Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Tink back to normal, some interesting hamster info
So Tink is back to her usual self, yay!!!!! Kudos and hugs to the members of the HoneyHams group who were so sweet about sharing their experiences and advice... and putting me on the track of it being a scent gland issue, which is what it was, partly, I believe.
Here is what I think happened:
1. Tink went to pet shop for holidays. Tink was on Aspen pellet bedding, which was pretty new to her, and I wasn't sure she liked it much, even then.
2. At pet shop, Tink smelled lots of animals and hamsters. (Note: that pet shop DOES really smell. Even I, a human, with a wimpy human nose, am bothered by it. Maybe because it's so small?) and started marking her territory like crazy...a la crouching low and dragging her stomach, and peeing in unusual places. Also, Tink starts chewing up her Aspen pellets.
3. Teresa gets Tink back, and is utterly dismayed. Tink seems to be stumbling around cage, very low-ish, and seems weak and confused. Also Tink is peeing everywhere BUT in her little potty.
4. Teresa gets worried over the course of a week. She changes Tink's bedding, pronto -- within a day of getting her back from the pet shop. Note, that this confuses the issue, because now Tink has to scent an entirely new cage.
So what happened? I think that it was a combination of events. I'm going with the theory of many on the HoneyHams group that think she may have just gone a little crazy with the scenting. Apparently, their hamsters do that when they smell other animals. Tink has never smelled other animals before, which is why this was new to me!
Note that she was also, at the same time, peeing everywhere and chewing up her Aspen pellet bedding. What I think may have happened is that she irritated/infected her little stomach scent gland by dragging it over the chewed-up bedding (which looks like sawdust after a hamster has chewed it). I think that maybe it wasn't working as optimally as it should have -- which is why she kept trying to scent her cage for sooo loooong. That, or perhaps she was trying to rub her stomach to relieve its' itchiness/hurting. Either scenario would explain the prolonged stumbling about in the cage, dragging herself very low to the ground.
Now, on Saturday, when I was pointed in the scent gland direction, I did check out her stomach, and take a good look at her gland, as well as her back legs, and tummy (was also wondering if she'd been dropped, or had fallen). I thought her gland looked a little odd -- hair matted over it, and was it supposed to be yellowish? It looked a little...crusty. So I dabbed at it with a q-tip dipped in warm water, and got the hairs smoothed out. Also, her little back paws seemed to have matted hair on them, so I smoothed those out, too. (I was suspicious of anything having to do with moving her back legs...which seemed to be the main locomotion problem.) Her little leg bones looked and felt fine, and there was no swelling anywhere on her stomach or back. Also, when I placed her on a smooth surface (the bathroom floor) she appeared to be walking normally. So the problem was only occurring in her cage.
But Tink didn't improve immediately after that. All of Sunday, she was still stumbling around. This is because, I believe, it wasn't just the scent gland that was bothering her. I really do think she was confused and disoriented from the pet shop, but also that she was having some bad diabetic-days. There are days when she just seems more feeble and weak and grumpy than usual. If it hadn't been for the weird walking, in fact, I wouldn't have been that alarmed, because I'm used to her bad diabetic-days. But, I think she was having those days, along WITH the scent gland thing. All in all, she must have been as completely miserable as she looked....
Only yesterday, Monday, did she seem restored to her full self. And today, Tuesday, as I write this, she's better than her usual self! She's climbing all over the cage, and up on top of her house, where she's jumping at the screen (she likes to hang from there), and mostly failing, but gamely trying over and over. She fell into her wheel, a couple of minutes ago, and decided that's what she really wanted to do, so she took IT for a spin. All of this indicating that she's feeling better enough to play!!! And it HAS been a while since I've seen her so playful.
So I'm thankful and happy, and no longer worried. I'll never know for sure what exactly happened this past week, I suppose, but I think I've got a good, working hypothesis! And I've learned about scent glands, and what other people's hamsters do with them.
Oh, and some people were suggesting that she might actually be a little boy hamster -- as they seem to be more agressive with their scenting, and their scent glands get more problems with them -- as in they get crusty, a lot -- and are much easier to find.
This freaked me out.
But I looked up the diagrams and checked Tink against them, and not only does she have nipples (which boys aren't supposed to have) but her two little "vents" are right next to each other -- no space between them, at ALL, which is what little girls' vents should look like. So despite her un-feminine scenting behavior, I am reassured that she is, indeed, a girl.
