How long will this go on??

[sweetmommie]

Hi, as I already posted previously, my hammie is pretty old(like 4 yrs old to be exact), and anyways I did bring him to the vet to be sure there was nothing sewriously wrong with him other than old age, and Yes that was confirmed. But here is my question, Gizmo(my hammie's name) is now not drinking, I have to fill a baby syringe with water and vitamins and force feed him it. When he does get up to walk, he is extremly shaky and can only go so far before just laying his face directly in the bedding and stay there for hours. Is this normal, and if so, if he is going to die soon, How long will he go on like this before he can be at peace. Again, I dont want to have him put to sleep if he is not in any pain(which he doesent appear to be at all), but goodness I dont want him to suffer any either. Anyone have any ideas please?? Thanks again!

[sweetmommie]

just a spelling correction..I meant to say seriously.....lol!

[sweetmommie]

ok here is one more thing I just noticed, must have just appeared because neither the vet or I saw this yesterday. Underneath Gizmo between his 2 front legs, is like this lump that hangs low touching his bedding. I picked him up and felt it, and it doesent feel hard at all, but it is wet under his chin area. If it were an abcess or tumor wouldnt we have noticed this yesterday, and wouldnt it be hard.What could it be?

[wheels]

Could be a cyst. Cyst's are generally soft.

[dee23]

my eli had a cyst it was soft looked like a green color the nurse squese it and puss came out of it , after that she gave me some cream for it
also when one of my hamster got old and passed away he started to get shaky and use to sleep alot about a month before he did pass away . i wish and Gizmo luck
also my b/f's sister had a hamster called gizmo i use to go up to gizmo and say gizmo kisses lol

[sweetmommie]

Thank you Dee, Right now I have him laying here on my computer desk wrapped up in a towel. he is just laying there on his side kinda and wont even attempt to move. He is still breathing so I know he is still alive, but I truly dont think he will be with us for very much longer. I am not sure what labored breathing is but he seems to be breathing kinda fast. And sleeping with his eyes open.is that normal. Thank you so much again.

[dee23]

i am not sure about sleeping with eyes open , it does sound like he might be passing away soon but at least hes got you give him a little pet for me also if you need to chat i am here for you

[sweetmommie]

Thank you Dee, Although I will miss him dearly, it's my children I am concerened about as well! My 4 yr old knows he is ill, and all she keeps saying is I dont want him to die. Well, what do I do.it's going to happen, I cant control it, but Her little heart as well as my 12 yr old and 7 yr old girls hearts are going to be devastated. I wish there were something I can do to make him better, because I love the little man myself,he is my little cuddle bug, but I cant do anything, I just kinda of wish he would go now(not to sound mean), but because I dont want him suffering or hanging on any longer than he has! I want to get the heartbreak over with.Brings tears to my eyes right now as I am posting this,Why wont he just go and be at peace, why is he hanging on??

[dee23]

awww tears are coming to my eyes now to maybe he wants to hang on so he can be with you and your family before he goes
also my heart goes out to you kids , also i know how you feel i dont know what i would do if any thing happen to eli or ares also its a year since my little baby passed away i cant go a day with out missing her or crying over her i just miss her so much i wish i could cuddle her again
i am here if you ever need me hun

[sweetmommie]

Well Dee, I just dont know what I can do for him anymore at this point. I just tried to feed him some scrambled eggs with cheese, he wouldnt touch it. I also have to force him to drink water through an eye dropper. His head will only turn to the left, so when he walks(which he can barely do at all) his head stays to the left, then like I said he can only move so far(about 2-3 steps), then he just collapse and he has to lay his face on the right. I was just watching him, so I picked him up and tried to get him to motivate and walk, and he just kept falling over till he got back to his little corner and laid his face right down! It is so very sad to watch him go through this, but again he doesent seem to be in any pain. Thank you so much for caring, and I will be sure to keep in touch with you and let you know how things are going. have a great night.

[pearllady]

sweetmommie, I don't want to sound mean but it does sound like the little guy is passing. I really wouldn't be surprised if he is gone by morning. I can imagine that is will be very hard on both you and the kids, but take heart in knowing you did everything you could for him and love him very much. I'm very sorry for everything you are going through and I'm sure all of us here know how you feel one way or another. I feel for you and your children.

[sweetmommie]

Yea I know, but he seems to be hangin in there. I just put him back in his cage and he tried to crawl up to his food dish and there he lays with his head propped up on it, still breathing but cant get the energy to go any further. I had my kids tell him they love him and to say goodbye in case he does go( I hope not). But at least they were given that chance. I cant get him to walk at all now.none what so ever.

[LilWurm]

Indeed, he does seem to be passing, as everyone else has clarified. My hammie got like that just before he died. It is quite sad to watch any living thing have to die. :cry:

I am very sorry about your hammie's soon passing. It is a sad moment for all of us who know and share your pain. :crybucket

[sweetmommie]

Well what the hek is going on.He has done nothing but lay with his face down in his bedding, I havent been able to get him to move AT ALL! Well I just went in again to check on him, and he was trying to creep over to the other side of the cage! He is fighting till the bitter sweet end I suppose, but yes I hate watching him go through this! At one point he laid there breathing really funny and mouth open, now he acts if he wants to get active, but can't! I really dont know you guys, this is my first hamster, and I dont know what else to compare it to if it is dieing, if you know what I mean. I have never really seen anything die(I have always avoided that because I have my own personal fear of death), so I am not sure what to look for, what to do, and if I know this is the end, other than you all telling me, which I totally agree with you all, but as I said I ask all these questions because I never expiereneced this before so I havent a clue. Thank you all again!!!!!

[Zouave]

Sadly, I think it is time for euthanasia at a hamster vet. :(

I am so sorry.

[sweetmommie]

Well there will be no need to the vet. It is 5:30 in the morning, and I have been up all night with Gizmo, and sadly enough to say, it is just minutes away. His breathing has become evry labored, his body is getting stiffer, I just dont want to leave his side , I need him to know that it is okay to go. I want him to go knowing he was not alone. I want to say Thank you to all of you that gave me great words of advice, and your thoughtfulness, and caring. I cared and loved this Hammie like he was one of my children, so his passing , will be a great loss to me. I have held him all night and cried, and sang to him , and talked to him, reassured him that he will be ok, and he could let go now,the fight is over, it is time for him to be at peace. It was just shortly after that his breathing became shallow, and now in the past hour, is the time he is taking his last breaths. I need to know though, is this normal for there mouths to open really wide when they are at the last stages of there breathing?? I keep hoping that maybe he is just in a very deep sleep, and later he will be better, but thats not going to happen.will it!

[pearllady]

I'm very sorry for what you have gone through. My heart is with you and your children.

[LilWurm]

I am thinking vet also, but not euthanasia yet. I think you should bring him back to the vet and show your vet the so-called cyst you found. That could have something to do with how he is acting.

If your vet sees that, and still determines your hamster's illness old age, then I agree that you should have him euthanized. I know it's hard, but it's the best thing for the animal to help him avoid any sort of pain he may be feeling. Remember, it's all for the good of the animal.

[LilWurm]

Yeah, my hammie that got bit did that. His mouth stayed wide open all night while he layed on my pillow next to me. By morning, he was gone. :cry:

[sweetmommie]

well 10 minutes after my last post, Gizmo passed in my hands.My children are just waking up, and I had to tell them about his passing, they are not taking it so well. Well, I just got done making a final resting place for him, and had the kids make him a cross, and put a couple of his favorite toys in with him and some flowers. We are going to go bury him now. So again thank you all, you have been of great help and support.

R.I.P..Giz 9-18-04
6:30 a.m

We will miss you !!
We love you.:(

[LilWurm]

We all will miss your hammie. From what I have heard, he has been a great pet for a long time.

I am very sorry. :cry:

[dee23]

awwwwwww i am so sorry at least he had a haapy life with you and your family my thoughts are with your and you family if you need to talk we are here for you

RIP gizmo :rainbow1: :angel2: :angel1:

[sweetmommie]

Thank you all so very much! Your all a great bunch of people(regardless of any arguments.....LOL). I am glad that I had people to share this with, that care and love for there pets as I do. Have a great day.

[Zero2Hero]

gizmo died of dehydration, that breathing was labored. something about hamsters, they dont wanna die, but until the last few mins of life, RIP gizmo

[sweetmommie]

Yea your not kidding.he held on for such a long time. Hm about that Dehydration thing....I was giving him water through a eye dropper, about every hour yesterday,about 2 ml.a time, I didnt want to force too much down him at one time. I figured if I can get that down him about every hr or so, that it should keep him pretty hydrated.maybe I was totally wrong. I tried to feed him,but that was almost impossible, I couldnt just cram it down his throat, he didnt want to eat. And then at one point after putting him back in his cage, he tried to get to his food dish where he got his head on his food and just laid there. That was about 10:00 last night. I also noticed that he did move around a couple times throughout the night because I kept going in and checking on him. So, what I am saying is.he did fight it till the bitter sweet end.

