TOA
PAYOH VETS
toapayohvets.com
Blk 1002, Toa Payoh Lor 8, 01-1477, Singapore 319074 Tel: 6254-3326, 9668-6469, 9668-6468.
judy@toapayohvets.com
02 May, 2015
Focus: Small animals - dogs, cats, guinea pigs, hamsters, turtles &
rabbits
Hamster Tumour Surgery and
After-Surgery Care Advices
Dr Sing
Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS
First written: 09 March, 2009 Update:
02 May, 2015
The following advice is applicable to
the nursing of surgical wounds for all hamsters operated by Toa
Payoh Vets.
E-MAIL TO DR SING
On Sat, 3/7/09,
...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Subject: Hamster
operated by Dr Sing
To:
judy@toapayohvets.com
Date: Saturday, March 7, 2009, 9:18 AM
Hi there,
I sent my hamster in yesterday to have his tumor removed. So far he
seems to cope well with his huge wound. Eating well, sleeping a lot,
exercised on his beloved wheel before every sleep...Stitches still
intact. And he can now walk straight without the extra
load!!!
Would like to know how long does it takes for the wound to close up?
What should I do when the itch starts? I read online, someone
suggested applying edible Olive oil? Does it really helps? As
of now I've cleaned his wound 2 times already with plain tap water.
Can I use alcohol for disinfect purpose? Will it be too painful for
him? Someone online suggested
saline solution (Those used for contact lens), can I really
use that? And every time I cleaned his wound, I'm not able to dry
him, he won't let me touch his wounded area too much. He will then
licked himself very hard. Will licking cause infection?
Thanks for reading this mail. I look forward to getting some answers
back:)
Thank You Toa Payoh Vet!!!
Best Regards,
Name of lady owner
E-MAIL REPLY FROM DR SING
AFTER SURGERY CARE FOR
HAMSTERS
1. Over the years of
practice, I note that many
hamsters and cats dislike
any smell of chemicals on
their body after surgery.
The first they do after
surgery is to lick their
wounds and clean themselves
although they are groggy
from anaesthesia. So I
always remove all the
blood stains from
their body as much as
possible.
2. Hamsters will vigorously
lick any chemicals in
antiseptics put on their
skin by the veterinarian and
owners from their body
vigorously. Sometimes they
get poisoned or diarrhoea.
But human beings including
vets love using antiseptics
and any cleaning solution to
"disinfect" the surgical
wound. It is generally
believed that bacteria will
be "killed" by the use of
antiseptics. But hamster and
feline behaviour is such
that they don't want such
chemicals on their body and
will lick them away.
2. In your hamster
wound nursing post-surgery,
I will recommend cleaning
his wound with a piece of
facial cotton wetted with
clean boiled water 3X a day.
Gently remove his
blood clot or stains
for the next 7 days. If
there is no blood after 3
days, don't disturb the
stitches by cleaning with
antiseptics and "online"
advised solutions.
3. Also, keep the hamster on
plain paper towel
tissue papers for the next
14 days till the wounds
heal. It is not possible to
put an
Elizabeth collar to
prevent wound stitch biting.
Or to give
pain killers as
dogs and cats are
given after surgery.
Therefore the owner takes a
lot of responsibility in
ensuring that the wound is
not infected and that the
hamster takes his medicine
(antibiotics) for the next 7
days.
4. Thank you for your
feedback. I must say that
your hamster tumour is the
biggest I have had removed
of all hamsters. Therefore,
take good care of the wound
and check the hamster many
times a day. Clean
non-infected wounds heal
very well and ensure that
they are not licked
excessively. The
absorbable sutures on
his body should dissolve in
14 days.
Anaesthesia:
Zoletil 50 or 100 IM
in less than 0.01 ml and
isoflurane gas 5% for <10
seconds/instance. Topping up
of gas in an anaesthetic
chamber/mask a few times in
this case was necessary in
this case as Zoletil was
inadequate. The hamster was
overweight for the dose to
be effective, Sometimes
Zoletil 50 IM alone will do.
Zoletil 50 is given as a
small drop IM and as little
as possible. When Zoletil is
insufficient, isoflurane gas
top up will be necessary. In
Syrian Hamsters, Zoletil may
be given IM in 3 drops to
top up. Isoflurane gas for a
few seconds may be
necessary.
It is
extremely difficult to know
exactly when the hamster is
under surgical anaesthesia.
There is a very small margin
for error. Observe the
eyes and movement of the
hamster and give minimal
dose of gas. It is easy to
go overdose if the vet or
the assistant is not
observant.
Despite all attention, this
hamster looked like he was
going to die when he became
immobile for several seconds
after sniffing the
isoflurane gas for the 3rd
time. Just sufficient dosage
of anaesthesia is necessary
to be able to stitch up such
a large wound. This is where
the danger of topping up
with isoflurane gas a few
times becomes risky.
