To wait till morning to get hamster seen at vets

[ChitterChatter1987]

I found our little hamster seriously unwell in her cage this evening....she is only 9mths old and belongs to my daughter.
I think she has 'wet tail' as that area is wet, her chest is wet, she is hunched over, lethargic, making sort of coughing
/raspy noises and her eyes are all puffy.

My gut feeling is it's not looking good.
I worry we have found her too late.

I don't want her to suffer but the out of hours vets want £270 just for consultation, not alone any treatment or dare I say it euthanasia if it came to it.
We really don't have that sort of money lying about .I could borrow it from my mum if needed, but (and I don't want to sound cruel here) would it actually be worth it or is the likelihood of her being saved very minimal at this stage?

I spoke to my friend who is a vet nurse and said it doesn't sound good..
The out of hours vets said often small animals don't come through things like this....but if I wait til the morning to go to our own vets and she dies I'm worried I'll feel so guilty that maybe she could have been saved, and it's my youngest daughters birthday tomorrow.....really don't want my oldest having her hamster (who she only got on her last birthday) dying on her sisters :(

Oh please help me know what to do....

Would you leave your own child like that or a relative? What a horrible post.

It was out of hours so yes, emergency. I wasn't prepared to wait two hours plus until my vet opened.

I think the question is who doesnt?

It is suffering. Who would leave any creature like that?

£270
??? Get a grip…

Because that's the same as a family pet 🙄

This is not the same as an animal that you have chosen to take responsibility for.
And for what it's worth yes, some of us absolutely would seek help for a wild animal as well if we came across one that needed it.

£270?? That's a European mini break.

I've reported you

It sounds like it’s suffering. Try ringing round different vets - ours does Klarna. Personally I couldn’t.

Yes, several times unfortunately in the last couple of years. Once when my cat was dying, and a couple of times when DDog had eaten something she shouldn't. On all occasions I rang, they told me to come in, and I was met by vet in the waiting room and taken right in 🤷‍♀️

I'm very pleased to see people are taking animal suffering seriously.

Naturally I'm sure you all afford the same concern to the animals you eat.

Yes, several times for pet rats.

I've reported this thread on several occasions. Some horrible replies on here. It's awful.

Our hamster had cancer and it was too much to operate on so I paid for it to be put down instead. It’s so expensive.
it’s very difficult decision but in the wild it would just die naturally without intervention.

Poor thing, if I was your daughter I'd be horrified at the the thought of my pet suffering over night if I ever came to learn the fact. Sorry you're in this position OP but really hope you got them seen. In the long run £270 won't hurt you even though it might leave you in debt in the short term, but I do think you'll remember you didn't grant your family pet the last act of kindness you can do for them.

I say this having spent 300 odd euro to bring my cat to the vet over the space of 2 and a half weeks, and he's insured! I did have to borrow some and will be on beans and toast for the month but that's on me. Will have to build up a little rainy day fund again for him!

Mumsnet is mental sometimes.

This thread is crazy 😂

People with pet hamsters and a sense of decency.

Oh, spot the vegan.

No need to shoe horn (or whatever the vegan alternative to horn is) your views onto this thread.

I'll be honest - for £270, I would not. I'd ring around and look for a cheaper option; failing that, I'd try and make the poor thing comfortable and call a vet first thing in the morning. It's a lot of money to cut a hamster's life short by 12 hours.

If you can’t afford to go to the vets then you could do the job yourself. Probably kinder.

And £270 they don’t need for food or bills

I took my guinea pig to the vet in the middle of the night recently. She's fine now. But might not have been if I wanted.

Then don't have any pets.

its disgusting to leave a pet to suffer.

Don't get a pet then, not a hard concept.