K
kaoskat
We had a recent death in the family Mommy Kat would like to post something so I thought I'd be nice and let her have the keyboard back for a while.
-Bastian Noel
Ok, I'm finally ready to make this post. Vashti was not with me for very long. She was a rescue and I was in the process of taming her. Thursday night when I was checking on her and giving her food, I accidentally woke her up. I noticed she was moving strangely and at first thought she was just groggy from being woken up. Upon closer examination, I noticed she was huge. A week before she was slightly underweight so I knew something was wrong. She also looked boney inspite of her huge tummy. She was larger than a previous hammy of mine who was carrying 10 pups. The next morning as soon as the vet openned I called and made her an appointment and I posted on several hammy forums and groups to see what they thought and started hunting for her symptoms through every hammy health site I knew. Just before we left for her appointment, someone finally responded to my post. They said it sounded like cancer and she needed a vet ASAP. I started to break but I kept hope that she would be ok and not have cancer. I thanked the person for their input and told them I really hoped they were wrong this time. All the way to the vet (it's a little over an hour away) I kept seeing that post in my head and praying they were wrong. I thought that was they longest hour trip ever, but the way home ended up being even longer. We waited for what seemed like forever in the vet's office. We finally went into see the vet and it didn't take long to confirm that it was in fact a very large lymphoma in her tummy. He said it was unlikely she'd live another week. He said she had very little muscle mass left just skin and the tumor. He said I could let her live and she would just keep slowing down until she just stopped. He said that while most people don't think hammies feel pain, he did and she would be in more and more pain everyday and in his opinion, it would be kinder to let her go. I, of course, agree that hammies do feel pain and and after several minutes of fighting with myself and my desire to keep her alive, I looked into her little hammy face (that clearly expressed pain to anyone willing to see it) and decided he was right and had her put to sleep. I sat in silence all the way home with Vashti's lifeless body wrapped in tissue in her carrier on my lap. I just felt numb and defeated but I know I made the right choice for her. In most cases I am very antieuthinasia because too often it is nothing more than a way out of expensive vet bills and time consuming care or training for the owners and that, to me, is very wrong. I feel if you adopt a pet, it's your job to care for it even if you have to sacrifice to do it. This time though, there was nothing that could be done for her and she was hurting so much. I'd have done or paid anything to make her well but there was nothing to do or pay for. She was just going to slowly die in great pain and I couldn't let that happen. Maybe some day they'll be able to do chemotherapy or something on tiny hammies but they can't now so I really didn't have a choice if I loved her (which I did). It still hurts though and I'm crying again while typing this but at least she's not hurting anymore.
-kkat
-Bastian Noel
Ok, I'm finally ready to make this post. Vashti was not with me for very long. She was a rescue and I was in the process of taming her. Thursday night when I was checking on her and giving her food, I accidentally woke her up. I noticed she was moving strangely and at first thought she was just groggy from being woken up. Upon closer examination, I noticed she was huge. A week before she was slightly underweight so I knew something was wrong. She also looked boney inspite of her huge tummy. She was larger than a previous hammy of mine who was carrying 10 pups. The next morning as soon as the vet openned I called and made her an appointment and I posted on several hammy forums and groups to see what they thought and started hunting for her symptoms through every hammy health site I knew. Just before we left for her appointment, someone finally responded to my post. They said it sounded like cancer and she needed a vet ASAP. I started to break but I kept hope that she would be ok and not have cancer. I thanked the person for their input and told them I really hoped they were wrong this time. All the way to the vet (it's a little over an hour away) I kept seeing that post in my head and praying they were wrong. I thought that was they longest hour trip ever, but the way home ended up being even longer. We waited for what seemed like forever in the vet's office. We finally went into see the vet and it didn't take long to confirm that it was in fact a very large lymphoma in her tummy. He said it was unlikely she'd live another week. He said she had very little muscle mass left just skin and the tumor. He said I could let her live and she would just keep slowing down until she just stopped. He said that while most people don't think hammies feel pain, he did and she would be in more and more pain everyday and in his opinion, it would be kinder to let her go. I, of course, agree that hammies do feel pain and and after several minutes of fighting with myself and my desire to keep her alive, I looked into her little hammy face (that clearly expressed pain to anyone willing to see it) and decided he was right and had her put to sleep. I sat in silence all the way home with Vashti's lifeless body wrapped in tissue in her carrier on my lap. I just felt numb and defeated but I know I made the right choice for her. In most cases I am very antieuthinasia because too often it is nothing more than a way out of expensive vet bills and time consuming care or training for the owners and that, to me, is very wrong. I feel if you adopt a pet, it's your job to care for it even if you have to sacrifice to do it. This time though, there was nothing that could be done for her and she was hurting so much. I'd have done or paid anything to make her well but there was nothing to do or pay for. She was just going to slowly die in great pain and I couldn't let that happen. Maybe some day they'll be able to do chemotherapy or something on tiny hammies but they can't now so I really didn't have a choice if I loved her (which I did). It still hurts though and I'm crying again while typing this but at least she's not hurting anymore.
-kkat
