Update on Mable

[pinky]

Greetings all,

Thought I'd post an update thread about Mable and her ongoing health issues.

Mable at her present age of 20 months:



History: Mable had a left eye bleed and later rupture at just over a year of age, had a mammary tumor removed at almost age 14 months, and was spayed (to eliminate diseased uterus and ovary) at just under 18 months. Pathology on the tissues showed cancer with significant potential for metastasis. She had been showing high urine glucose on and off throughout her life with me, but because the diabetic condition was intermittent she couldn't be treated.

Where we are now: let's start with the right eye. You can see in this picture that it looks fine.



But one day a few weeks ago I caught sight of a change:



The dark rim and later overall darkening said to me that she had had a second internal bleed. Are all her eye troubles stemming from the diabetes? Could be. Is she blind now? I'm not sure. Dr. Applegate hasn't seen her himself since this happened, but we discussed the idea over the phone and he said that thanks to the nose and whiskers she could be able to navigate as well as a sighted hamster and fool us all into thinking that she's sighted.

On to diabetes: for the two months following her spay she consistently showed 250+ mg/dL glucose in her urine, and I was all ready to discuss opening that bottle of glipizide with Dr. A. And then. . . no glucose, and again, and again. Bottom line: there's no good way to manage this. It literally does come and go.

I have read that hams with diabetes have nails that grow fast/thick. Fast/thick is certainly true for Mable. Every few weeks she has to go to the vet for a trim. She's too feisty for me to do it myself.

Finally tumors: I don't see anything new externally on her; however, what concerns me is that of late she weighs a consistent 45-46 grams, yet she looks trim, with no fat around the neck/shoulders. She's never been anything but 37-41 grams her entire life. She doesn't show signs of bloating, either.

Behavior: after the spay she went right back to being crazy Mable.





Lately, though, I see her slowing down, sleeping more, and doing that aging ham thing where she sleeps in random open places in her cage rather than burrowing into a nest.





(that's her to the right of the toilet paper tube)

I can't be sure if it's age, something growing within, being blind, all of the above? Personality-wise, she's her feisty self but not inordinately grumpy/bitey, which is good. Appetite is ok. All other systems are fine. She's silvered quite a bit on her lower back, and that's expected for a dove hamster, but she is still as beautiful of a girl as when she came to me with two huge healthy glowing eyes 15 months ago.

[Die Fledermaus]

Love that last photo!

Hams see poorly as you know, so they manage.

Always lovely to read your reports. Lots of love. Best to her.

A friend had a Boston Terrier recently spayed - many scabby sutures now and a cone! My cats never had a cone, and never needed sutures to be removed. Not sure why the difference.

You will enjoy this story from a vet Friend on FB:

>>Morton A. Goldberg Dvm

Whether or not veterinarians use an Elizabethan collar depends upon their own judgment and experience, and also with the particulars of how they perform the surgery.

I was fortunate to learn early in my career that whether or not my patients bothered their sutures depended in the vast majority of cases on whether their sutures bothered them. So I never succumbed to the temptation to take shortcuts, but always used a 3-layer closure with the buried sutures made of the least irritating absorbable material I could find and the skin sutures made of an inert material -- either fine monofilament stainless steel, human-quality monofilament nylon, or, later on, staples on some larger dogs. As a result, I never had to use Elizabethan collars on my spays because the patients never bothered their sutures.

In fact, your question reminds me of a true story.

On August 5, 1972, my daughter Suzanna was born. By prearrangement, I was permitted to scrub in and stand alongside the obstetrician during the delivery (not nearly as common back then as it is today).

My wife had chosen epidural anesthesia. As a result, she was fully awake.

The delivery went perfectly. Once newborn Suzanna was safely in the hands of the nurses, the doctor began the episiotomy.

At that point, he remarked, "Dr. Goldberg, you might be interested in this new suture material we just recently started to use. It's saved us a lot of problems."

"Oh?" I asked, "What is it?"

"Dexon," he replied.

"As a matter of fact, I've been using it for the past six months myself," I told him. "It's saved me some problems that I don't think you have."

"And what would those be?" the obstetrician asked.

"My patients used to lick and chew at their sutures."

At that point, everyone in the delivery room roared with laughter -- with one exception: my wife. She was not amused.<<

[Hamsters82]

Huh, I hope Mable is okay. I'm not sure what's going on, her eye in the one photo looks like how my hamsters had their eyes, but they weren't diagnosed with diabetes. That's good that Mable is still herself and will eat.