VET CASE 2015. Video 2/2. Large necrotic smelly chest tumour in a dwarf hamster.
Channel: Dr David Sing
Date: 2015-06-01

VET CASE 2015. Video 2/2. Large necrotic smelly chest tumour in a dwarf hamster.

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BELOW IS WHAT WAS DESCRIBED IN VIDEO 1/2.
https://youtu.be/cooD8F6t6zI 


The family vet does not operate on hamster's chest and elbow tumours. Written by: Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow). 

May 1, 2015. This over one-year-old male dwarf hamster has 2 large subcutaneous tumours. The family vet who did not perform surgery advised euthanasia when the thin hamster could not live a good quality of life. The owner surfed the net and contacted Toa Payoh Vets in May 2015. 

The hamster was thin as he had poor appetite. The larger chest lump gets rubbed onto the floor when the hamster walked. It became ulcerated, infected and gangrenous black. Surprisingly, the hamster was still eating. 

At Toa Payoh Vets, the owner was informed that his hamster was at a high risk of death under anaesthesia if he wanted surgery to remove the chest tumour. With informed consent of the high risk of anaesthetic death, the young man decided on surgery. 

To my surprise, this hamster survived the anaesthesia and recovered fully at home after excision of this large necrotic tumour by Dr Daniel. Isoflurane gas anaesthesia were used in this case. The young man came back for removal of the elbow tumour one month later. That was why I knew he had survived the post-operation.  

Toa Payoh Vets is fortunate to receive many hamster tumour cases from Singaporeans over the past years. See some of the cases at: https://www.toapayohvets.com/surgery/050609hamsters_ToaPayohVets.htm

Most of our hamster owners are young people who had surfed the internet. With more surgeries done on dwarf hamsters, the anaesthetic and surgical skills of the vet and staff are honed. 
Early detection and excision of the tumour would be ideal in order to achieve a good outcome.


/Video link of: Video 1/2.  Large necrotic smelly chest tumour in a dwarf hamster.
https://youtu.be/cooD8F6t6zI 


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THIS VIDEO.
VET CASE 2015. Video 2/2. Large necrotic smelly chest tumour in a dwarf hamster.

The big chest tumour had been excised and the skin stitched. Only isoflurane gas anaesthesia was given as the hamster was very thin and weak. Some hamsters survive the surgery but die at home a few days later as they were in very poor health but needed the emergency surgery to remove the smelly rotten tumours.
 
Surprisingly this hamster survived as the owner came back with the request to remove the left armpit tumour. The hamster survived this surgery.

It is best not to wait till the tumour is gigantic and infected as there will be insufficient skin to stitch.

Video link: Video 2/2. Large necrotic smelly chest tumour in a dwarf hamster.
https://youtu.be/EVD1SMDzAFw