[Zouave]

You did a wonderful job of caring. :) :(

I more than once lost a lot of sleep myself tending to sick animals and even holding their hand as they passed.

I recently buried a lot of mine - very deep - in a lovely cemetery (see Pet Loss thread by me). I left no markers so no one would know they were there and thus disturb the site. But I know where they are.

Sorry again.

[leahys98]

what the ? you SANG to him? held him in a towel? cried and stayed up till 530 am with him??? WTF is wrong with you lady its a tiny little hamster....holy crap when i see one of my critters look like its not havin a good time i crush their head with a pair of pliers to end it....who said bring it to the vet to put it to sleep? LOL are u joking? you gonna spend money to kill a $10 rodent....just bury it is as is...its free and it gets the job done its gonna die anyway....holy christ we are not talking about a cat or dog or something

[sweetmommie]

Hey Idiot.You do things your way(Which are Quite sick if you ask me).and I will do things my way, which is the humane way of doing things. And yes I did stay up my hamster.PROBLEM WITH THAT!! I dont care if it is a hamster, Dog, cat, whatever...It is still a living thing that grows to be part of the family! I am a person who cares very much about the living, the Dying, and the Deceased, it is called..I HAVE A HUGE HEART!!!! Try to get one maybe you would see things in a different perspective! It doesent matter what kind of animal it is, just like us Humans, we dont want to die alone, and I am quite sure they dont want to die alone as well! So, Get the F##k over yourself, you dont like the way I do things with my animals and that is your damn opinion,and I damn sure dont like the way you do things with your's(again only my opinion. But I can rest assured I am more likely to have people agree with my humane way of doing things rather than your's! Would you Like to take a POLL on that IDIOT!!!!!!!

[BrodieRabbit]

leahys98 is nothing more than a troll normally upsetting people on the gerbil site...DO NOT POST ANYTHING ELSE TO THIS SICKO....you have again been reported to the admin of petshub as as well as the mods to this forumn....I suggest you leave...you will not be welcome at any forumn.. we will watch for you :mad1:

[Halogengirlie]

I found leahys98's post offensive, and I hope more people than just BrodieRabbit and I will report it to the moderators. It is unacceptable to harass people who are mourning the loss of their pet. And I don't believe that members of this forum should tolerate it.

Just in case you don't know how to report a rude post... look up in the upper right corner of the screen.. you see that red triangle. If you click it, it will take you to a screen to report the post.

.

[LilWurm]

That was sick, and made me want to vomit. I do believe a report is underway.

[Zouave]

I expect this site administration to RAPIDLY deal with evil trolls, and the sadists and those who insult others. I have reported them, and I expect their posts also to be DELETED. I have written the site administration and made it clear if this matter is not cleared up I will leave this site.

Again, sorry for your loss, sweetmommie, and do not worry about the psychos. They have empty sick lives. Hugs. :)

[pearllady]

Sweetmommie,

Don't listen to the sickos on here they just do things like that to get a rise out of you. Its unfortuante and shouldn't happen but it does. I see the idot was banned and I'm happy about that for you and everyone else that had to deal with them.

You did everything a normal decent person would do. My thought are with you at this time and try not to let that persons ignorance get to you. The rest of us care.

[Ferradise]

Sweetmommie,

I just wanted to give you my condolences and tell you how sorry I am that you lost gizmo. I just recently lost my ferret Boo on labor day and it was so painful...That jerk that left the rude insensitive message is an absolute jerk. Clearly this is someone who has no regard for life whether its an animal or a human. We all breathe and we all love in our own way. This person has no empathy for anyone. You did a wonderful thing taking care of Gizmo till the end and he knows that he was loved. Holding him, singing to him, and holding him in a towel...this is a sign of love and compassion not silliness. I sang and held my ferret the whole time he was passing. I had crocheted him a blanket so we could bury him in it. Animals are a part of our lives and our commitment to them is abundant. My sadness for your loss but know this, he was loved and loved your family. God speed little Gizmo

Kristen to friends
Mommy to
9 ferrets
3 dogs
1 cat
2 hammies

[sweetmommie]

Thank you very much for all your kind words. I also would like to say I am so very sorry for the loss of your ferrat, and you are absolutly right about commitment to your pets are abundant. I could really give a Crap what this moran thinks, I love my animals, and just because they are an animal does not make it any less harder than losing a loved one. In my eyes my animals are my loved ones as well. Also, Pearllady I would like to say Thank you to you as well for all your kind words and support as well. It is great to know that there are people out there that actually havea huge heart for there pets no matter what type of pet it may be! Have a great night.