet, and if your friend has a preferred one to go to?

Sounds like she definitely needs one either way - but getting the friend's okay first is probably the best way to make sure friend pays for it and not you, especially if it's more expensive on a bank hol.

The good news is hamsters are really easy to take to the vet. Just make sure the cage is well secure and seatbelted in the back, and the hamster won't even notice. Not like cats / dogs who hate car journeys and/or vets!

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KRITIQ · 04/06/2012 15:31

Bibi, take her to a vet asap. It's the only way you'll find out what's going on and be able to help her. I only had dwarf hammies many years ago, but for most small animals, if their eyes get gunky, that's not a good sign at all. Speed is important here.

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BibiThree · 04/06/2012 15:33

I've texted friend, saying about the hamster's eyes and asking if she wants me to take her to the vets, but no reply as yet - their signal is patchy. In the meantime I've phoned the emergency vets who suggested I try wiping her eye with a cooled used teabag for de-gunking, which I've done.

H thinks she's a bit shaky because it's the middle of the night for her and she's stressed by being handled by someone unfamiliar and not being able to see.

Thanks for the responses, I will definitely get her to the vet as soon as friend is in touch.

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QueenBonkeyMollocks · 04/06/2012 16:02

try and give her a piece of cucumber to stay hydrated.

Is there anyway you can make her cage all one level so everything is within easy access?

How old is she?

Hammys are practically blind anyway (they use other senses to get around)so her not moving around is what i would be more worried about. Keep the eyes clean but they go downhill very fast sadly.

In my hammys last day she went from scurrying across her cage to dragging herself around before finally going to sleep with 10 hours. Bloody awful to watch but I was glad when she passed. Fairly peaceful.

Good luck!

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landofsoapandglory · 04/06/2012 16:08

When one of our old hamsters was on it's way out, it started with a gunky eye. We bathed it for a couple of days and then the other one started. By the next morning he was really shaky on his feet and we made the decision, with the vet to have him put down. The vet said it was his system starting to shut down because he was so old, he was nearly 3.

You really need to take him to the vets, poor little mite