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Miles' lymphatic cancer has really taken a toll on him.
He hasn't seemed like himself at all lately.
He's been wobbly, confused, and for the most part, inactive.
His wheel hasn't moved in two days ... and he never touched the banana chips I sprinkled in his bowl on Wednesday.
(they're one of his favorites)
I've also noticed that his left eye hasn't been opening up all the way either.
And I think he has his days and nights mixed up too.
Two weeks ago, the vet told me he had 5 or 6 weeks to live.
However, I can't stand the thought (or sight) of him suffering for that long, so I took him back to the vet this morning and requested to have him euthanized.
I thought the same procedure was used on all animals -- an intravenous injection.
I was somewhat prepared for today from my experience with Bruce.
But because he's so small, they used gas instead.
I didn't go back with him.
I just couldn't watch them seal my little guy in a chamber.
It seemed more like an extermination than a euthanization to me.
: (
I. feel. awful.
Show us your favorite part of the weekend.
We arrived at Central Animal Hospital bright an early Saturday morning.
I signed us in ... we took a seat ... and shared the waiting room with a cat and a dog.
Miles was pretty taken with the dog -- who kept staring back at him with the same curiosity.
The receptionist called me up to the desk and proceeded to say there wasn't anyone that could see him until next week.
She also informed me that she didn't think they even treated "pocket pets."
I told her that Dr. Karnes (the owner) assured me a couple of months ago that someone on her staff did indeed treat hamsters.
I couldn't remember the doctor's name she mentioned, so they called her at home to confirm what I had told them.
Confirmed it was ... and 5 minutes later we were in an exam room.
The nurse coaxed Miles out of his exercise ball (see: makeshift carrier) and onto the scale.
My lil' fatty weighed in at 5 ounces. (How cute is that!?)
She told us the doctor would be with us shortly and stepped out.
I let him roam around on the ice cold stainless steel table while we waited.
I laughed as he wiggled under the scale and cringed as he explored entirely too close to the edge of the table.
A doctor I'd never seen before came in and looked him over.
She poked around at his lump and said it probably wasn't a cyst because it didn't feel soft enough to be one.
She admitted to not really knowing what to do about it and offered to call a colleague at Pope Animal Clinic for sound advice.
I agreed to wait. This was clearly an issue that couldn't be ignored.
She came back into the room ... got a syringe ... and proceeded to draw out some fluid ... then took it to the lab to look at it under a microscope.
Ten minutes later, she said she wasn't sure, but thought it might be cancerous.
To be sure, she made us an appointment with Dr. Pope (an exotic animal specialist) for later that afternoon.
She requested that I follow up and let her know what we found out, so she'd know the how-and-what-of-it-all in the future.
I agreed.
In return, she waived her fee and apologized for sending us to a different clinic.
I dropped Miles off at home and ran a few errands before heading off to the new clinic.
It was 3:00 before I knew it ... and after a short drive ... I was fillin' out a new patient information packet for the second time in one day.
We got called back pretty quick ... and I watched intently as Miles got triaged all over again.
Dr. Pope came in and I handed Miles over.
He declared "what a cute little guy" he was ... then took a long, hard look at the lump.
The nurse wrapped Miles in a towel to get a good grip on him while the doctor used a good sized needle to take a biopsy of it.
I rubbed his nose while they did what they did ... and shortly afterwards, the nurse handed him back to me so I could apply pressure to the place where he'd been punctured.
They both complimented him on what a "good boy" he was -- comparing him to other hamsters and guienea pigs who had bitten them in the past.
The doc stepped out and left us to entertain ourselves.
I spied a jar with a heart and heartworms in it and took Miles over to give it a look.
Buhhhh.
We waited and waited and waited ... until Miles eventually snuggled down and fell asleep.
The door opened and woke him up. We both stood tall (literally) -- he was on his hind legs -- and awaited the verdict.
Unfortunately, the news wasn't good.
Dr. Pope said he has lymphatic cancer.
He said from the size of the tumor, it's progressed ... and because it's in his lymph nodes, I could expect it to continue to spread rapidly.
Sadly, he gave him about 30 - 40 days to live.
He offered chemo, but I declined -- telling him I just couldn't see putting a hamster through that.
He asked how old Miles was, and I said I really wasn't sure, but that I'd had him for about a year and a half.
He did the math and said that would make Miles the equivalent of a 70 year old man.
He apologized for being the bearer of bad news.
I thanked him regardless, and told him at least we knew what was going on.
He told me to keep an eye on him ... and if/when he stops running on his wheel and/or eating, then I could decide whether or not to euthanize him.
Part of me wondered if I should've gone through with it right then, but I didn't (and couldn't).
His quality of life is still good (IMO) ... there's just a nuisance on his neck.
I've opted to let him live out the rest of his natural life with me at home.
I'll make his final days the best ones for sure.
: (
Thanks for all your warm thoughts and well wishes.
Last night, I heard Miles' wheel squeaking while I was writing checks at my desk.
I rushed into his bedroom in hopes of catching him in the act.
Per usual, he stopped the moment I arrived.
(he used to be such a little show off)
*shrug*
Anyway, I reached in an' nabbed him to treat myself to a lil' lovin'.
As I was rubbin' under his neck, I felt a lump.
At first, I thought maybe his pouch was just packed full of food.
But this felt different than usual.
It's soft ... and about the size of a gumdrop.
Afraid of possibly causing him to choke (if it was food), I put him down and decided to take another look the morning.
[fast forward to 6:00 AM]
Luckily, he was awake.
Just as he was moving out of his den to get a drink of water, I swiped him up again and took a second look.
It's definitely a lump.
I ran into Bruce's vet (Dr. Karnes) several months ago ... and she asked how I was doing.
