Answer

Thank you for getting back to me. The main cause of death from wet-tail is dehydration. Wobbliness is a sign of being dehydrated. What you should do first is give some Pedialyte. Use the syringe to put it in the side of your hamster's mouth. Straight down the throat can lead to aspiration into the lungs. For the first hour, give him a few drops every ten minutes. aftert hat, give him some once per hour. The Pedialyte will rehydrate better than the plain water. Since the hamster hasn't been eating, it may also be suffering from hypoglycemia. Put a drop of maple syrup, Karo syrup, or honey in his mouth once per hour to combat that.

The Wet-tail drops may help in some cases, but that isn't a very effective antibiotic. Neomycin is an older antibiotic and many strains of bacteria have become immune to it. The best thing to do would be to take your hamster to a vet for a prescription antibiotic, such as Baytril. These sites have directories of vet who treat small rodents:

http://www.rmca.org/Vets/index.php?action=list

http://www.ratfanclub.org/vetref.html

The swollen back end means it has been a strain for the hamster to keep passing diarrhea. Eventually, that can lead to a rectal prolapse. There really isn't anything youc an do about that at home. If you have more questions, just let me know by clicking on REPLY. I hope your hamster will recover.

Anna