Bacchus Residents

Hello again, readers, Today we wanted to do a short but sweet post about one of our new arrivals - Colin. Colin was being given away as an elderly hyrbid dwarf hamster. So, we thought we would offer him the retirement home he deserves. Colin is in full health. We think he likes it here! You can keep up with Colin on our Instagram .

Hello again, readers, Today we wanted to talk about losing our beloved Padme quite some time ago. She was 2 and a half years old when she passed away, but despite that, her passing was still very unexpected. Padme had come down with what we had believed to be a suspected UTI (urinary tract infection) and had also developed a small mammary lump - about the size of a blueberry. The timing was incredibly bizarre, her daughter Leia was going through the recovery stages of near enough the exact same illnesses. The vet was confident they'd be able to safely remove the lump due to it's location, but with Padme's age, it would've been high risk. The vet advised we dealt with the suspected UTI first so it posed less of a risk during surgery.  Padme was put on a course of Baytril (antibiotic) and Meloxicam/Metacam (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory) in the hope it would've cleared up the small amount of blood coming from her genitalia. Initially, Padme responded well to ...

Hello again readers, Today we wanted to discuss Venus, she gave us quite a scare a little while back.  We noticed Venus seemed very uncomfortable one afternoon. We decided to get her out for a play time, take her weight, and do some other general health checks. She refused. Venus wasn't interested in her dust bath, play time, and was even turning away some of her favorite food.  Venus was taken straight to the vet to be assessed. Thankfully Venus' hadn't lost any weight (750g-800g is her normal weight range), no lumps or bumps, incisors appeared fine, we couldn't see any molar abnormalities (though we couldn't perform an overly thorough check with the scope) however she did have some inflammation around her gums. The vet believed it would be sensible to put Venus on some Metacam/Meloxicam, take some X-Ray images the following day, and give Venus a whiff of gas to have a thorough look at the inside of her mouth. Thankfully, the X-Ray images appeared to be...

Hello again readers, Today we wanted to introduce two beautiful male rats - Travis and Trevor. The pair arrived as they were being given away for free locally by their owners due to unforeseen circumstances. It was clear the two boys were very loved. Travis was entirely healthy, but Trevor was obese (nearly 900g to be exact). He was having some difficulty doing some of the everyday activities a rat should normally do due to the excess weight. We decided it would be sensible to put Trevor on a strict diet so he could quickly lose some of the excess weight. We also noticed Trevor was drinking an excessive amount of water, and we feared he may have had diabetes.  We took him to the vets to be admitted for some tests. Thankfully, they came back all clear with only a few minor abnormalities - most likely due to the fact he was so overweight. We were told to continue with his weight loss journey, and within no time we knew Trevor would be back to full health! We did want to repe...

Hello again readers, We wanted to talk about Diane and Lucy in one post since they were sisters who came to us together. Strangely, both sisters began their battle with Pyometra around about the same time as each other. We learnt a lot about the condition through their experiences. We thought it would be interesting to write about the multiple approaches we used throughout their treatments, including; medication, surgery, and everything else in between. Medication Management:  Diane was the first one to be diagnosed with Pyometra. We noticed Diane had a foul smelling vaginal discharge, and we decided it warranted a visit to the vet. The vet we initially mentioned how Pyometra is quite common with female Syrian hamsters. In their opinion, with Diane's age (2 - 2.5 years approx) in mind, they said it probably wasn't within Diane's best interest to have a full hysterectomy. They instead advised we try and manage the condition with antibiotics - the first one we used was...

Hello again readers, This is just a short and sweet post to introduce a wonderful new addition - Carrot. She is a fully healthy Syrian hamster at approximately 1 year - 1.5 years old. Carrot was being given away for free locally as a hamster who hadn't been handled in 12 months due to aggression. In fear she would end up in the wrong hands, we decided to respond. We collected Carrot only to discover that for the past few days, she hadn't had anything to eat - only a piece of carrot. Ironically, she hates the taste of carrot! So, we decided it would be her name. Carrot has since had a cage upgrade, new toys, food actually fit for a hamster, and regular handling. Typically, once she had been given all the essentials a hamster needs, she became a very tame and loving hamster. Not surprisingly, she loves it here!

