Lump found

[RoboMommy]

Hi everyone. Could use some hamster parent support.

Our adorable little robo Orpheus is now thriving - thank you all for the support during our tricky start.

About a week ago, we were having our morning playpen time and he was super cuddly because he ate too much of his spray seed hoard the night before (sorghum is his favorite). He climbed a bit on my husband, who noticed that the beauty mark on his back has a lump under it that wasn't there to NEARLY the same extent as our vet visit a month ago - they hadn't even noted it. We took him in today, and they did a little fine needle aspiration. Should get results back between tomorrow and next Tuesday. Vet tech said at first glance did see cells indicating a kind of tumor - just don't know if its the problematic type yet. Vet prepped us for removal surgery possibility. Orphie is acting so happy and healthy glad brought him in before he started to feel anything - vet said likely benign and or surgery would be very simple. Husband and I are OK with that. Just wondering if anyone had any experiences with a similar procedure.

On a related note, anyone have experience with pet insurance for their hammies in the states? Hubby and I are looking into Nationwide and MetLife because only options for "exotics" and leaning towards Nationwide. Too late for the policy to help us with this health issue but figured might as well get it started for the future.

Also, because he's doing so great and he's now so bonded gets upset when go away for more than one night (even if not fully consecutive), thinking of bringing him to my parents for Thanksgiving. My room closes fully and is well ventilated. Thoughts or tips? Got him a nice, smaller but still very humanely sized vacation enclosure (Bucastate makes a GREAT kit with accessories).

Thank you again.

 

[Maz]

Oh no. And you've only just got him. Well done for getting him to a vet and getting him treated. I hope it isn't something like a tumour. Could it be an abscess? You will know when you get the results back. I have had a lump removal on a 21 month old hamster before, and they tend to do fine after surgery It can be an idea to set up a hospital cage for after surgery though, something a big smaller, with bedding, no wheel and nothing he could catch his wound on (eg rough bark items or things with corners). Cardboard houses and tubes eg and maybe one or two items he's fond of from his main cage that are safe. Something like a plastic storage bin is fine. This is usually only for 5 to 7 days - after that they have a post op check and if all is well they can go back in the main cage again.

It's also important to keep the room warm for the first 2 or 3 days after surgery. Maybe 22 degrees c or more all the time and in a warm room with no draughts. Post anaesthetic they can't regulate their body temperature and can feel the cold excessively. You should also be given ,metacam/loxicom for pain relief for 5 to 7 days and they need it. They are fine on it but you can see they get some pain if it starts to wear off, so best to give it at the same time every day.

He will probably have a shaved bald patch and some stitches. In my case it looked bloody but wasn't because it had a kind of invisible skin plaster over it that protected the wound and stitches. The wound had shrunk and dried up within a few days. The fur will grow back well eventually!

Your vet should give you a post-op care sheet but vets often don't mention about hospital cage set ups - which is something that is good to do for their recovery.

My hammy was going stir crazy without his wheel after the second night! So although a hospital cage is smaller, it doesn't want to be too small! I ended up having to get up in the night and letting him out in his playpen and keeping an eye so he didn't hurt himself on anything or catch his stitches.

 

[Socks' Mum]

Sorry to hear about Orpheus' health issue. I hope everything works OK. I don't have any info about insurance unfortunately

 

[Maz]

I don't have much info about pet insurance in the US. In the Uk it's generally not really worth the paper its written on for a hamster as there are so many get out clauses. However if you need surgery, which can be expensive, it might be worth it - but even then all kinds of things aren't covered under the insurance, in the policies I've seen. The vet's time I think is covered but not the cost of anaesthetic, drugs, biopsies etc. If you find a pet insurance product I would read the small print very carefully! They generally cost about £15 to £20 a month I think, which over the average 2 year life of a hamster is about £480. Most surgery costs significantly less than that. So we usually recommend just putting away £20 a month in a savings account as a "vet fund". If it's never needed you have saved some money. Most policies are geared more towards dogs and cats I believe.

 

[Rescued One]

Best wishes for Orpheus. I will put him on the prayer list.