cause of death of my young hamster

Question
QUESTION: Hi. I bought my daughter a hamster for christmas from 'pets at home' and asked them if they could guarantee that he was young as i wanted to avoid, as much as possible, explaining to a 4yr old about death. Obviously i did most of the looking after of Patch and he was always a chilled out, friendly hamster so was the perfect pet for my daughter. 2 weeks ago, when he was ,supposedly, only 5 months old I came back from work and put him in his ball for a run. He always loved to stay in there for a long time so I left him for the normal hour but when I came back to him I found that he had hardly moved. On closer inspection I found that he was rocking back and forth and panting heavily. I put him back in his cage while I phoned the vet. She told me that it sounded like an infection. He seemed to be suffering and getting worse so I took him to the emergency vet (it was a saturday night). When she took him out of his box and examined him he had a stroke and was in a really bad way (almost dead in my hands) so I decided to have him put to sleep. The vet said that she didn't know what had caused the stroke but it could possibly have been old age! Obviously I told my daughter that he had gone to live at the vets and we would get a new one to keep his cage warm. She was very upset but we went to pick a hamster from a local petshop that has been established for a long time. We asked for a baby and the woman pointed out some that were 6 wks old. They were so much smaller than Patch was when I got him, and so much more nervous. The new hamster is also taking a long time to settle in and is very hard to handle. I guess, after all that, what I want to know is was I mis-sold Patch (was he really an old hamster)? And have you any idea of the cause of death so maybe i can prevent it from happening again? And do you have any advice for helping the new hamster get used to us. Thanks. Debi

ANSWER: Hi Debi,


    So sorry to hear about Patch. Although strokes usually strike older hamsters, occasionally a younger one will be stricken. I'm not really sure why, but it does happen.  I can't really say for sure that Patch was mis-sold to you, but it would be possible.
    With your new 6 week old hamster, I have found it best to hold and talk to them a lot at this age, rather than going through the taming process. Handling them can be a challenge. It is best to cup one hand over the hamster while holding it. This makes them feel more secure and there is a less chance of them trying to jump out of your hand. While holding it, talk to it in a gentle voice. This should be done a few times every evening while the hamster is awake. Eventually it will gain your trust (it could take a couple of weeks for this to happen, it really depends on your hamster).
    If this does not help, let me know and I will gladly give you the steps for taming a hamster.
    If you have anymore questions, please write again.

Thank you for writing and best of luck.
    


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for your reply. I will try everything you said but I was wondering, though, if you had any idea what caused the panting and rocking before the stroke? Thanks. Debi

Answer
Hi Debi,

    I can't really say for sure, but my guess would be that the panting was from fear (maybe even some pain) and the rocking from trying to move but not being able to.
    I hope all goes well with your new baby hamster and if you have anymore questions, please write again.

Thanks again for writing.