Experimental treatment for sick hamsters

(idea) by hamster bong (4.2 hr) (print) ? (I like it!) 1 C! Mon May 15 2000 at 19:41:49

About two years ago one of my hamsters got very very sick, I think it may have caught a draft or something along those lines. I had no idea what to do with it, because my dad asked a vet friend and they said they usually don't treat hamsters because they're too fickle and too small for most medication. So.. I thought she was going to die.. but..

My dad grew up on a farm with chickens and all the standard farm animals, which of course got sick from time to time. They used a tetracycline based drug to treat chickens with lung-type infections, which is what I assumed my hamster had. As a last-ditch effort to try and help this poor thing, we bought a pouch of tetracycline stuff (which could have treated a whole barn full of chickens and I can't be sure what it was called), and a little syringe minus the needle. We mixed the tiniest bit of medicine with some water and got the hamster to drink just a bit of it..

It worked. Was this a fluke? I don't know, for sure.. but she was dying and I figured I might as well try everything I could. We used it a couple other times to treat the sick little critters and it seemed to help each time..

Remember, this is really experimental, and its always good to consult a vet first if you possibly can. Also, if you do decide to try it, make damn sure you use a very tiny amount.. read the instructions as to the dosage for larger animals and gauge how much you give the hamster on that.

I'm only noding this in case any one else ends up in a similar situation.. it's just an idea, something to try if all else fails. :)

printable version
chaos

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