 TOA
PAYOH VETS
toapayohvets.com
Focus: Small animals -
dogs, cats, hamsters, guinea pig & rabbits
Date:
20 July, 2009 |
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Toa Payoh Vets Clinical
Research
Making veterinary surgery alive
to a veterinary student studying in Australia
using real case studies and pictures
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A Dwarf Hamster Wart Re-Appears
Dr Sing
Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS
Case written:
20 July, 2009
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In 2009, I note that many of the
younger generation of Singaporeans are kinder to hamsters and do
seek treatment to help these "inexpensive" pets.
But they wait till the warts, tumours or abscesses are much larger
before consulting the veterinarians. Removal of the hamster is very
easy if they are small. When they grow big, other parts of the body
are involved and surgery can be very difficult.
In the above case, if the wart was very small, I could deep-freeze
it. In theory, all cells are dead and therefore the wart will not
re-appear again. However, the wart had grown to a respectable big
size before the owner came for treatment and I could not deep-freeze
it.
Under isoflurane gas anaesthesia, I clamped the stalk with the
artery forceps. Then I cut it off. This was more practical to do
than attempting deep-freezing the odd-shaped tri-lobed wart. The
wart looked like a clubbed hand with 3 fat fingers.
There was NO bleeding this time, compared to the first time when I
excised the wart (see picture above) which did not have such a long
stalk to clamp. In both cases, the hamster recovered from
anaesthesia and went home to a delighted young, busy and hard
working lady owner. I hope she will seek early treatment should the
wart pop up again!
NOTE: It is definitely much less expensive to get small
tumours, warts and abscesses removed. If no anaesthesia is used, the
cost is around $70.00. With anaesthesia, the cost may be $150 - $200
depending on the need to ward the hamster for nursing for more than
a few days. I prefer to remove smaller lumps. It is safer, faster
and easier. It is also cheaper for the owner.
Removal of large lumps stress out the hamster severely. Though none
had died in the several cases I had performed, the chances of an
anaesthetic death increase with more cases handled.
It is always a happy experience for the vet and the staff to present
a live hamster at the end of anaesthesia than a dead one.
Therefore owners do need to examine their hamsters physically and
get early treatment. |
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