Fingers of my hamster began to detach!

Question
I really need a help and there is no vet to ask around here for hamsters.

4 weeks ago, I saw my hamster's fingers start to become purple. Her rear feet were like infected but all of them were purple. Day by day, fingers became darker and now, they start to detach and fall! :( First, I thought it was the nails but now I realized that it is the fingers. She lost 3 fingers on left hand and 2 on the right allready. Till a week ago, she was unhappy but now she spins the wheel and seems to be okay but she has disablities like she can't climb to the roof as she has done whenever she saw me earlier..

I got pix of her, if you check, you may have better idea.. I just want to know what is happening to her and do something before she loses all of them..

Thank you..

[IMG]http://i41.tinypic.com/jgsf88.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i39.tinypic.com/ebbixk.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i42.tinypic.com/2a5xbuh.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i44.tinypic.com/295xpc5.jpg[/IMG]

Answer
Hi Joshqune

I wondered how your hamster was getting on.  Would you please let me have an update and some photos?  The vet who advised on this is interested to find out more about this case as it is a very interesting one.  Please get back in touch.

Thanks
Regards
Sheila




Hi Joshqune

I've received a response from my friend who is a vet.  His diagnosis etc. is as follows:

"Description; well demarcated lesions affecting all 4 feet with swelling, discolouration and necrosis towards the tips of the digits. No pictures to show other obvious lesions affecting the ears or nose.
Likely pathology; these look like localised areas of gangrene with necrosis (death) of the extremities where these have gone black and circulatory impairment affecting all the discoloured areas,
Prognosis: It is likely that all the discoloured areas will become darkened, then purple, then black and then drop off. This will probably stop at this point with no further extension up along the legs provided this was a oneoff event.
Potential causes; the immediate cause will be a circulatory impairment to these areas. Lack of blood supply will kill these tissues. The causes for the lack of blood supply are manifold :
- vasculitis is the most likely with an immune mediated reaction causing vasculature narrowing. Is unpredictable and thus likely only to affect a single hamster.
- temperature frostbite Will result in lesions like these but would be obvious to the owner from the house temperature and might have killed other hamsters if present
Raynard's syndrome: vibration and temperature sensitivity will close off blood vessels at periphery and can result in necrosis but usually just tingling
- temperature dependent autoimmune reaction: temperature sensitive antibodies involved.
- certain toxins (fungal) and bacterial (e.g. salmonella) -can affect terminal areas
- restricting band: unlikely in all four feet but if had affected just one foot, could have been a tourniquet affect from cotton wool or other bedding getting wrapped tightly around the foot.

It may be too late now to do much here as it is 4 weeks later. The damage is likely to be done by now.
Standard treatment is
- warmth if frostbite but will help all general circulatory problems
- steroids if autoimmune
- antibiotics if bacterial
- propentophylline if vasculitis

remember that the dying areas are likely to be painful but there will be no pain once the areas are dead (black) since the nerve endings will die.
If the result is dry gangrene, the risk of infection is lower but if it results in a wet oozy form , then there is a risk of infection and might need secondary antibiotic cover. "

I hope this helps you.  I would really appreciate it if you could get back to me on this and let me know how she is and perhaps provide a few more photos of her once this process has completed.  Also could you let me have a few more details, i.e. age of the hamster, if you have any other hamsters - are they affected too? What is the temperature in your house, have you changed her feed lately etc.  This is an extremely interesting case and it would be good to document it for future reference.

If she loses all her feet then you should look at her cage and modify it if possible - i.e. if she can't climb put her in a single storey cage etc, or at least make sure she has food and water on each level.  You might also need to remove her wheel - it depends if running in it causes her limbs to swell or appear sore.

Regards
Sheila