Yesterday Mar 22, 2013, I
strongly advised the young
couple that their
one-year-old male white
hamster with a large
swollen right hind leg
with only the foot seen. I
said it would unlikely
survive the anaesthesia
and surgery. The right
hind leg was the size of a
firm fish ball - the type
eaten in fish bowl noodles
in Singapore. I got a
ruler and show that it
measured 3.5 cm x 3.5 cm x
3 cm. The hamster weighed
64 g but he was much
heavier some 4 weeks ago.
The couple had consulted
Vet 1 who prescribed
baytril and prednisolone
(pred) for 2 weeks and
advised surgery if the
drugs were ineffective.
Apparently Vet 1 did a
biopsy which showed cells
were not normal. According
to the owner, pus and
blood seeped out when Vet
1 put in a needle. A blood
test was also done by Vet
1. The details of the
procedure were a bit
vague.
"Such a large tumour will
not disappear with
medication," I said. "An
early operation without
taking medication would
give the hamster a higher
chance. Pred relieved pain
and inflammation but it
weakens the immune system
and adversely affect
surgery. In any case, the
hamster is unlikely to
survive the anaesthesia as
the lump is massive and
involves the hip joint as
well as the right groin
area. If this large leg
tumour is removed, the
hamster will lose around
20% of his blood and that
could be fatal. The blood
supply in this lump has
increased to feed the
tumour. There is no blood
transfusion in the hamster
to replace this blood loss
as this is not practical.
"This large leg lump would
probably be a bone tumour
which has spread. Go
home and think about the
surgery. The alternative
is let the hamster enjoy
his life till the lump
starts getting infected
and bleeding more."
However, there was some
purplish area and an open
wound on the extreme right
of the lump. The hamster
would lick this lump but
the owners had tied a band
of tissue paper like a
ribbon around his waist,
preventing him from
attacking this lump.
It appeared that the
tissue paper tie was
effective but actually it
was the pred that stopped
the itchiness and pain as
the overall appearance of
the lump was not highly
inflamed or itchy. The
hamster would still lick
the lump if the paper
ribbon tie was taken off.
"Is he still eating?" I
asked.
"He eats a lot," the young
man said. The young lady
showed me a Handphone
image of this hamster 4
weeks ago. It was a plump
as can be, at 77 grams for
a dwarf hamster. So the
right leg swelling which
would begin as a small
tumour was not obvious.
"He looks thin," I said.
"If he is eating a lot,
his weight would not have
dropped from 77 grams to
64 grams now. How many
faecal pellets does he
pass out a day? "
"We don't count them," the
young man showed me 2
small faecal pellets in
the cage.
I asked the couple to
think again as regards the
highly risky surgery.
"This may be the last time
you see the hamster before
he goes to the operation
room. He will lose around
20% of his blood supply
based on this large tumour
having cornered this
amount, when the whole
right hind leg is
amputated at the right hip
level."
They wanted a few minutes
at the reception area to
discuss further.
"Take your time," I had
asked them to take 2 days
to think about it. This
was the type of high risk
anaesthesia that I would
rather not do. The
alternative is let the
hamster be euthanased when
the tumour had become
necrotic and smelly.
"How much time has my
hamster to live?" the
young man asked.
"Around 4 weeks," I said.
"Your medication will have
to be taken off as it
can't be given for a
longer time. It may cause
wet tail diarrhoea and the
hamster would die from
that condition."
It was a hard situation
for the owner and for the
operating vet. In some
cases, I would tell the
owner that the condition
is inoperable but in this
hamster, a right hind leg
amputation was operable if
the hamster would survive
the anaesthesia.
The couple decided on the
surgery.
At 6.42 pm I injected 3
drops of zoletil 50 IM. At
7.08 pm, the stitching was
done. The hamster was well
sedated without the need
of isoflurane gas top up.
The right hind leg muscles
were clamped at the right
hip area. I excised the
whole leg, cutting off the
femoral bone below the
hip. I used a transfixing
ligature to tie up the
muscle remnant. There was
no bleeding surprisingly
after removal of the clamp
and excision of the
tumour. I stitched the big
skin wound of 5 cm long
displaying the right-sided
abdominal intestines under
the thin peritoneal
covering with absorbable
6/0 simple interrupted
sutures.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 6078
- 6081. Malignant leg tumour
grows more aggressively in
younger dwarf hamsters |
The hamster was still
breathing at the end of
the long surgery taking
around 26 minutes But he
did not bounce back. I
phoned the couple who
arrived within a few
minutes. The hamster was
still. Motionless.
"Normally I can see chest
movements or whisker
movements within 30
minutes after surgery," I
said to the couple. I
checked the hamster's
heart. There was no heart
beat. The hamster's eyes
were open. He had passed
away. This was a very sad
moment.
The hamster now weighed
45grams. The left hind leg
and tumour weighed 18
grams. I expressed my
condolences to the owner.
It was difficult for them
as the alternative was a
dehydrated hamster with a
necrotic right hind leg.
The skin of this hamster
was folded up when I
pulled it, showing a
moderate degree of
dehydration.
This type of high risk
cases may best be rejected
as the chances of survival
are very low. In many
cases, I don't operate in
cases with very low
survival rates but this
was a younger hamster,
being one-year-old and so
I agreed to operate at
this late stage.
An informed consent was
given but at the end of
the day, the surgical
outcome of death after the
surgery was not too
emotional for everyone.
Yet no operating surgeon
can have a 100% no-death
surgical and anaesthetic
outcome but it still
affects the veterinary
surgeon.
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