I cant tell if my Hamster is dead or not.?

Question

Ok I know it sounds stupid but I really cant tell if the poor thing is dead or not. She was fine the night before but when I went in to check on her she was laying out in the middle of her cage unmoveing. When I went to shake her she started moveing rolling on her back and seeming to be in pain. So I pet her and after a hour or so she stops moving completely. well I go to get a box to put her in and when I left her her eyes were closed when I returned they were open. Now I started watching her more closely and she seems to move every so often but I'm still not sure if she is alive or dead, could this just be muscle reactions or do you think she is still alive?

Answer 1

I think she may be dying, or really, really sick.

~Animal_Lover

Answer 2

sick dead sleepy or dieing

Answer 3

Sorry about your little pet, but I know what you mean. Sounds as if she is / was dying, but sometimes it is difficult to tell when they have died. I still even now get that fear of burying the poor things alive. The best sure way of knowing is to leave her for a few hours, after which time rigor mortis sets in, (stiffening of the joints) she will be cold to the touch, sorry there is no other way to put it.

Answer 4

Check if its cold or hard if it is then its dead..... poke it or check for a heartbeat...

Good luck!

Answer 5

If it's not breathing, it doesn't move when you pick it up, and there is no heartbeat, then it's dead. It also will be cold and hard.

Sorry about your hamster if it is dead. :[

Answer 6

Okay, when my hamster died he was hard and he stuck to the cage and we had to use a spatula to get him offf. i sugest squirting him with water.

Answer 7

She is more than likely alive.  The muscle spasms would not go on for very long if she had died.

I do not think that she sounds very healthy though. Maybe he is in shock from an injury you didn't see or something.  I would try to get her to the vet ASAP.

Answer 8

How old is she. If she is old she is probably dying of old age. Take her to the vet but if it is old age they will probably not be able to do anything for her but put her to sleep.

I'm sorry.

Answer 9

Our little hamster Poppy has a tendency to go into trances. We've had two other hamsters (one a Syrian and one a Robo) and neither had this tendency and to be honest the first time Poppy went into one of her "trances" it scared us to death. Even poking her didn't do much, so I just picked her up and it didn't take very long for her to go back to her lively and playful self.

However, I have to say the trances only last about 10 or 15 minutes (and looking it up on line I did fine it is common for some hamsters).

Here is a link I found on it in Yahoo answers when I was researching it:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

I hope your little friend is OK! =)

Answer 10

i know this sound mean but poke her, gently!

Answer 11

Uh...I'm not really even sure if this is worth posting, but Amber didn't mean she was going to ignore the hamster in the day and take it to the vet at night, she asked the question 5 hours ago, at which time it would have been midnight, meaning there were no vets open currently and she was looking for a solution in the mean time...

Answer 12

Dude, your first instinct should be to take him/her to a doctor, not, "Hmm ,lets ask Yahoo Answers if it's dead or not".

You've already said it looked like it was in pain, should you not have done that already?

If it has died, i hope you don't intend to get another one.

Answer 13

you have to take her to the vet, if you want to save her life! you can go in the daytime, no one said midnight!

Answer 14

When a hamster is sick like yours probably is, it will be very easy to move.  Hold it and look on his tummy to see if you can see it breathing.  It will also be warm.  If your hamster is dead, it will be really brittle.  If you pick it up it will stay in the exact same position it was in.  Sorry.  I hope he gets better.

Answer 15

i think it alive but in huge pain i would just keep it in its cage and check up on it so often and if its moving dont pull out the box when its time comes it comes

Answer 16

If she is breathing, Bring her to the vet.

She is prolly sick.

Answer 17

this sorta happened to mine, but she passed away.

Every so often, she would sorta like yawn, and her stoumach would move, then she would stay still,

i'm really sorry.

Good luck to you and your hamster