(it was the first time I'd seen her since I put my boy down in Jan '07)
I let her know about my new buddy and she told me they treat small animals too.
I thanked her, but never really thought I'd be taking her up on her services.
Saturday morning, I'm ironing a shirt with a pocket and takin' my (other) boy to the vet.
I've Googled everything under the sun today about hamster health ... and all signs point to a simple cyst that needs to be drained ... or cancer.
Oh no!
: (
Wish us luck ... and I'll keep ya posted.
About four months ago, only a week or two after I wrote about Yukimo becoming sick, I was completely caught off guard by a crazy discovery.
Yukimo *gulp* is a boy. Yuki is not a girl like I had thought for over a year and a half. No, Yukimo decided to play the trick of all tricks on me by changing sexes (er, genders?). Oh Yukimo, what will you do next?
Here's what happened. While I continued to worry about the "womanly bleeding" (chuckle, chuckle) that Yuki was going through, I noticed that her slower movements were changing into what she used to be like when I first bought her; she started running around her cage and in her wheel with the energy of a young, baby hammy. I'll admit that I was really happy that Yukimo was finally coming around and turning into her old self. I had my doubts for a while though-- usually little happy moments like this don't last for long. I figured that she was just getting a second wind or something. I was wrong though.
One day, while holding Yuki and checking to see if she was still bleeding down there, I noticed something extremely odd about her lower "womanly parts." Something else was there instead-- something manly. At first, I became worried and thought her intestines might be falling out (seriously, hammies are too unpredictable for that not to happen), but on a closer look I realized that Yukimo was, indeed, a boy.
When thinking back, I'm positive that Yukimo was once a girl. Not only was she in the girl hammy cage at the pet store (where workers at pet stores often make mistakes with this kind of thing), but I made sure to check a lot over the months she was with me. I had mistaken other boy hammies for girls when I was younger, but the reality of the situation always became evident after just a few weeks of them living with me. Yukimo was with me for too long for me to not notice. I just know she used to be a girl; it's a feeling.
Here are my thoughts on this unexpected discovery: the old Yukimo must have passed on (er, died) and this version of Yukimo was reborn. Back when she was sick, Beth kept telling me that I should probably start to think about letting go of Yuki. She exhibited too many signs of old age and sickness to think otherwise. We've experienced the loss of small pets before and it's better to come to terms with death instead of ignore it. I started to think about it more but I had to stop when I realized that Yuki was suddenly full of life again.
Yukimo must have gone through some sort of reincarnation in her sickness. Either that happened, or she's a hermaphrodite hamster (meaning she has both male and female parts). I wouldn't put this odd happening past Yukimo. She's a crazy trickster who loves to mess with peoples' minds!
Since Yukimo's rebirth, she's been just as lively as when she was a baby-- even at the old age of over a year and a half. Also, the bleeding has completely stopped. (Yay!) I really do think there's a connection between the discovery and the bleeding, but I can't quite pinpoint what happened. I'd like to talk with a hammy specialist sometime.
I'm still in shock over this whole thing. Every time I see Yukimo running her little heart out in her wheel, or jumping up on the bars because she wants attention, I can't help but be grateful for this huge extra amount of time that I'm being given to spend with her. I had hammies when I was little and none of them ever lived such a long, happy life. Not like Yukimo.
I've decided that even though Yukimo has revealed this secret, I'm still going to refer to her as a girl. I tried replacing all my uses of "hims" and "hers" and "he's" and "she's" but it was too difficult to break the habit of referring to Yuki as a girl. I figure that I'm at least acknowledging this discovery by telling people about it (and how amused I am by the whole thing), but for now, Yukimo will remain a "she" when I'm talking about her. ^__^
She's the best hamster I could have ever hoped for-- and definitely the trickiest!
I was videoing Tyrone tonight, and my finger must slipped and I accidentally started recording when I hadn't meant to...I stopped recording just about as quickly as I started...but the timing was perfect, because it caught the cutest little pause in his water drinking!!! :-D
I think Tyrone is calming down in his older age! :-D
Last week, he actually just sat on me - no running around all over me - for at least 10 minutes! You don't understand...this has never happened for more than like 30 seconds at a time!
It hasn't happened again since that night...but, tonight he sat on my lap and gave himself a bath! It was so cute!! He didn't sit still for much longer than that...except for after he was done, he stood up on his hind legs, with his front legs tucked in at his chest, and just looked up at me for the longest while. It was to. die. for. adorable! :-D
Tyrone's wheel is situated against one of the walls of his cage, but he sometimes squeezes his body between the wheel and the glass...I don't think much of it - I've read that they like to burrow, so I just chalk it up to him enjoying the squeezing between things. Tonight though, I passed by his cage several times and noticed that he hadn't moved from his spot against the glass in quite some time. Thinking he may be stuck, I pulled the wheel away from the wall, and he immediately sprinted into his hut.
When he came out a little later, I noticed an white dot on his face...after taking him out, and getting a closer look, it appears the fur is completely gone from that spot on his face. :-( The mother in me is worried that her child is hurt...what happened - what did he do to himself? Is there further damage that I can't see?? :-(((((((( Poor guy....
What are the goofy nicknames you have for your pet? Bonus points for sharing a picture of him/her.
Submitted by Papi Chulo.
Mostly I call him Tyron-ey.
...and often "lil' doggie". When I come home late at night, after he's woken up and is running a marathon on his wheel, he stops dead in his tracks when he hears me. His cage is visible from the door, and he literally freezes, not moving a muscle as his wheel swings back and forth from the sudden halt of spinning. I always respond to this with an exaggerated "What's UP lil' doggie?!" This results in more staring. And more staring...I think he may be sensitive to my comments about his size. *shrug*
