My first question

Question
Ok now your free i can tell you my first question about my hamster cotten who died on thursday. I wanted to know if she was dead and how she died. I found her rolled up in a ball mid-day and thought she was sleeping and i wanted to give her some treats so went to pick her up and found she was cold and her body skin was blue. I got the biggest fright i had ever had in my life and knew instantly what has/was happening. I cradled her in my hands and saw she had a massive heap?? or poo at her bottom like a masive lump and only half had come out. She all had peed around her bottem as well. her nose looked very red a saw and her eyes where dried shut. Her hands and feet were normal red colour thou and she was limp and from what i have heard hamsters go stiff when they die? This what made me think she was still alive and i put a warm blanket and light on her and next to the radiator hoping she was in hibernation. She didnt do anything and from what i could see she wasnt breathing either. But still limp. I couldn't bair putting her in the ground thinking she was still alive but by the looks of her i thought would it really be better for her to wake and be like she is and be in pain or let her go in her sleep. I buried her on Friday after hoping she would maybe wake or something over night but nothing happened.

I hope you may have some reason why she died or find one?

Paul

Answer
Sounds like she had wet tail which is basically a bad bacterial infection that causes diarrhea.  Left untreated, it's fatal but it may be cured (though not always) with DriTail or an antibiotic from the vet.  If it looked as if some hadn't come out she may have prolapsed which is actually when a bit of intestine comes out.  At that point, it's almost always fatal.  If she wasn't breathing she was probably already dead and rigor mortis hadn't yet set in.  That's my best guess as to what happened without actually seeing her.  I'm sorry she died but I hope this helps put some of your concerns to rest.

Let me know if I can be of any more help,
~Lauren