Shew!!!! Not that there's anything wrong with boys....but I'd gotten used to her as a girl, is all.
So All Ends Well!!!!
And now I must rush off to work, as I am awfully late!!!
Here is what I think happened:
1. Tink went to pet shop for holidays. Tink was on Aspen pellet bedding, which was pretty new to her, and I wasn't sure she liked it much, even then.
2. At pet shop, Tink smelled lots of animals and hamsters. (Note: that pet shop DOES really smell. Even I, a human, with a wimpy human nose, am bothered by it. Maybe because it's so small?) and started marking her territory like crazy...a la crouching low and dragging her stomach, and peeing in unusual places. Also, Tink starts chewing up her Aspen pellets.
3. Teresa gets Tink back, and is utterly dismayed. Tink seems to be stumbling around cage, very low-ish, and seems weak and confused. Also Tink is peeing everywhere BUT in her little potty.
4. Teresa gets worried over the course of a week. She changes Tink's bedding, pronto -- within a day of getting her back from the pet shop. Note, that this confuses the issue, because now Tink has to scent an entirely new cage.
So what happened? I think that it was a combination of events. I'm going with the theory of many on the HoneyHams group that think she may have just gone a little crazy with the scenting. Apparently, their hamsters do that when they smell other animals. Tink has never smelled other animals before, which is why this was new to me!
Note that she was also, at the same time, peeing everywhere and chewing up her Aspen pellet bedding. What I think may have happened is that she irritated/infected her little stomach scent gland by dragging it over the chewed-up bedding (which looks like sawdust after a hamster has chewed it). I think that maybe it wasn't working as optimally as it should have -- which is why she kept trying to scent her cage for sooo loooong. That, or perhaps she was trying to rub her stomach to relieve its' itchiness/hurting. Either scenario would explain the prolonged stumbling about in the cage, dragging herself very low to the ground.
Now, on Saturday, when I was pointed in the scent gland direction, I did check out her stomach, and take a good look at her gland, as well as her back legs, and tummy (was also wondering if she'd been dropped, or had fallen). I thought her gland looked a little odd -- hair matted over it, and was it supposed to be yellowish? It looked a little...crusty. So I dabbed at it with a q-tip dipped in warm water, and got the hairs smoothed out. Also, her little back paws seemed to have matted hair on them, so I smoothed those out, too. (I was suspicious of anything having to do with moving her back legs...which seemed to be the main locomotion problem.) Her little leg bones looked and felt fine, and there was no swelling anywhere on her stomach or back. Also, when I placed her on a smooth surface (the bathroom floor) she appeared to be walking normally. So the problem was only occurring in her cage.
But Tink didn't improve immediately after that. All of Sunday, she was still stumbling around. This is because, I believe, it wasn't just the scent gland that was bothering her. I really do think she was confused and disoriented from the pet shop, but also that she was having some bad diabetic-days. There are days when she just seems more feeble and weak and grumpy than usual. If it hadn't been for the weird walking, in fact, I wouldn't have been that alarmed, because I'm used to her bad diabetic-days. But, I think she was having those days, along WITH the scent gland thing. All in all, she must have been as completely miserable as she looked....
Only yesterday, Monday, did she seem restored to her full self. And today, Tuesday, as I write this, she's better than her usual self! She's climbing all over the cage, and up on top of her house, where she's jumping at the screen (she likes to hang from there), and mostly failing, but gamely trying over and over. She fell into her wheel, a couple of minutes ago, and decided that's what she really wanted to do, so she took IT for a spin. All of this indicating that she's feeling better enough to play!!! And it HAS been a while since I've seen her so playful.
So I'm thankful and happy, and no longer worried. I'll never know for sure what exactly happened this past week, I suppose, but I think I've got a good, working hypothesis! And I've learned about scent glands, and what other people's hamsters do with them.
Oh, and some people were suggesting that she might actually be a little boy hamster -- as they seem to be more agressive with their scenting, and their scent glands get more problems with them -- as in they get crusty, a lot -- and are much easier to find.
This freaked me out.
But I looked up the diagrams and checked Tink against them, and not only does she have nipples (which boys aren't supposed to have) but her two little "vents" are right next to each other -- no space between them, at ALL, which is what little girls' vents should look like. So despite her un-feminine scenting behavior, I am reassured that she is, indeed, a girl.
Shew!!!! Not that there's anything wrong with boys....but I'd gotten used to her as a girl, is all.
So All Ends Well!!!!
And now I must rush off to work, as I am awfully late!!!
