critter diseases

[breakingnews]

Originally Posted by Brigliadore

So update us on the hamster. Is she better? Did she die? Did you end up taking her to the vet? Let us know.

Ironic that you just posted that ...

Matilda croaked last night. I went out drinking and came home to find her belly up and stiff-legged in her little house thingee. I don't think I would be all that emotional under normal circumstance, but the beer definitely drew a tear or two when I saw her.

That makes hamster no. ... 6!

[wolf]

Sorry to hear about dear Matilda's passing. Maybe you should try gerbils?

[AlphaRaptor]

Or turtles or parrots. They live long. Cost you a chunk outta thee ole wallet.

[Clodfobble]

First of all, ferrets are the most disgusting, foul, SMELLY pets you can ever have.

Secondly... When I was a child, my best friend had a perpetual pet hamster. Every six months or so, it would die or escape the cage somehow, and her parents would buy her a new one. One day at her house I saw a hamster crawling under the bed, and we caught it. But her current hamster was still in its cage. By the markings we could tell that this one was Muffy--an escapee from about a year and a half earlier. It had lived in the house somehow that whole time.

[glatt]

I have pet mice in my house. They live in the walls, and in the attic. I have an unusual relationship with them, because I try to kill these pets with traps when I can.

[wolf]

One of my new age treehugger friends found a nest of fieldmice in her garage (they had actually fallen from one of the rafters, survived that, but mom never came back). She decided to "save" them. I more than once ended up feeding with an eyedropper a creature I know I should have been crushing the head of to save me the trouble of disposing of a trap somewhere later along the line. None of the six in the litter made it, although two of them did very nearly make it to "large enough to live on their own" stage.

[garnet]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

First of all, ferrets are the most disgusting, foul, SMELLY pets you can ever have.

I've been around a few ferrets, and I've found they are less "smelly" than cats and dogs. They definitely do have a different scent than other animals--some people can deal with it, some people can't. It never bothered me, as long as cages were kept clean and baths were regularly given. If you've come into a contact with a ferret who hasn't has his scent glands removed, that's a different story. Any ferret you get from a pet store will already be spayed or neutered and descented. They're not for everybody, but I think they're very cool.

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

When I was a child, my best friend had a perpetual pet hamster. Every six months or so, it would die or escape the cage somehow, and her parents would buy her a new one. One day at her house I saw a hamster crawling under the bed, and we caught it. But her current hamster was still in its cage. By the markings we could tell that this one was Muffy--an escapee from about a year and a half earlier. It had lived in the house somehow that whole time.

I think those parents were being pretty irresponsible buying that child one hamster after another. Animals aren't toys to be discarded or abused on a whim. How sad.

[garnet]

Originally Posted by breakingnews

Matilda croaked last night. I went out drinking and came home to find her belly up and stiff-legged in her little house thingee. ...
That makes hamster no. ... 6!

I hope you're not considering replacing Mathilda with another hamster. It sounds like finances are a problem for you, and you weren't able to give her the care she needed at the end. I hope she didn't suffer too much.

[Cyber Wolf]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

First of all, ferrets are the most disgusting, foul, SMELLY pets you can ever have.

Any pet will do that if you don't take care of the animal and keep the cage clean if it lives in one. Male rats are notorious for being musky (it's a guy thing) but I've got 3 male rats and 4 female rats and you'd never know by the smell in my apartment. (And 2 mice!)

[jane_says]

I second the "stinky ferrets" thought. My best friend from high school had ferrets and though she kept the cages fastidiously clean and bathed them regularly, they still had a bad smell. Yuck. I do think they're cute, though, and I enjoy playing with them when we go to the pet store.

My sister's husband once worked at a department store and a bicycle fell off a display on the wall and squashed a mouse's nest that was hidden in there somehow. There were a bunch of baby mice and all of them were crushed except one. It was extremely tiny; didn't even have it's eyes open yet. He brought it home and she got up every two hours (and she's a lazy bitch, so this was no mean feat) to feed it with an eyedropper. The put in it one of those plastic bug-catching thingies that kids put fireflies in, with a heating pad underneath, and that damned mouse lived for two years.

