Wet Tail!!!!

[serena]

Im not sure if my hamster has wet tail but some of its symptoms r showin that he does. he got up earlier then usual today at about 6:30-7, when he normally wakes up at 8:30-9. i saw him and at about 10 and i noticed he had poop comin out but it was runny and my first thought was wet tail,so i got a tissue and wiped it off but it came back about 2-3 minutes later. he was goin carzy on his wheel like nothing was worng and runnin around everywhere climbin on the bars and all. so i called the emergency vet since all the pets stores were closed and they said it was goin to cost $75 just to have him examed and im only 16 so i dont have that money. ive had him for about 1 month and rescued him from a rescue and hes about 5 months old. right now he is tryin to chew on the wires like he wants to get out. i also took out his wheel b/c all he was doing was running on it and i didnt want him to waste all his energy on that but hes still going all over the palce. so far my plan is to go to the pet store first thing tomorrow morning and get him some dri tail. ive seen him drink water like he usually does maybe even more(thats a REALLY good sign). before i had him i had a hammy that i bought from the pet store and she died about a month after i got her and i have no clue why. i washed all her stuff w/ really hot water and i didnt use it for about 3 weeks which was when i got my new hamster. well i dont no waht the problem is but any ideas will be helpful. also i do not smell anything bad and his eyes and everything look fine, except that one is red and one is black but they've been like that since i got him. i just gave him some hammy food and hes eatin it.

serena

[serena]

As for the smell, i said that it didnt smell bad. well i just bought him a new home b/c the one he had before was too small for him. i put him in it yesterday and cleaned it out and it smells like urine again like it does when u havent cleaned yr cage for a week. i dont know if thats bad b/c it smells like urine the day after i cleaned it. the cage is about 5ft away form me and if i turn my head towards it, it smells like urine.

[secretjeff14820]

sometimes they do that when they feel insecure about something as for the wet tail the wort of it is after 24 hours thats when they first start to act not normal just try to give the meds asap hope hes doin better

[Dashafool]

try oasis wet tail tablets...it worked for one of my hamsters

[LilSnooPydOG]

The most important thing for you to do if your hamster has wet tail is to keep him hydrated, and if he's drinking lots of water I don't think that's something you have to worry about yet.

I wouldn't advise the Dri Tail. It justs hides the symptoms of wet tail, like sprays that just hide odors. The odor is still there, just covered up. If the symptoms are covered, you won't be able to tell how sick he is.

Are there any vets you can go to other than the emergency one? Emergency vets are always rather expensive, you could save quite a bit going to a regular one.

[hamsterbaby92]

[COLOR=Magenta]my cousins hamster has wet tail and they fed it plain dry oat meal an dI dont no if it is doing better or not but she heard from somebody that it helps so if you want you could try that but i dont want to tell to do it if I dont no what happens


hope it gets better

[serena]

i went to the store and got him some DriTail, im not sure weather or not to give him pedialyte b/c he seems to be drinking water like he normally does. now the diarrhea has gotton on his tail but thats the only change. do u guys think that its worth it to take him to the vet? im not sure and they really charge alot. and i was wondering, since wet tail is caused from them being stressed wouldnt they be more stressed when we try to give them their oral dorps or by cleaning the cage once a day?

[LilSnooPydOG]

I've already given my views on Dri Tail, but giving him the drops orally may or may not stress him out. When I got my first hamster the pet store told me to get Dri Tail, and I thought they knew what was best so I did. Snickers LOVED the drops and I would stick the dropper near his mouth and he took the stuff like it was candy. When my friend's hamster was taking Dri Tail, he put up the biggest fight, and I'm sure he got a little stressed about it.

If he's drinking water, then I see no need for giving him Pedialyte. But I would take him to the vet. The vet should be able to give you some sort of antibiotics, I would think.

[serena]

well icalled the vet to see waht he had to say and he said that i was doing the best that i could be doind. i also asked him about the antibiotics or w/e the vets gives to them and he said that they may be too storng for him since they are such little creatures. he said to give him some pedialyte and keep on w/ the dritail. i just cleaned the whole cage wtih bleach, water and dishwashing liquid. im not sure if i should put his wheel back inside his cage b/c i dont want him to waste his energy. he still wont settle down but i think if i had the wheel in there, that he would run on it non stop. lilsnoopy u said that dritail only hides the illness, well waht can i do to make it totally go away and make sure he is actually better? do i just watch him and make sure that everything is normal w/ him b/c i dont think the vet is going to be able to tell anything by just lookin at him. i was just wondering b/c i dont want him to suffer or anything, and thnks for bringing up the point. he sure is drinkin alot of water i think he might like the dritail stuff that i put in it. also do i use the dropper thing for the 5 days or do i just do that the first day and for the other 4 i just put it in his water? not sure i didnt totally get that part of the instructions.

[LilSnooPydOG]

Well it sure seems you're doing all you can. I guess it's really your decision on if you want to put the wheel back in or not. I don't think it will hurt if he does run on it, but then again I also don't think you want him to be drained of energy.

To make the illness go away, you just have to wait it out. After he's had it for a few days you should be able to tell if he's getting better or worse. After having it a week, he should be well enough, and by then I think he'll have the illness beat for the most part. You can keep giving him the Dri Tail, see what happens with that.

Could you post what the instructions say? It's been almost 2 years since I used that stuff and I don't really remember what I did. I think I only gave it orally for a day or two, but that's because I didn't read the instructions too well and missed that part.

I hope your little booger gets better! :hug:

[serena]

well i tihnk my hamster is gettin better, he was eatin quite a bit today and isnt sleeping as much. when i look at him to day he had a clump of poop next to him that was shaped normally but was just stuck otgether and his bottom wasnt all messy. i guess everything i did really paid off and im really glad b/c i tried really hard to take care of him. thanks to every1 that gave me advice cuse it really helped.

serena