Question
his foot
Hi, I got my daughter a Dwarf Russian Hamster in April 2011 from a pet store. Well 2 weeks later while cleaning her cage we found 6 babies. We separated the males & females about a week ago. They males began to bully one and bite his foot. So we then went a got another cage and have the injured one alone. Tonight when I was feeding them I seen that the injured little guys foot was still swelled a little but it now had blood & pus on it. He's eating and acting normal just chewing the foot. And I'm not sure what to do. Please help
AnswerHi Sherry
I'm sorry to hear about your hamsters. Unfortunately it is quite a common story in that a single hamster suddenly produces a litter. Did you let the pet store know what happened? If so, they might either take back any babies you don't want, or offer you another cage. It is always worth talking to them about it - some refuse to accept any liability for wrongly sexing hamsters etc. but others will help out if a mistake has been made or an unexpected litter appears.
Regarding this little chap - his foot does look very sore. The important thing is to make sure the foot is kept clean - you can do this by bathing it with salt water. However, the danger is that it is painful, and if he is not happy using it, and keeps chewing it he might actually take the foot off. In the wild if a creature injures themself and finds that part of the body is no longer of any use to them they will self amputate, which obviously you don't want happening.
With something like this I personally would recommend seeing a vet - they would be able to offer pain relief and antibiotics if there is an infection which might help this heal quickly. If you don't have a local vet that you know it is worth phoning one or two and seeing if they have anyone there who specialises in small animals. Also check their consultation fee - most will offer a much reduced fee for a hamster so it is always worth checking this before going so that you don't end up with a huge bill.
In the meantime I would advise cleaning up this injury. If his bedding is small woodchip/saw dust, then it would be worth removing this for now and just giving him paper bedding so that no small particles can get into the wound. It would also be worth checking his leg to make sure that there is no swelling there, or discolouration otherwise veterinary attention would need to be urgently sought. Hopefully with the right treatment this injury will sort itself out, but I do think that you may need to get a vet to check it out. In the worst case that the foot does need amputating, this isn't usually a problem for hamsters in captivity as they just need their cage modified and wheel removed. Now that you have separated him from the others, he will need to be kept on his own otherwise they will attack him again if you put him back with them.
I hope you get on OK
Regards
Sheila
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