Roborovski and Milton sterilizer.

Question
Hello,
     I had a 1 yr old apparently healthy male roborovski. I have just checked on him to find he had passed away. The last time I saw him two days ago he was happily bounding around his cage and eating/drinking. No signs of illness (unlike his brother who was very poorly when he passed away at 6 months old).
The only thing I did differently to normal three days ago, was to clean his cage with diluted Milton sterilizer instead of his normal antibacterial pet spray. Do you know if Milton is dangerous to dwarf hamsters? Their website states it is safe to use on pet bowls but I'm not sure if that means for larger animals.
Many thanks in advance.
Lisa.

Answer
Hi Lisa

I'm really sorry to read your email.

I honestly don't know if the Milton sterilizer is to blame.  I've never used this before and if it says that it is safe for pet bowls I would have thought it was OK to use.

Sudden death is hard to determine the cause.  There could have been some congenital problem that just stopped his heart.  The fact that he was happy a couple of days earlier makes me think it could be something like this.  If he had been poisoned I would have thought that you would have noticed him in a collapsed state.

I do know that medicines that are safe for Syrian hamsters are not safe for dwarf hamsters because of the dosage etc. and it could be that the sterilizer was too strong for him - but that is impossible to know.

I don't think you should blame yourself at all or feel guilty in any way.  I know that when an animal dies it is easy to wonder if there was something that could have been done, or perhaps it was something we did wrong, but in this case without actual confirmation of the reason for his death you have no way of knowing.

In addition to congenital diseases, hamsters can suffer medical problems, the same as humans.  They can have blood clots, seizures, heart attacks, strokes etc. and it could just be that something like this occured.

I'm sorry I can't be more help or give you a definite answer as to what happened, but I hope this helps you.

Regards
Sheila