Warning: upsetting to read! Hamster needs help urgently pleas

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Hi everyone

Yes my daughter bought a syrian hamster for my grandson called Daisy. She will be 2 years old around October this year as she was bought at Xmas time 2022. My daughter has 2 kids and is very busy so I offered to do a thread about Daisy for her as I found this forum on Google when searching for advice.

My daughter (Natalie) bought Daisy a fluffy hammock and tunnel 2 weeks ago not realising this could be a hazard. On Friday Daisy chewed through the tunnel and somehow got her foot caught in it. My 3 year old granddaughter heard Daisy screaming and told Natalie who found Daisy with her foot all twisted around the fabric. Natalie eventually cut her out of the hammock but her leg was all swollen and purple afterwards. We hoped the swelling would go down by the next day. Natalie did try to put ice on her leg and foot but she kept wriggling away from it.

The next morning my daughter found put that Daisy had chewed her toes. She took her to PDSA vets asap feeling that Daisy would probably be pts. However the vet snatched Daisy out from her hamster carrier so quickly and woke Daisy who then bit the vet. Not surprising since Daisy is in pain! The vet then didn't really look at her and just gave pain killer Meloxicam (oral suspension for cats). No antibiotics. It seems the vet is not used to handling hamsters!

So Natalie has been giving Daisy the pain meds every 12 hours but it is the weekend now so Natalie will take Daisy to a vets on Monday and ask for antibiotics. Until then we are keeping Daisy off her feet as often as possible by taking the tubes away and her wheel. She also is not putting Daisy in her ball.

We have read on Google that a hamster can survive without a foot but we want to up her chances with any good advice here. I thought maybe there is a way of wrapping her leg or foot up so she cannot get to hurt her foot? Or do we let nature somehow help her with this? Maybe in the wild they survive this somehow?

She is eating and drinking well and running about still but she has continued to chew at her foot a little each day. However this morning my daughter says it looks like it is starting to heal.

I have photos but they are pretty gruesome. Do you want me to post any of these? Thank you
 
Hello and welcome and I am so sorry to hear what happened to your hamster. I wish they would ban selling fluffy or fabric items for hamsters.

It sounds like you need to see an exotic vet and the initial consultation perhaps wasn't specialised enough. Surprisingly, most vets really don't know a lot about hamsters (although they should know enough about feet and injuries!) but exotic vets do additional training in small rodents and hamsters and are much more specialised. They are also the best if surgery is needed. Usually the fee isn't any different to a general vet, but there are just less exotic vets. If you google Exotic vet in your region I am sure there will be one, but it might be slightly further away than a general vet.

If you want to post a photo that's fine. The concern would be if the circulation had been cut off and for how long. Metacam will give pain relief and that's important as it has been known for a hamster to amputate their own foot if it's very painful (or if they're trapped) so your daughter needs to keep an eye on her chewing at it.

I would definitely take her to see an exotic vet for a further opinion now as it sounds like it might be an open wound and yes then she might need antibiotics.
 
Hello,

If you want to post photos, you could put them inside spoiler tags so people can choose whether to see them. To do that, when replying click on the 3 dots then the middle icon, as shown here:

spoiler.png

I think that if it does look gruesome, she definitely needs to be seen again, ideally by an exotic vet. They may have to amputate the foot but a hamster can do very well with one foot missing. Alternatively it might be a case of stronger pain relief and antibiotics. Unfortunately it's more or less impossible to stop a hamster getting to their feet but I think once her pain is under control she will probably leave it alone.
 
I am so sorry for not replying sooner. Daisy is doing well. She has stopped biting her foot after she chewed the toes off 😩 her foot has healed now and has no signs of infection so my daughter is keeping a close eye on her but unless she starts to eat her foot. She is running around fine and goes on her wheel without any problems.

Thank you for replying so quickly. You gave good advice which I did pass over to my daughter and I have told her to take her to an exotic pet's vet if needed.
 
I hope she continues to improve.
 
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