Cause of King's Death....

[ghost]

My hamster's death: He died with one of his cheek pouch blobbing as if it is swollen(only one side of it)....his upper body is paralyzed,meaning is 2 front paw cannot move...lower body & legs keeps kicking.The upper body is as per normal in term of size,but lower body becomes very thin....his fur is still pretty furry except for his lower cheek,the part directly under his mouth...& he is about 2 years 4 months old.

The thing that puzzles me now is that,what is the cause of his death....dehydration due to the weather?Kidney failure?fungus infection?Or old age? Hope those who have come across similar symptoms before on their ham will be able to help me....thanks in advance.

[fairysaint]

ghost, could he be choked? Cos My lau da got one time oso like that . I saw him struggling trying to push something out from his cheek using his paw. He looks very frantic... then i saw a nut popped out from his mouth. I think he got choked while trying to keep the nuts in his cheek pouch.

[Leoric]

Choked?Could be also. Ghost,I think you have try asking your online Vet. I try to go through the web to find some answers,but...

[ghost]

I'm asking everywhere for some answers....hmm....too bad i lost the link to my online vet....must wait for Buffy liao...haiz....

[e10]

I believe King had live to a ripe old age for a hamster.... may he rest in peace...

[devilspirit]

I don't know the cause of King's death..

But King sure did live till a old ripe age, agree with e10.

My hamsters the longest was 1yr6mth.

[HighHeels]

Hmmz... you noe my Meimei died in a quite similar manner except that her pouch is not as jialat as King's.

Look at her pic below:


Her pouch was also very full and her lower body is very skinny. But her top body is quite normal. I dunno why she died also. When I saw her in the morning, her fur(neck area) was very wet! I clean her fur and tot she was choked too but it really doesn't see to be the case. She kept running around, dragging her body with all the strenght that's left. Her death was unexpected cos she was still very healthy the day before she died. She was 18 mths old.

Ghost, ur King's case seems like impacted cheek pouch? Perhaps he died from the pain.

[e10]

Hopefully someone can come up with the cause of death so that we can try to prevent it from happening again.

[Leoric]

e10 said:

Hopefully someone can come up with the cause of death so that we can try to prevent it from happening again.

Yes,and i think that's what ghost has all along been doing.

I think ghost shld have read the below thread from another Pets Forum.i just put it in below to share with everyone.Hope it'll help ghost in his "research" on this field.

He died of an abcsess in his cheek pouch due to an abrasive food or bedding that caused a wound to become infected. The abcsess was most likely painful and the hamster died of the infection/highfever/central nervous system shut down.

I'm sorry.

The symptoms are hard to detect, as swollen cheek pouches look almost identical to normal stuffed pouches. So don't be hard on yourself. If next time something like this happens, take it to a vet. A vetinarian can drain the pus and treat it with healthy antibiotics. Give it a limited amount of yogurt during antibiotic treatment to balance out the bacterial level in his body.

[Leoric]

If it is eating well, it should not be due to inflammation or decay.
Inflammation could be due to punctured cheek pouches (by splinters) when they transport bedding. What bedding you use?? Another possibility is due to decayed food which is at the inner part of the pouch.

There is another possibility, which could be due to tumour. Next time if there is another such scenario, feel and press the swollen area slightly. If the hamster is not in pain, then it probably could be due to cancer.

The above are answers from other pets forum send to me to look see by a "friend" in this forum.

[ghost]

Thanks for the Quotes,Leoric....i'll keep all these posts in mind....& to learn more....to help fellow Hamster lover as much as possible....

[HighHeels]

Thank you very much Leoric. I wouldn't have read this if you hadn't post it up in this forum.

I never know that impacted cheekpouch could look very normal and it's hard to detect. I've always wondered why my Meimei's cheekpouch is forever sooo big when compared to all other hamsters. She was eating well as usual except the day she left...

If only I have detected this earlier, I wouldn't have lost a loved one.

[Leoric]

You are all most welcome.

[justme]

my youngest pearl hammy always has two very very big pouches! Unlike his "siblings"--i mean my other hammies~

I just hope that all my hammies can die naturally~

[ghost]

I think the reason of death is already written there & quoted by Leoric.....

Every death has a reason...i'm sorting them all out till today tho.....

Also,i'm Hamhams.....u may look for me here....