Rounding Belly...

[Dezzi]

As you know, Meeks was diagnosed with Cushings a few months back and so far has been only at the hair-losing and drinking more stage. I know I am supposed to watch for tumours and signs of pain or self mutilation. Today I noticed his belly seemed more bloated and rounder than his usual tubby self and he started to get nippy after I was feeling it. I didn't feel any particular hard spots, he just seems more round instead of fat... kind of pregnant-looking. He's been lazier than normal but he is a few weeks short of his second birthday. Would this just be him gassy and old or could it be the start of the cancer-stage of his disease?

[Die Fledermaus]

Did you read the Cushings Disease thread on Rodent Retreat?

Such symptoms as you describe I am not familiar with, and no rodent (of the three I had) with CD ever lasted remotely as long as Meeks already has.

I have never heard of that "bloated" look with CD.

The awful appearance of Makeeda (a story up in Hamsters from years ago) would make CD easily recognizable. The photo links may still be up in that thread. My issues with that vet are also posted.

If he has CD he always had cancer as it is a tiny tumor on the pituitary gland resulting in an adrenal problem.

[pinky]

From my one experience with this a rounding belly suggests fluid accumulation in the abdominal cavity, but this would seem unrelated to the CD were it this that is causing the rounding.

Sorry to hear this, Dezzi. It's been a good run for Meeks so far, relatively speaking.

[tonyshuman]

I agree that it sounds like fluid retention, either from an internal bleed or more likely just water bloating. I would guess that his kidneys may be having issues working properly.

There are two causes of Cushing's: a tumor on the pituitary, or a tumor on the adrenal gland, which sits on top of the kidney. If the second is the case for Meeks, the tumor could be spreading to his kidneys, causing them to lose function. If the first is the case, a tumor in the brain could have spread to other areas of the brain that control the body's water balance.

In addition, you already know that Cushing's causes increased water intake and increased urination; this could put extra stress on the kidneys and cause them to shut down.

Best wishes to you and Meeks.

[tonyshuman]

Wanted to add--it could be gas too. Do you ever give baby gas medicine to hamsters, like simethicone? I know it's common for bunnies with gas. Also, a probiotic like Bene-Bac can help with GI issues, and I know that's safe for hammies.

[Die Fledermaus]

As soon as I saw "gas" I thought of simethicone!

I know bunnies can use it to help stave off GI statis.

I've never heard of it in the same context as any rodent.

Search result: >> We did not find results for: "hamsters, simethicone". Try the suggestions below or type a new query above. <<

Found this on another site:

>> Ozzy, one of my guinea pigs, gets bloat quite often, nobody can figure out why. My vet has been trying to figure it out for over a year now, he's called guinea pig specialists at the vet school where he was trained, etc. He's on acidophilus powder every day now, and that helps quite a lot, but once in a while he still needs simethicone drops. Because of this he can't have any high gas causing vegetables like broccoli because, obviously it makes it a lot a worse. While broccoli is generally safe for guinea pigs, there are obviously some who are "special" and who it wouldn't be safe for. I imagine the same goes for hamsters, only it would take a much smaller amount to cause them to get bloated, and I'm sure that it would be even worse as they're so much smaller. Even with a guinea pig, if he doesn't let me know his tummy is sore - which he does by chewing everything in sight, I'm not aware of it until I can actually see his tummy expanded a bit from the gas. If he doesn't get simethicone drops as soon as I see that then it would progress to be very painful and would probably kill him within a day or so -- I'd wager a guess that for a hamster that process would be even quicker and the bloat less noticeable due to their size, until it was quite serious. <<

>> You may be shocked one day to notice that your hamster eats its droppings. Far from being disgusting, however, this is a natural part of hamster digestion.

Hamsters have a two-part stomach consisting of a forestomach and a glandular stomach. The bacteria throughout the hamster’s digestive system, starting with the esophagus and ending in the colon, help break down the food and release the nutrients, but many nutrients still remain in the droppings after they’re eliminated from the body. Thus the hamster eats them again — a habit known as coprophagy — which allows it to extract more of the nutrients the second time around.

Hamsters can get indigestion if they eat too much food too quickly. You may notice that your hamster has the hiccups, which are caused by excess gas in the forestomach. If the hiccups last for more than a day, the hamster is sleeping excessively, or the hamster isn’t eating, drinking or eliminating, take it to a veterinarian. An X-ray or ultrasound may be necessary to see if there’s anything lodged in the stomach.

To help prevent indigestion don’t give a hamster large amounts of food all at once. Hamsters are opportunistic eaters and hoarders. Wait until they’ve eaten almost all the food they have before adding more to their dish. <<

Hope that helps a little.

[tonyshuman]

Simethicone does its work not by being absorbed by the body, but by staying in the ingested food/liquid and making the gas in the intestines more soluble in the liquid. It's a surfactant, if that makes sense to you. I don't think it would harm the hamster, but a small enough dose might be tricky. A 1kilo bunny gets about 1mL of the baby solution; a 150g hamster should get around 0.1mL of the solution. The only thing to watch for is diarrhea, which I know is a real concern for hammies, so you might want to go even less than 0.1mL.

Of course, since we can't find references for it, it may not be worth risking it with Meeks. It's up to you.

[Dezzi]

He has a vet appointment for Monday. He's still pretty much the same as my last post excepting the fact that he actually tried to climb his way out of the cage for snuggles today. It's fairly out of character for him, but he has been getting less out time due to the new mice.

[tonyshuman]

I remembered another possible cause of ascites the other day--congestive heart failure. Sorry that's not very uplifting. Best of luck at the vet! I'm glad to hear he wanted to spend some cuddle time with you!

[Die Fledermaus]

I remember when my father was near death: organs were shutting down and he got a lot of edema. But that is not the case with this hammie I suppose. It just came to mind.

[Dezzi]

See post in Memorial thread for the conclusion. I won't be getting an autopsy as he was almost three and had a good life.

[Die Fledermaus]

Only YOU can get an autopsy! He would get a necropsy.

Yea, three years is longer than any dwarf I ever had. Have a good safe deep burial.

Sorry again. But have you learned any useful health issues and points that can help the rest of us?