[jyuen]

I sent my hamster in today to have his tumor removed and luckily he is not touching his wound (yet) but seems very weak and his eyes are swollen shut. I tried dripping tiny amounts of water on his eyes to see if it is sealed by mucus but he is just not opening his eyes and the skin around the eyes are red and puffy. Does anybody know if this may be symptoms from the surgery and is there anything I can do to to help him?

I have also removed his Carefresh bedding and lining his cage with Bounty paper towels so his wounds do not get irritated by the bedding so is there a possibility he may be allergic to the paper towels?

 

[tinypixiexoxo]

Wow, sorry to hear! What a nice thing for you to get the tumor removed, many do not.

About the eyes, I'm not sure if it's a byproduct of the surgery or what, but I would leave him alone for a little while. Sometimes my dwarves will get a little flu which creates mucus around their eyes, but even then they really do not like their eyes to be touched. Remember, their skin is so much thinner than ours!

Just keep him comfortable and keep water and food within his reach. Best of luck with your little guy!!

 

[Lacrima]

Crusty eyes are extremely common in all types of animals after surgery, as their tears build up from lack of self control to blink and such post operation.

It may be red from him trying to clean himself because he cant take the crust away - just get warm water and use a cu-tip to cleanse it off and try to get the crust to dampen so it can deteriorate on it's own so you can wipe it off.

Sometimes this happens to pups of my litters when they wake up from a long and limp nap rofl!

If the redness turns into swollen skin it may or may not be an allergic reaction to something they may have wiped his face with after the surgery or perhaps an ill affect to the anesthesia or antibiotics (Which can happen very commonly even with humans!) if this is the case you need to speak to your Vet about it via Phone (Which is most easiest for little things like this.) and ask them what they think you should do to alliviate it.

My reccommendation is to clean it with warm water - and to then put a cool compress on his eyes to alliviate and sooth the swelling and redness. I would do it twice a day until you see/don't see improvement, then call.