Saturday, April 15, 2006
Squeak!
I just thought of it...I know what Tink's squawking reminds me of. It sounds EXACTLY like a squeaky toy. Clara and Erik's dog, Turtle, has one, and every time he chews on it, it squeaks. I guess it's supposed to sound like some small animal, dying.
And now I know it does....disturbingly so....
And now I know it does....disturbingly so....
More worries...more questions...
<== the eye stationTink is still recovering. Still keeping that eye closed. Still not back to her happy, healthy self, yet.
I took a look at her eye tonight, and am wondering...it looks less whitish, somehow. More black, more normal-ish. I wonder if that means there's a chance for it? But it looks even smaller than last time. Maybe the surface of it is sloughing off? I guess I don't know much about eyes. Maybe if I have a chance, I'll look it up.
<== weird lump under her chinA couple of days ago, I had a terrible "oh no!" moment...I was looking Tink over, and I found this little lump right under her chin. I took a picture of it, and am going to ask my sister about it, because she had a mouse that developed a tumor, and I wonder if this could be something similar? But the next day, and then again today, it seemed much smaller, and I'm breathing a tentative sigh of relief. Maybe it was just the hamster equivalent of a zit. Which would make sense, considering she's been pretty greasy, and that lump is on the same side as her bad eye, where all the ointment's been applied. But THEN I had another worrisome thought -- what if it IS a tumor, and what if there's more than one? What if it was a tumor pushing her eye out like that? But then, why would it just go away? So maybe it's not a tumor. See, now I have tons more unanswered questions.
Anyway.
I've been gone the last night and today, and worried about leaving her, but she seemed just fine when I got back today. Maybe a little fatter, or is that wishful thinking?
Her fur on her face was back to normal, but the fur on her back still looks greasy. I've been dabbing some warm, soapy water on it with a q-tip, and then rinsing it off...maybe every two days or so. I keep hoping I can help accelerate the cleaning of her fur that way. But I don't know that I'm being much help. Her skin looks a bit red and irritated -- a lot like the pictures in that last post. I think she's been scratching it a lot. I'm assuming because she's trying to groom herself. I hope, anyway.
Worrying, worrying...
I know what Brett would say: "Leave that damn hamster alone!!"
Sigh. But if I could do that...if I weren't obsessive-compulsive, I probably wouldn't have been drawn to hamsters in the first place...
