Hamster Question - Urgent?

Question

I recently took my hamster to the vet as she had a swollen eye. They said it was most likely and infection of abcess. They gave me some anti biotics to administer every day. She has been having the antibiotics for three days now and the sweeling seems to have stopped (although it it still swollen.). The only thing is, day by day, her eye seems to be looking worse and worse. It is all crusty and dry and I am worrying about her. She seems fine in herself - although she is a little tired. Any advice? Has this happened to your hamster? Thank you.

Answer 1

did she bump on anything? just do what he vet says for now. your hamsters eye may be healing.( the crusty and dry) he may have something in its eye( bedding,food...etc..) I feel sorry for your hamster. hope your haster get better. I had a hamster before but it had never had a swollen eye.

Answer 2

prolly just some kind of eye secretions from the meds..she will be ok..just call and ask the vet!

Answer 3

it is healing.once i had poison ivy all over my face(covering my eyes horrible)and when it healed it got all crusty and orange.so don't worry about it and don't touch it.plz answer my qwestion

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

Answer 4

Call the vet to ask if this is normal during the healing.  If not, he will recommend you come back in.

Shame on that person who said to throw him away!

Answer 5

Why would you take your hampster to the vet?  It probably costs more than buying a new hampster.  Throw it away and get a new one.

Answer 6

No not to my hamster.

But I think if the eye is crusty that means it is getting better?

I'm not sure but you may want to call your vet and ask.

Answer 7

Hi El,

I used to keep hamsters and they can get all sorts of minor injuries.

Yours may have put something sharp in her pouch, like an oat seed, which has pierced the inside of her pouch and developed into an abscess. She may have poked herself in the eye with something similar causing the same problem.

Most courses of antibiotics last for at least five days so if she has shown an improvement after three days, this is a good sign. If she is tired, let her rest.

If the swelling is going down the crust around her eye might be the pus being discharged. Pus is a mixture of dead bacteria and your hamsters white blood cells and antibodies, which have been fighting the infection. It may contain a lot of live bacteria so wash your hands thoroughly every time you have any contact with your hamster or her home.

Don't worry too much about her eye, hamsters are very short sighted anyway and even if she loses the sight of one eye it won't bother her. Animals are much more philosophical about disabilities than people, in fact, there is no such thing as a disabled animal, they just get on with their lives.

I hope she gets better soon.

Additional information: One and a half years old isn't very old for a hamster. Most of the books say that hamsters live for about three years but nearly all of mine lived to be five. If you have trained her to use a jam-jar (? jelly-jar) as a toilet make sure that you replace the sawdust regularly and replace the jar if it becomes dirty as the ammonia produced by the bacterial decomposition of urine will irritate her eyes and can also give rise to a condition called wet-tail, which is usually fatal.

Answer 8

I think your hamsters eye may just be healing, and the crusting up you mentioned could just be scabbing happening around the eye to heal itself.

Answer 9

i had two hampsters my first one died in aweek and my  second one died in about 2 or 3 or even 4.it's just that they are small animals and die  quicker .

Answer 10

take it back to the vet asap