Spunky, dead hamster

Question
My hamster seemed in great health, though, uncharacteristically she was full of spunk Saturday morning, so I let her run in her ball for about 1 hour.  Then I put her in her cage. That evening she was "sleeping" and so I didn't bother her, figuring she was worn out from her early morning run. The next morning, I saw that she was still in the same position and found her dead. I did see a very very very small amount of what appeared to be diarrhea in her running ball after I took her out that Saturday morning. What might have happened to her, I am distraught.

Answer
Hi Noreen

I'm very sorry to hear about your hamster.  It is always such a shock when something like this happens, for no apparent reason.

It is difficult to know why she died without a post mortem.  However, if she was suffering from diarrhea, then I would have thought there would have been traces of it in her cage.  This can kill hamsters as they dehydrate rapidly and this causes them to collapse. Usually, however, if they are suffering from something like this there are other signs - i.e. she wouldn't have wanted to go out for a run in her ball - hamsters usually look dull, and want to sleep if they are ill.

Also, hamsters do suffer from heart attacks and can collapse with no real reason or warning.  Perhaps the exertion in her ball at that time was too much for her.  She might have had a heart condition all her life and it was only a matter of time before she died from it.

The fact is, however, that it sounds like she had a good life and was obviously loved.  As she didn't display any signs of ill health beforehand, you know that she died after having a good play and didn't suffer at all.  This may not be much comfort for you right now as you try to understand what happened to her, but it is important to know that you did nothing wrong and that had you found her alive, even getting her to a vet wouldn't have made any difference.

I don't know if this helps you at all.

All the best
Regards