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Hi, my son has a dwarf hamster that is about 8 months old. Recently we noticed a lump on her stomach and took her to the vet. The vet squeezed it and it did rupture. He looked at the drainage which was thick and not runny but more keratinacious, under a microscope and said it was wall to wall bacteria. He sent us home with Baytril to give her for the next 2 weeks. He also told us to apply neosporin to the area twice a day. The lump is still there and we have now noticed bleeding from the vaginal area. Could this be open pyometra? I want to do whats best for my son's hamster and Im hesitant to tell him it could be something worse than a UTI. She has been bleeding for about a week now but her stomach is not distended.
Pet's Sex: FemalePet's Age: <1 Already Tried: Baytril, Neosporin
Hi there
In a female hamster open pyometra and cystitis are the two differential diagnosis for blood at the vaginal area. With the distended abdomen as well, i'd be more thinking of the pyometra.
I wouldn't have thought this would be connected with the lump though, which may be an abscess or an infected growth.
If she's been on oral Baytril for 2 weeks then it's certainly time to either change the antibiotic, or do further investigation, depending on how far you can take this (as financially it can get quite demanding if a hysterectomy and lump removal are the only options left). A change of antibiotics may be worthwhile though (theres a good one called 'Septrin' that's a pediatric medicine and is banana flavored!!)
Regards Andrea
She has only been on Baytril for about 7-8 days. There has been a day or two where we have forgotten to give her the antibiotics. The lump is more like a growth on the outside and is a little smaller than a pencil eraser. It was bigger when we took her in but because the vet was able to get some puss out it is a little smaller. It is still hard and cyst-like. Almost like a cyst that would have to be lanced open and removed because it is so hard. Is it something they could drain with a syringe or inject antibiotics in to? In regards XXXXX XXXXX bleeding, her stomach is not distended so I dont think it is closed pyometra. Also, the blood is not much...more like a small smear than a drop. The vet said that he couldn't properly diagnose the lump/tumor without sending it off to pathology. Her quality of life is still good and she is still active. I have noticed her slowing down a little more at night...just not running on her wheel as much...but she is still using it. We have already spent $80 in vet bills and without sounding cruel, Im having a hard time justifying more vet/lab/surgery fees for a pet who isnt expected to live longer than 2-3 years. The vet we did go to did help by saying that as long as her quality of life was good and she was still active that he wouldn't want to stress her out anymore with more tests. If this is something that I can control or clear up with antibiotics then that would be great. Would they have to do a urine test on her to find out if it was a UTI? What kind of diagnostics am I looking at if I take her in? At this point Im not as concerned about the lump as I am the vaginal bleeding. The vet said the lump could be a type of lymphoma but again, he wouldn't know for sure without doing a biopsy and sending it off.
I'd continue with the baytril for now.
Ask your vet if they can do a 'microscope smear', with the blood from the vagina- this may show up bacteria or signs of infection and give more of a clue as to the cause- they should be able to do that 'in house'.
The lump sounds like it could be an umbilcal tumour that's become infected, these are growths at the 'belly button' area that usually need to be excised to cure, but are generally not cancerous and do not spread, so i think concervative treatment with antibiotics is ok here- usually you cannot drain them with a needle as the contents are too thick.
As you rightly say, quality of life is the most important thing- so i would continue with the Baytril for a while longer yet anyway.
Thanks for your advice and help on this matter. The lump is slightly to the right of where the umbilical cord would have been but I will see if the vet may be able to drain a little more out. If they can do that and get the lump down to a minimal size it might not worry my son so much. I will also see if they can do a smear. She is such a sweet hamster and my son does have a tight bond with her so I want to extend her life as much as possible. I was a vet tech for a few years but we never saw small exotics so I'm not so well versed in that area. Do male hamsters tend to be more aggressive or have less health problems than females? Just future questions to ask as I know one day down the road we will be getting another one.
I do hope she is well for sometime soon- there's a good chance she will be!
Male hamsters are not usually any more aggresive than females, unless kept with another male! They do have slightly less health issues, as they don't tend to suffer from UTI's as much and cannot get pyometra, it's also very rare to see a male hamster with a male related problem (eg. testicular tumors) whereas the females certainly are seen frequently with female related issues. (yet another perk of being female!!!???)
Andrea
Veterinarian
bvm&s mrcvs 15 years as a companion animal veterinarian