I say go ahead and get another hamster, if you want one that is. The ones that don't get bought get fed to other animals (snakes and large lizards). They're cheap for a reason. I can't say that I blame you for not putting Matilda in Rodent ICU - and any responsible vet will tell you there's not much you can do for a hamster who's gone south. Most of the time all you're doing is prolonging their suffering. If I had a million dollars, I wouldn't spend $300 to treat a sick hamster, and I love animals, especially cute little furry ones. What's the sense in giving the little guy a few more days if he's just going to be miserable? We once splinted the leg of an escaped hamster on the advice of a vet. He had escaped and jumped off the bedroom dresser, breaking his back leg. We used popsicle sticks and thread, which he promptly chewed off. He spent the rest of his rather lengthy life with a big knot on his leg, but it didn't slow him down.

Sorry for you and Matilda.

[garnet]

Originally Posted by jane_says

If I had a million dollars, I wouldn't spend $300 to treat a sick hamster, and I love animals, especially cute little furry ones. What's the sense in giving the little guy a few more days if he's just going to be miserable? (

I agree about not spending lots of money on an animal that has no chance of survivng. But don't you think it's your responsibility when you own a pet to make sure they don't suffer when they are that sick? It doesn't cost very much to have a sick animal euthanized, especially a hamster. Sometimes the humane society or caring vets will do it for free.

[jane_says]

Sure, it's definitely your responsibility to see that they don't suffer needlessly. That's my point. "Treatment" of a hamster would involve what? My vet has told me several times that wet tail is a roll of the dice for hamsters. Give them the medicine they have at the pet store. It it doesn't work, buy a new hamster. If an animal was truly in so much pain that it needed to be euthanized, it could be done immediately and for free at home (not that I could, but that's what my dad and husband are for). Trucking around a dying hamster to the vet or human society and waiting for an appointment is cruel, IMO.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by jane_says

If an animal was truly in so much pain that it needed to be euthanized, it could be done immediately and for free at home (not that I could, but that's what my dad and husband are for).

Just out of curiousity, how would they go about doing it? I can think of lots of ways to kill a hamster, but if minimizing pain is a goal, what method would you use?

[Brigliadore]

Originally Posted by glatt

Just out of curiousity, how would they go about doing it? I can think of lots of ways to kill a hamster, but if minimizing pain is a goal, what method would you use?

Here is a link to directions for a small CO2 chamber used to put small animals down. http://www.alysion.org/euthanasia/index.html I have used it a few times when I had a guinea pig get very sick or one get very old. It was used when nothing more could be done and I wanted to be able to comfort the animal as it passed. You can put your hand in the container and pet the animal while the CO2 mixes in. I am sure there are other methods but the CO2 is the only one I have used.

For the record the only reason I have used the above method is because my vet doesn't let me be with the animal while it passes. I don't know why, he just doesn't. I have had a few I wanted to be there for and a few that were just too sick to take back to the vet. My vet says its an approved method for putting them down and if I have the stomach to do it, I should go ahead.

[garnet]

Originally Posted by jane_says

If an animal was truly in so much pain that it needed to be euthanized, it could be done immediately and for free at home (not that I could, but that's what my dad and husband are for). Trucking around a dying hamster to the vet or human society and waiting for an appointment is cruel, IMO.

So it's more "humane" to snap its neck or drown it? If it's so humane, how come you can't do it yourself, and instead rely on your husband or father to do it for you? That doesn't make sense. According to the HSUS, the ONLY form of humane euthanasia is lethal injection. I don't agree that anyone should try to "euthanize" an animal at home, whether it's free or not. A trip to the local vet and $20 (or whatever) isn't a lot to ask, in my opinion.