A Bug's Life

As chance would have it, the Cat Rescue centre got another hamster in just as Brownie passed on. On Saturday we met Silver, a silver-coloured hamster who had been abandoned. She had been with the centre for a little while and seemed to be quite healthy and starting to be happier about being handled. On Sunday we collected her; she had been suffering a bit from the heat (they'd set her up with a fan in the rescue centre), and her back legs were quite weak in the car on the way home (the momentum of her enormous bum tipping her over as we went round corners). She got more and more uncomfortable once home, huddling up in one corner or other, wobbling, not eating or drinking. I don't think it was just the heat, we managed to cool the tank quite well and today she was much worse. We had been giving her drinks with a syringe, she hardly protested at being held on her back for this - a sign of a very unwell hamster. This morning (as she hadn't eaten) I bought some baby food (butternut squash risotto, no milk or onion) which is very smoothly pureed so can be fed through a syringe. No interest. Off we go to the vet.

Bridget is very sad by this point, it was only last week we'd been there with Brownie. I was so hoping I hadn't accidentally poisoned her or given her an infection.

Vet inspects hamster's smelly rear end, prods it, and pus comes out. She prods it some more; more pus. This is usually the sign of pymetria (sp?), a womb infection, although she couldn't feel any doughiness. There were also two hard lumps in her belly, the size of rat pellets. Silver is "upstairs" at the vet's, they're trying to improve her condition with antibiotics so they can spay her - if not, it's sleeping time already :-(((

EDIT: Pyometra.

Bridget is still sad.


UPDATE: 20:30 and the vet has just called to say she has died. Ate a bit of supper, then went very quickly. :-(