Hello again readers, Today we wanted to talk about the resident rabbits. We have to admit, we were incredibly nervous about taking in rabbits - we knew how much hard work they were. Once we knew they were coming, we read a lot of books and websites about them, but it is nothing like the having real thing. You can research everything and anything there is to know on a subject, but in most cases experience is vital.  We pride ourselves on our high quality care. Quality of life is one of our top priorities, we like to have the correct pristine accommodation, good general knowledge, regular handling, and everything else in between.  However, in this case, we had no housing built, no stock, no experience, no nothing. Although, we are happy to say that we have built up some stock, and both bunnies are happy and healthy. We've been gaining more and more experience as the days goes by.  We have learnt an awful lot about rabbits in a short space of time, and it has been a huge ...

Hello again readers, We have a bit of a sad post today. We thought we would talk about our beloved hamster Mad-Eye. We have written a previous post about him on our blog before back when he had to have eye enucleation surgery after he developed severe glaucoma and hemorrhaging - suspected to be post-traumatic at the time.  Mad-Eye's eye was successfully removed, and at first he seemed to be doing really well. Not too long after he was given the all clear, we noticed the eyelid which had been sealed shut after the surgery wasn't sitting "flat" anymore, it appeared to be very slightly raised. We took Mad-Eye to the vet to get it checked out, and initially we believed it could've been a reaction to the suches dissolving, and we were told to closely monitor it. His eyelids continued to raise, and appeared to be like more of an irregular bump now. The vet then decided to trial Mad-Eye on some antibiotics and anti-inflammatories (Baytril and Metacam) to check if...

Hello again readers, We thought we would write about Isla and Isis in one post - with them being cage mates/sisters. We will go through everything in chronological order, but we will highlight each chapter clearly, making it easier to read. Isis' surgery We noticed Isis had an unusual growth on her scent gland, it didn't really look like a tumour, especially not a malignant one anyway. We decided to take Isis to the vet in order to find out what the growth was, and how to go about it. The initial vet we saw believed the growth was something along the lines of a Neoplasia and it would probably be best for it to be removed. We agreed, we also noticed Isis had been nibbling at it slightly - she could've done a lot of damage if she chewed it off. So, it seemed more sensible for a vet to safely remove it. The surgery was a great success, and it turned out the growth was more like a harmless wart. Initially the wound was stitched, but Isis chewed them before she even l...

Hello again readers, As you've probably already guessed from the title, we have a lot of things to tell you all about. Most, if not all, of these things have already been featured on our Instagram .  Normally on our  Instagram  however, we post frequent mini updates as and when we have new information about whatever it is that may be happening at the time, which can be really confusing. Heck, we find it hard to keep up with everything that is going on sometimes! Today on our blog, however, we will post about one entire event, from beginning to end - making it a lot easier to understand (hopefully).  Some updates have happy endings, and some don't, but we still think they all should be posted. Cookie's Penis Prolapse: Yes, you read that right! We thought we would start with a more light-hearted update.  We always loved to handle Cookie at dinnertime, he was always such a friendly Chinese Hamster - he would always come out to play as soon as he kne...

Hello again readers, We aren't too surprised about having to write yet another post about Leia and her health. We aren't sure if all her health problems are because she is a manx rat - or just pure bad luck! If you follow us on Instagram , you'll probably know Leia almost as well as we do. If not, we will be discussing both Leia's hysterectomy, second mammary lump removal, and her abscess.  Please DO NOT read if you are squeamish - there will be images that may distress some readers. Leia's Pyometra; If you read our previous post about Leia , you'll know that Leia had a very eventful few months after she had some mammary lumps removed. Not too long after she had made a full recovery, we noticed Leia had become very unwell yet again. The most obvious symptoms were; bloating, lethargy, and visible discomfort. We decided it was best to take Leia to the vet. The vet thought Leia could've been suffering with a UTI (urinary tract infection), but sh...