I have heard of hamsters actually dieing from it and I want to know what it is because I have 2 Russian Dwarf hamsters and 1 has babies!
Answers:
HERE IS EVERYTHING THAT U NEED TO KNOW
Wet Tail is a disease that is thought to be stress related and often affects young hamsters around the time of weaning, as this can be a stressful time. Therefore it is important when buying a new hamster that its cage is prepared before its arrival home and it is left to become familiar with its new surroundings in peace apart from feeding for a day or two to keep stress to a minimum. It is also thought that Wet Tail can be caused by bad living conditions, etc which could also cause stress.
Wet Tail is a bacterial infection or an imbalance of the natural bacteria in the hamster's stomach or intestine and is often confused with diarrhoea. Although a hamster with Wet Tail has diarrhoea, the diarrhoea is so severe that the hamster is wet and/or dirty not only around the anus but usually around the top of the tail as well. The diarrhoea is accompanied by a strong unpleasant smell. Droppings are pale in colour and extremely soft and may contain mucus. The hamster often walks hunched up, is weak and lethargic and may squeal in pain.
Symptoms take 7 days to appear and the disease is often fatal with death occurring as early as 24 hours after the appearance of the symptoms. Therefore it is vital that veterinary treatment is sought immediately if a hamster shows symptoms of Wet Tail. Do not rely on over-the-counter products such as Dri-Tail to treat Wet Tail as these are often not effective against severe cases of Wet Tail. These should only be used if it is not possible to get the hamster to a vet immediately and veterinary advice should still be sought at the earliest opportunity, but do ensure if you have used any over-the-counter product that you inform your vet when you visit.
Hamsters suffering from Wet Tail often die from dehydration rather than from Wet Tail itself, or they simply refuse to eat or drink. Also, because of the severe diarrhoea Wet Tail can lead to rectal prolapse where the intestine is pushed outside the body through the anus.
Veterinary treatment will consist of a course of antibiotics, anti-diarrhoeal medication and help with rehydration. The hamster should be kept warm and quiet whilst undergoing treatment and be disturbed as little as possible. Wet Tail is contagious to other hamsters and so any hamster suffering from Wet Tail should be isolated from other hamsters. It is also a good idea to wash your hands thoroughly after handling a hamster suffering from Wet Tail, to avoid passing the infection back to the hamster worsening its condition and certainly before handling other hamsters (this is best kept to a minimum). It is a good idea to remove droppings from the cage at intervals and disinfect the cage with a disinfectant designed for small animal cages when cleaning the cage. Although it is important to keep stress to a minimum it may help to clean the cage of a hamster suffering from Wet Tail every 2 or 3 days.
Any equipment occupied or used by a hamster that has died from Wet Tail should be disinfected thoroughly with a disinfectant designed for small animal cages and left to stand for a few weeks before being used by another hamster.
Wet Tail is a disease associated more commonly with the Syrian Hamster and is not associated with Dwarf Hamsters. Dwarf Hamsters can suffer severe diarrhoea but it is not clear at present that they actually suffer from 'Wet Tail'.
Susceptibility to Wet Tail is also thought to be genetically inherited and so it is best not to breed from any hamster that has suffered from Wet Tail during its life.
wet tail is basically severe diahrrea, and small animals can die from it very quickly...the base of the tail will be wet, and will stink, but there is medicine you can buy from petsmart or petco that you put in their water
it's diahrea [or however u spell it] from eating too much fresh fruits and veggies and hamsters can die from it because they get so dehydrated.
Wet tail is dangerous. It is bacteria formed that gets stuck on the tail of the hamster and it will stay there, making look very wet. Sometimes, some poo will get stuck too.
To prevent that, use saline water to wash the area, and dry with with paper towel. Put it on just a dry diet, like seeds, and stop giving then vegetables or wet food. Monitor the situation. If it gets ba, bring it to the vet
What is wet tail?
According to my vet, wet tail is a collection of bacteria but the exact details of the disease is still unknown. The treatment is also not 100% effective. In fact, even with early treatment, hamsters may have best a 50% chance of survival. Thus, it is important to take your hamster to the vet if you see signs of wet-tail as you would not be a moment too soon.
Where does it come from?
Wet-tail seems to be a very common disease in hamsters - many owners see their hamsters come down with this disease. Some have speculated that it could be stress-induced and that some hamsters may be more susceptible than others (due to their genetic makeup).
However, more obvious is the fact that wet-tail is transmitted from hamster to hamster. This makes it very important to quarantine new pets for up to three weeks. Handling all your pets at the same time is also discouraged. Wet-tail is highly infectious from hamster to hamster and you must be careful or you may lose all your hamsters to this disease at one go.
Check all hamsters you are purchasing carefully and also its cage mates. If one is affected, all may very well be.
Symptoms:
When my hamsters came down with wet-tail, they refused to eat, had severe diarrhea ( the whole portion of the tail area was wet with brown fluid = wet-tail) and slept both day and night.
Some hamsters may also develop problems breathing if its condition is already very severe.
The cure :
Your vet will in all likelihood prescribe a wide spectrum antibiotic and something to help with the diarrhea.
Wet tail is when a hamster has REALLY bad diareea and it closes up there anus, (im pretty sure that is what it is) then it can die from it.
Wet tail is a disease that hamsters get. They can get it by you touching them the first week or two you have them. Hamsters CAN die from this and if you have a hamster that has it you should take it to the vet or get some books from the library about it.
wet tail is diarea and it is caused by stress and spoiled bedding if any of your hamsters get it go to the petstore and by a medicine called Dry tail it will help them
also put them in a quiet isolated room and seperate them from all others and clean the cages regularily and more often
Wet Tail is a disease that can be fatal to all hamsters. They have diahhrea or something like that. It's caused by overfeeding greens (veggies).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment