Injured from attack (Hamster)

weesiepoo · 12-28-2003, 09:54 PM

my black bear hamster, rissa, was attacked by a syrian hammie that i got with her as a rescue. i was seperating them when i had an emergency and i didn't get it done. left the other cage by the one i got them in-i got 4 at one time-and walked away. when i got back. meggy was dead, anothers foot had been mangled, and rissa's head had been terribly torn up. i seperated them all and the mangled foot hammie went about its business. rissa, on the other hand, was hurt bad, falling over and very slow. i cleaned her up and kept her warm and babied her all night. within a few hours, she acted fine. her entire head scabbed over, including one eye. despite best efforts, it got infected. i finally resorted to antibiotics and alcohol (ouch) and antibio gel. it seemed to be working, and she is a sweet little girlie. still loving to be held and everything. tonight, i went to push on the scabbing to check if it was pussing, and the whole damn thing came off....from jaw to the other eye! her one eye had no covering, just a mass of jeyy and nerves and muscles hanging there. and still just as sweet as can be! the good news is, no puss at all. i coated the whole thing with gel and cleaned her dage and loved her for a bit and then put her down. the infection must have killed the nerves there, she does not seem to feell the pain.

ok, here is where the advice comes in. specifically..she is not eating her feed well, and ideas of home foods i can feed her to boost her weight and keep her healthy? she is a black bear hamster and is looking very unbearish now, from when she was first injured and sooo sick.

secondly, any advice in general?

(also, please, no blasting on not taking her to a vet, i live in an area where hamsters, mice etc are considered throw aways and will not be treated. i even had a rat that i had to hold for hours as it dies slowly because not a single vet would put it to sleep for me. the only thing you can really fault me for was leaving them together, once again, i repeat, i had an emergency and had to leave them. and that is all i am going to say on the matter. i am very aware that her injuries are of my making, now i need help in making her healthy again. )

thank you!

Candycane · 12-28-2003, 10:45 PM

Hi weesie,
Is the wound still open and gaping? If it is, I would either go to the vet to get some butterfly bandages, or buy some yourself to try to keep the wound closed and thus, help it heal. She may need stitches but if there really are no vets that can help, butterfly bandages are the best you can do. You may also want to trim the hair around the wound to help the bandage adhere.

I'm sorry, I don't know hamsters diets very well...can they have Critical Care from Oxbow?

If she is not drinking, you may want to use a mixture of 50% water and 50% pedialyte to prevent dehydration. Keep a bottle of just water up as well.

Good luck, I will do some searching and see what I can find.

melfred · 12-28-2003, 10:59 PM

I don't really know what else to suggest. I'm wondering is there any special things she likes to eat? Sunflower seeds even. Also is there anything high in protein you could feed her?

clearjade · 12-29-2003, 09:01 PM

Any updates?

And moving this to the emergency section.

weesiepoo · 12-30-2003, 12:33 PM

let me clarify...this is an open wound because there is no skin to cover....we are talking no skin at all, from lower right kaw to abover her left eye. i am just keeping it coated with bacitracin and keeping her cage extra clean and using papertowels and vellux for bedding....s little extra fibers to stick to the wound as possible. she seems in high spirits and is as loving as normal.....but she shows no eyesight at all....the exposed eye is now white ans kind of ulcerated. the other eye can close, but shows no reaction to anything, i can even touch it! i gave her her normal hammy diet and a tiny sliver of apple and whenever i eat any vaggie, i give her a piece....but i juts do not know. she is soooo thin. i do have some high calorie, kind of a sugar paste from the vetthat he gave me a huge squirt of in a bagige for another animal so he did nto have to charge me for the tube. i am going to see if she will lick some...but i do not know about the sugar content or whatever. i am noticing she is seeming to be kind of cold, so i stole one of the heating pads from under the hedgies cage and have placed it under half her cage...we'll see if this helps her regulate her temperature more.

-angela

Candycane · 12-30-2003, 01:03 PM

Angela, is there a vet that you can call at least?

Does anyone here have a good hammie vet that she can call?

weesiepoo · 01-01-2004, 10:49 AM

no vets, they all really just think that the pocket pets like hammies, rats, etc are expendable and replacable. it frutrates and infuriates me, but i also understand that this is an old farm community and that is what they know....there are a few vets here that only see dogs and cats and nothing else. i am working on it though. every time i take one of my animal for well visits or shots or whatever, i take my best ratty, rua. when rua had an abcess, my vet did a little surgerywhen he noticed it while we were there for something else. but i have not been able to get him to see another one, or even rua again. i think it might even be fear, but definately misunderstanding. because other than this INFURIATING thing, my vet clinic is the bomb. i dunno. ris acts like all is well, but the top of her hed is still missing and i see no way that new skin can grow where there is none. i am going to make some calls to the vet school in columbia on friday and see if i can get some help. maybe they will look at her. if she can not heal, i want her put to sleep. she should not have to suffor for my sloth and stupidity. i should have taken the extra few minutes to move her and the others. i keep telling myself that they lived together for months vbefore i got them just fine, how could i know.....but i know how teddies are, thats WHY i was going to move them. sigh. i wish i had done it right away. in hindsight, the other emergency could have waited another 2 minutes. sigh..........

clearjade · 01-01-2004, 10:48 PM

Don't beat yourself up about it, you didn't know that this would happen.

I hope that the vet school can help you with more information! How is Rissa doing now?

weesiepoo · 01-04-2004, 01:25 PM

her whole head is still an open wound, there is nothing there ot form a scab. i am going to try and find someone who will put her to sleep for me. the school said we would be talking grafts or something if it is truly to the bone. it is so sad since she is her normal loving self. sigh

Candycane · 01-04-2004, 01:27 PM

Weesie, are you sure there is nothing that can be done for her?

An open wound like that could take awhile to grow over so if she is acting normal, I would wait it out.