Sunday, May 22, 2011

Earless & Bald

Today is the 'D' day for Skippy. After the whole week of soured relationships and refusal to eat her medicine, it has come to the point of no return. (~.~) The hamster knew what was coming and hid in her hideout bricking up the entrance and refused all call attempts to get her out.




Before leaving home to the clinic


(Warning - The photos below might affect one's perception of hamster)


After a week of medication and thyme tea, the bulge shrunk a third, but nonetheless, the base is still growing. After the vet's review, both of us decided it would be best to remove the whole ear. I did initially suggest to keep the ear intact but the vet mentioned that with residue left, the abscess will still grow back. So it's off with the ear.



Skippy recovered fast and thank goodness she woke up fast and so the damage to my pocket was lesser. The vet even gave us back a container with her ear in the preservative solution. =.= I think come next week I will bring that container back to the vet to dispose. Imagine looking at the floating ear inside. *faints*



The vet gave her a bowl of food too! I guessed they realised she is super panicky and traumatised. Right now at home, we transformed her cage to a 'hospital ward'. A ear gone, half her head shaved clean, came back to a home that has no more beddings, imagine how pissed Skippy is right now. Yeah, she's no longer in talking terms with me and I think I best leave her alone for the time being (except for Baytril time). =(

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

A New Kid Arrives

Co-owner was saying that his mum adopted three baby hamsters from a family who unintentionally let their hamsters breed. Shortly after the adoption, the family unbashfully pushed the parents to her as well (talking about responsibilities). With a sudden influx, co-owner suggested to take one into Hamsty.



It was supposed to be the female coming to our house, but the co-owner who doesn't know how to differentiate the gender of the hamster, brought the male one here instead. -.- The hamster who is now separated from his family is still sulking away in his cage. =.= He came with his face a little disfigured, and so I decided to name him as Scar. He is kind of pleasant and well behaved, quiet and reserved, so different from the male hamsters here. =D Hope he will blend in soon. Age wise - unknown, looks quite young to me.

Another Trip To The Vet

I for one never like to go to the vet. It means that something happened to my hamsters. :( And now the next victim is Skippy. We had a long history of having hamsters with warts/abscesses/tumors and whats not. We knew what is coming up when we found Skippy with a growing abscess on her ear.


I called up the vet for a surgery appointment which was rejected. The vet told us to bring Skippy down for a look. Skippy, of all the hamsters, has never been traumatised before. She has never been onto a hand of a stranger and never left home. So horror to her when she was put into the carrier and whisked off to the vet. At the clinic, a panicked Skippy behaved badly that her own owner couldn't even control her. To add to my woes, the vet dare not touch her for the fear Skippy would bite her. So I had to play 'catch' with a 'skippery' hamster in the constraint space. At the end of the consultation, the vet gave me the answer that I already anticipated: "Cut off her whole ear".


So in the mean time, the doctor gave medication for Skippy. As expected, Baytril is the medication. My internal monologue while standing there watching the vet typing away on her pc. "Great, how do I feed this panicky hamster with baytril everyday. What's worse is, her ear will still be a goner." This coming Sunday will be Skippy's last day for her ear if Baytril and thyme tea couldn't help remove the bulge. =(

A Furball Named Scratch


Food For Thoughts

Eversince Wiffy gave us a healthy mix of cereals for the hammies, we decided it would be best to switch from pet-shop purchased food to self-mix food. Apart from healthy-eating reason, it is also economical for us. We calculate our expenses (buying of their package food monthly) and found that the overall cost of mixing our own is cheaper. It is also viable when we have more than two hamsters as they keep the consumption moving fast.



A one-time bill came upon my gorcery shopping. The hamster food cost amounts to 2/3rd of the bill, but the co-owner reminded that this will last until end of this year or maybe more. True enough, as I start mixing all the stuff, the amount of food came up tremendously alot.


One big bin of hamster mix!


To be packaged for freshness.

A Day In Herbie's Household


Yes, it's Herbie's household now. It's no longer Earl Grey's mansion. The henpecked husband gave Herbie the rights to his left wing while he retains his original small humble squatter. Just see how this mistress of the house guards her home. She seals off one of the hideout exits while she stands in front of the other, fending off trepassers (EG).