LuckyChickenLover- Posted June 12, 2010 Share Posted June 12, 2010 (edited) My hamster, Maisie, is really ill. She's very shaky on her feet and her bum and tail are all wet and covered with diahrrea (sp?) I gave her some cooked rice (apparently it's good for diahrrea) and I plan to thouroughly claen out her cage tommorow (steam clean, if possible). I KNOW that the best thing to do would be to take her to the vet, but to be honest I don't think that that's a good idea. Not only is a trip to the vet ridiculously expensive (£30 for just a consultation! And that's not including any medication!), but seeing as Maisie's only been in a car once before, I think she'd become all stressed out. Considering that stress is thought to be one of the causes of wet tail, I'd rather not take my chances. I've never had a hamster who's caught wet tail before. My brother has... and his hamster...didn't make it . My many hamster books aren't much help, all they really say is that wet tail is ' the disease dreaded by hamster owners', they don't have much advice on how to treat it. I searched the web too, but most of the pages I found recommended a trip to the vet or some product I'd have to be prescribed by a vet. My brother says that he thinks Maisie has improved since this morning. Although I can't see the difference myself. I just hope he's right. Thanks for reading . If anyone has got any advice or experience they'd care to share I would be very grateful . Thanks UnLucky Chicken Lover EDIT: Sunday 14th June 2010 ~ 9:20 PM Hi guys . Maisie's looking a lot better today I cleaned her up a bit this morning and the poo that was stuck on her hasn't come back, so I assume that her diahrrea has cleared up. I steam cleaned the cage thoroughly to get rid of some germs and added some vitamins to her water to help her too, but I think she'll be fine now EDIT: Sunday 15th August 2010 Hi guys Sorry for dragging this old thread back up, just wanted to let you know that Maisie died this morning . She got over her wet tail but then she went downhill and caught it again. We tried alll we could to save her... to no avail She was such a lovely little girl. She'll be sorely missed R.I.P. Maisie ~ September 2008 - Sunday 15th August 2010 She had a long and what I hope was a happy life. Edited August 15, 2010 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathybc Posted June 12, 2010 Share Posted June 12, 2010 sorry to hear about Maisie, but I think she really needs to see a vet - as she is really ill the risk of the stress of the journey may just have to be taken. Fingers crossed for her x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmaE Posted June 13, 2010 Share Posted June 13, 2010 Awwww poor Maisie . . . how is she today? I have to admit I hadn't heard of wet-tail before, so I've just looked it up. It doesn't sound very nice . . . Hope Maisie pulls through Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyChickenLover- Posted June 13, 2010 Author Share Posted June 13, 2010 Awwww poor Maisie . . . how is she today? I have to admit I hadn't heard of wet-tail before, so I've just looked it up. It doesn't sound very nice . . . Hope Maisie pulls through She's a bit better today Emma. She's still a little shaky, but she's looking a bit cleaner which I hope is a good sign . I am surprised that you've never heard of wet tail before. Most of my hamster books have at least a paragraph about it. You're lucky . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahJo Posted June 13, 2010 Share Posted June 13, 2010 Hope she pulls through - I have read about a product called "dri-tail" I think you can buy it - only baytril would be administered by a vet. Not sure she would like the extra stress of the vets either - my 2 died of what I thought was wet tail, but tbey did not have the dirty bottom I wonder though about PAH and breeders they get their pets from, as they could have any genetic disease past on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyChickenLover- Posted June 13, 2010 Author Share Posted June 13, 2010 Hope she pulls through - I have read about a product called "dri-tail" I think you can buy it - only baytril would be administered by a vet. Not sure she would like the extra stress of the vets either - my 2 died of what I thought was wet tail, but tbey did not have the dirty bottom I wonder though about PAH and breeders they get their pets from, as they could have any genetic disease past on Thanks SarahJo . Maisie is looking a lot better today. I too have read about Dri-Tail, but I haven't seen it in any pet shops near me. I could probably order it off the internet, but by the time it's arrived she'll probably have recovered. ...or ...something worse A dirty bottom is supposed to be the symptom of WT, hense the name. I agree with what you say about PAH though , every time I go there the cages look dirty and the water bottles are full of algae . I understand that it's probably a lot of effort to clean every cage, every day, but honestly, if they can't even provide basic hygine for their animals, then I really don't think that they should be allowed to stock them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahJo Posted June 13, 2010 Share Posted June 13, 2010 PAH near me have always been very "clean" - I do wonder about where the stock comes from though, as once in house so to speak the disease is then passed on. My brother had probs with guineas from PAH - again probably more caused by the supply stock originally, rather than the outlet - but still needs to be addressed none-the-less I will have a good chat with my other supplier of pet goods - an independant, she might be able to give a more definitive history of the hammies and genetic profiles. PAH seemed to struggle with ages/sex etc of hammies, should have said NO there and then - lesson learnt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoriabunny Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 I don't think it's algae in the water bottles at PAH - I think they add a chlorophyll supplement which makes the water green. In their defence, the two PAH stores near me have nice big cages for all the animals and they are always clean. I still wouldn't buy an animal from there, but only because they give no info about their suppliers and I suspect they're the small animal equivalent of puppy farmers. I also get concerned with the size of housing they sell - although they've improved, some cages are still very small. It also annoys me that they sell giant rabbits (claiming they're "house rabbits" as if this is a special breed - any rabbit can be a house rabbit!) but only one very expensive hutch that is suitable, and no suitable run. Sorry - rant over, didn't mean to hijack the thread. Hope the hamster pulls through. The only advice I can think of is to make sure she's nice and warm and keep her hydrated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehandthatfeeds Posted June 16, 2010 Share Posted June 16, 2010 When our hamster had wettail, we did take her to the vets and we were given Anti-biotics to give to her every 4 hours and something else but I can't remember what it was. Medication including consultation was £35 so no too bad. We were also advised to feed her baby rice...the powder version, think it was from Heinz, mixed with some water and basically syringe feed. You obviously need to keep hammy by the scruff tightly but she did love the baby rice and pulled through. She lived for another 3 years after that. Goodluck and hope your hammy pulls through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...