However, there is a greater
risk of the hamster dying of
shock due to intense pain
and fright if anaesthesia is
insufficient and the hamster
is struggling vigorously.
Definitely, the use of
isoflurane gas anaesthesia
contributed to the good
outcome of this surgery.
A dead hamster on the
operating table ruins the
veterinarian's reputation
built over a life-time but
there will be a higher rate
of deaths if anaesthesia is
insufficient or too much.
This is why many
veterinarians prefer not to
tackle hamster anaesthesia
and surgery as death
invariably ruins a hard-worn
reputation built over the
years.
Surgery:
Undermine the very thin skin
(stretched out by the
massive tumour) without
cutting into the skin. In
that way you will have
intact skin to stitch. Do
slowly using ophthalmic
scissors.
Shell out the fat tumour
using your thumb and
forefinger. There is a large
blood vessel below the
tumour, feeding the cells.
This supplying vessel will
rupture when you shell out
the tumour. There is profuse
bleeding. Blood splatters
all over the hamster's body.
It is not possible to ligate
this vessel (as in the dog).
It is short and hard to
access at the base of the
tumour. However, check and
clamp the bleeding point if
possible.
Use swab pressure, release
swab and look for the
bleeding point. In this
case, haemorrhage is stopped
by using pressure swabs.
Stitch 3-5 mm from skin
incision and place sutures 5
mm apart. The skin is not
normal as it is very thin
due to stretching by this
massive tumour.
Clean away all blood. Be
aware of heat loss and death
from hypothermia.
Therefore, do not bathe the
hamster to get rid of all
the blood. This is what we
will do in dogs after
similar surgery but the
hamster easily gets heat
loss and dies.
TIP FOR SUCCESS:Always use general
anaesthesia, esp.
isoflurane gas anaesthesia
if the hamster wakes up and
struggles. Pain during
surgery may cause shock and
subsequent heart failure
may kill.
2-year-old hamster
carries a heavy load for some time and can't walk straight.
Surprisingly the skin of his wound has not been damaged or infected.
It is possible that this
is a malignant tumour as it grows so big within a short period of
time. Will it recur after surgery? Hard to tell.
UPDATE AS AT OCT 21, 2009
From:
Lady Owner of Hamster ...@hotmail.com>
To: judy@toapayohvets.com
My hamster is doing fine
Hi Dr Sing,
Yeap, my hamster is doing fine. 7months plus had passed since he
had the surgery.
He's exactly 2yrs 8month old today. =)
The first week of after surgery care was terrible. I had put him
& his cage beside me through the night. So that once he's awake,
i will be waken up too to make sure he dun do too much harm to
his wound. Cos he spent most of the daytime sleeping and gets
active at night.
Day 1 nothing happened, he sleeps and sleeps. Seems to be
running a fever. Temp is high. Day 2, 4 out of the 6 stitches gone, remember i brought
him back to you and you said lucky u gave in 6 instead of 4
stitches. Day 3, stitches still there. Day 4 left with one hanging loose at the end. Day 5, no more stitches, plus he start peeling off the
harden blood clot/skin over his wound. Guess he peeled halfway
and it starts bleeding thus he stop peeling and left the
peeled-off skin hanging there. Day 7, He peeled everything off. New blot clot formed.
Not too big an area as compared to the first.
Onward, I figured out that he's actually smart enough to take
good care of himself.
I fed him well and he recovered well.
BUT~
Week 2-3 , wound had healed, furs starting to grow back. But saw
another growth growing on his other side of the body. 2 month
later, the growth ballooned to half the size of his first one. I
was thinking he is quite old already (2yrs 3 months old), I do
not wish to put him on another surgery.
I start to feed him less. I used to give him 1 tablespoon of
feed everyday. Now i only give him 1 tablespoon every 3days.
With little food, he cant be picky and eats whatever he can find
in his bowl.
Another one month passed, the growth is still there.
Someday, somehow, for
some reason, i realised the furs on his chest is getting lesser and
lesser. Days passed. I did play with him everyday but didn't really
check on his growth everyday, just assumed it's still there. Then
Someday, Somehow, for some reason, the growth had disappeared
without me knowing. I also saw 2 tiny red dot at the growth area.
Seems like he bit himself / self-treat himself. More days passed,
his fur grew back and the growth is gone.
Another 1-2 months
passed. Till date, he's still as active, as noisy running on his
wheel as always. On and off I tune in to your website to read
about your case studies.
I count myself lucky to have him as my pet as compared to other
owners. Yeap, very lucky :)
TOA
PAYOH VETS
