Hamsters death

Question
Sheila...I had a tiny dwarf hamster who just died at 1 year and 3 months...he had some medical problems in the past...notably bleeding from what the vet thought was a kidney infection...he was treated twice with antibiotics, and even given a scan to see if there were kidney stones
but there were none...this last month he seemed fine...no more bleeding...eating regularly, taking his favorites of cabbage and cauliflower etc...he got daily vitamins that the vet gave us...and then this past Monday morning I found him dead in his little igloo house...it was such a shock...do you have any thoughts as to what might have happened? Kate

Answer
Hi Kate

Sorry to hear that your hamster died.  Unfortunatley, a lot of the time when a hamster dies there is no obvious explanation.  Due to the high cost in post mortem, their death can remain a mystery.  It is great that you got him all the veterinary treatment and tests to rule out various illnesses.  It sounds as though there was a lot going on with him that couldn't be detected with these tests.  Perhaps he had a tumor growing - hamsters are very prone to these and sometimes they are so aggressive they literally appear over night.  As his kidneys were already weak, perhaps it was just too much for his body to cope with.

Sorry I can't be more helpful - it's clear that you really loved him and that you did everything for him and it is sad it ended like this.  But I hope this hasn't put you off getting another hamster at some time - they are great little pets.

Regards