Co Co's first visit to the vet!
- jjfurrykiddos
- Jul 7, 2020
- 3 min read
Meet Co Co, our super active and adventurous Syrian hamster! We got him and his brother (Bei Bei) in January 2018. The brothers were born on the 04 Dec 2017.
Featuring a hand-made swing that did not last very long. :p
He was a really curious baby boy!
He was really close to his brother Bei, enjoying cuddles together, and working together to prepare their tissue bed!
Until one day, they started to fight and we had to separate them permanently :(
Check out Co Co's strong arms in this video where he does 3 x hamster pull ups. I was pretty impressed I must say.
Just some adventures he had when he was younger when the piggies!
Storing lots and lots of food under his cloth...
Up till this day, he still has this adventurous spirit in him! This was captured just 6 weeks back, where he managed to climb up to the metal grills and did a 'monkey-bar' sorta thing.
Just about 2 weeks ago, I noticed there was something amiss with Co Co's balls. I usually practice the habit of touching every part of my pet to ensure there's no growth/anything unusual.
During one of the vet visits to bring my guinea pig Kaya, I casually brought it up to the vet and she advised that I bring Co Co down the next time I went. And so I did as I was told.
The doctor could feel there was something hard inside the balls, and suspected that it might be a tumour. True enough, we took an ultrasound and it did appear to be some sort of growth in one side of the balls...
See the X, that's the size of the tumour growing inside Co Co's testicles.
We had to decide if we wanted to do an operation to sterilise Co Co. It would cost an estimate of 200 SGD. There was definitely a huge risk operating on such a small creature, considering also the fact that Co Co's not a young hamster!
Co Co playing UpWords with the family on the day we received the sad news on the tumour growth :(
A week later, while preparing to bring my guinea pig for her check-up, I noticed that Co Co had some bleeding on his ball.. he must have bit it due to the discomfort the tumour was causing him. Hence, I brought him along to the vet!
Turns out, Co Co had mites, that have begun to multiply and 'attack' him due to the low immunity that he now had. Co Co was given an anti-mite solution, and also some take home medication to reduce the pain he might be experiencing.
The doctor again reminded us of the options that we have, considering the risks in mind, we could either:
Conduct an Operation to remove his tumour which may or may not be successful.
Continue long-term medication on Co Co until he passes on
That day, after the vet visit, Co Co was very active and could not wait to get home! He kept biting the box and tried to scratch/bite his way out of the box. Poor guy, must have been 'tortured' in the clinic...
When he got into the car though, he calmed down immediately. And the instant he arrived home and I placed him on the floor, he fell asleep!
This is him excited to go back to his clean home :)
Co Co's first time eating any form of medication. He did a great job!! Very cooperative.
He looked like he really enjoyed the medicine, wanting to lick every last bit!
Nope, look at how he threw the
syringe to the floor!
I think as a family we came to consensus that we would not put Co Co under the knife at this age, and we'll just continue with medication for as long as possible.
Stay strong Co Co! We love you and thank you for all the fun memories we have had thus far!
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