Dan Bassett
2003-11-30 18:54:23 UTC
I have had my drawf hamster for about a year now. She seems to be very
healthy and has a nice coat of fur, although she is a little chubby.
About a month or so ago, she started having trouble breathing. It would
sound like something was stuck in her nose, like there was fluid in there or
something. She would then squeek a lot like it was bothering her and then
start scratching at her nose a lot. It scared me so I put her in her little
travel box and headed to the emergency pet place. Upon arrival, I got her
out of the box and she seemed to have cured herself as she was breathing
fine and not squeeking. But I had the doctor proceed with the examination
anyways. The doctor did find a lot of old nuts in her pouch that were
beginning to ferment so they cleaned it out. But that's all they found.
Just prior to her exhibiting this behviour, I had switch to clumping cat
litter for her litter (she actually uses the litter to pee in!!), because
the cat littler is sooo much cheaper than the hamster litter. So I thought
maybe the fragrance in the cat litter was accumalating in her nose. So I
stopped that and got some paper based hamster litter. But after about a
month, she was continuing to exhibit the breathing problem off and on. So I
thought, maybe it's the water bottle because it hangs really low in the cage
and she just about had to get on her back to drink the water. I was
thinking maybe water was getting in her nasal cavity, which was causing her
problem. So I ditched that water bottle and got a new one that had a
slanted spout and hanged higher in the cage. She now drinks water with her
head straight up and down.
But this morning, went in there and she is starting to have trouble
breathing again and squeeking and scratching at her nose. I'm lossed!!!
Can someone help me out here? I don't want to loose her and I don't want her
to suffer like that.
healthy and has a nice coat of fur, although she is a little chubby.
About a month or so ago, she started having trouble breathing. It would
sound like something was stuck in her nose, like there was fluid in there or
something. She would then squeek a lot like it was bothering her and then
start scratching at her nose a lot. It scared me so I put her in her little
travel box and headed to the emergency pet place. Upon arrival, I got her
out of the box and she seemed to have cured herself as she was breathing
fine and not squeeking. But I had the doctor proceed with the examination
anyways. The doctor did find a lot of old nuts in her pouch that were
beginning to ferment so they cleaned it out. But that's all they found.
Just prior to her exhibiting this behviour, I had switch to clumping cat
litter for her litter (she actually uses the litter to pee in!!), because
the cat littler is sooo much cheaper than the hamster litter. So I thought
maybe the fragrance in the cat litter was accumalating in her nose. So I
stopped that and got some paper based hamster litter. But after about a
month, she was continuing to exhibit the breathing problem off and on. So I
thought, maybe it's the water bottle because it hangs really low in the cage
and she just about had to get on her back to drink the water. I was
thinking maybe water was getting in her nasal cavity, which was causing her
problem. So I ditched that water bottle and got a new one that had a
slanted spout and hanged higher in the cage. She now drinks water with her
head straight up and down.
But this morning, went in there and she is starting to have trouble
breathing again and squeeking and scratching at her nose. I'm lossed!!!
Can someone help me out here? I don't want to loose her and I don't want her
to suffer like that.