Hamster died - don't know what of, can anyone help?

Question

My hamster died last night, it looks like she died in her sleep as she was all curled up. When I was cleaning her cage out I noticed in her water section that she'd been sick, it looks like sick anyway. Does anyone know what she could have died of? We've only had her since October last year. Thanks

Answer 1

She could of been sick of the food you gave her.If you switched foods she probably didnt like it and starved.

Answer 2

sorry to hear about the loss of your hamster.  you could take it to the vet and they could tell you what your pet died of, but if you decide to get another one, clean your cage out with pet friendly cleaner, you can get this from any good petshop.

Answer 3

it could be her age. hamsters don't live for too long

it could be something in the food she reacted to also

or it could just be her health, maybe she got sick and it couldn't be cured in time

Answer 4

sounds to me like you did not show it enought love

Answer 5

well i reckon it`s heart stopped , uselly works  

Answer 6

It sounds like she was ill =[

She didn't die of old age..

x

Answer 7

they do not live long.  she may have been lonely.

Answer 8

could have been a cold being that you stated that you seen what looked like she/he might have bene sick, but generally  thier life span is only 2 years at the very most.

Answer 9

no, what's done is done. If i was you, i would just move on.  

Answer 10

I'm sorry, hamsters don't live very long and it could've been anything. I was a vet tech at an emergency clinic and when people brought in sick hamsters or gerbils, the vets rarely were able to help them. Get a guinea pig, and make sure they have a big cage, not one of the small ones most people have. Guinea pigs are really cool pets if you spend time with them.

Answer 11

ok if she was sick she probaly died of sckness hamster have weak amune systems or for hamster 1 years is like  9 years for them

Answer 12

could be something she has eaten or age sorry to hear :(

Answer 13

Lemmiwinks syndrome ...  sorry

Answer 14

Probably just age. Hamsters don't live very long.

Answer 15

Well i don't think it was age she was only 10 months old, it may have been some sort of internal disease, or if she was anything like my old hamster she may have just worn her heart out (my old hamster Honey died when she was 8 months old, but she was up all day and most of the night, no food changes nothing) I reckon it was most probably internal because of the sick.

Sorry to hear about your hamster,   x-katkid-x

Answer 16

Sorry your hamster died, but they don't really have long lives.  Ours lived 2 years, but my friends's hamsters only live for a year at most.

Answer 17

First of all, I'm very sorry for loss. Its very upsetting to lose a pet especially when their so young.

No matter what a hamster dies from, when they die they usually curl up into a ball as if sleeping. Three of my hamster died of old age, one of a prolapse, and the other of cancer all were found in the same position, as if asleep.

If you got her from a pet shop she won't have been older than 4 weeks on purchase so age clearly wasn't the problem here.



Seeing as the sick was found in her water area, is there any chance her water could've been contaminated with anything? Also teh water shoudl be chnaged everyday and scrubbed out atleast once a week, as if you don;t scrub it out, algae could grow in it. Now algae although I don't think its poisonous, can cause diarhea or an upset tummy, so could this have been the problem. Also had she been fed any fresh food in the days before she passed? It is possible that this could've been the cause, you could've got a bad batch of fruit of veg. Its not uncommon, and if this was the case it wasn't your fault, it sometimes even happens in humans, although usually the perosn doesn;t die, after eating the fruit they just have a upset stomach for a few days, but in a hamster it would be much more severe. I remember feeding my guinea pig a bad tomatoe, I washed it and on the outside it just looked like a normal tomatoe, the day later he had mild diarhea. Diarhea and sickness is the bodies way of getting something bad out of the system so I think that this is most likely what it was.

What colour was it? To be honest I'm not sure hamsters can throw up, so I googled it and most people are saying they can't. Hamsters are rodents and creatures like rats, mice and guinea pigs aren't able to throw up. Apparently hamsters lack gag reflexes, and unlike cats and dogs who are not allowed to eat  before going under anaestetic in case they throw up, hamsters are not allowed to eat or drink due to their fast metabolism. They can regurgitate food, but it would look like fully formed food, not liquid or sick.

So she can;t have been sick, because hamsters can't throw up. Could it have been wet tail? I'm sure you would've noticed, but it was it would just looked like liquid. Or if she had been fed a lot of greens recently it could've been diarhea, Diarhea is very dangerous as she would be losing a lot of liquid so she could've died of dehydration.

If its none of these than I really don't know. I suppose it could've been genetic, pet shop animals are usually poorly bred. You could take her body to teh vet and ask for an autopsy, I know people who have done that before.

I'm sorry for your loss, and I hope you get to to the bottom of this,  

Answer 18

aww that's really sad! I feel bad for you :'( ! well it could have been age like maybe the place you bought her from had her for a long time and she was already like an year old. Or she might have had a disease. there are a lot of diseases she could have died from such as wet tail ,but there are loads more check out http://www.hamsterific.com/IllnessGuide....  to see what it was.  

Answer 19

Hamsters have very short life spans.  It could have been old when you got it and just died because it was old.  It also could have had a disease and died from it.  I'm sorry it happened, but they don't live as long as some other types of pets.

Please accept my concern for you.  Put your right hand on your left shoulder.  Put your left hand on your right shoulder.  Gently pull both hands at the same time.  You have just been hugged by an Army veteran.  Repeat as many times as needed.

Answer 20

i have had many hamsters.. one lasted for like 3 years... but the others have died at about 1-2 years.

Answer 21

Maybe it was something that she ate, I hate to say it but it might be because of something you've done wrong. Myabe you didn't take care of it properly, because once we had a fish and when we washed the tank we cleaned the rocks, all the time which is bad so in a year it died. Maybe it was just her time to go, sometimes it happens, if I were you I would go to a vet clinic or something and show them a sample of the water, and ask them about. but hamsters don't live very long and usaually they only live a short while, 1 year is reasonable, I wouldn't worry too much about it though. I don't know for sure but good luck :) plz answer mine: http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind...

Answer 22

old age, hamsters don't live long, which is too bad.