R.I.P Mad-Eye

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 it was a post-surgical abscess. The lump didn't respond and continued to get worse.

Mad-Eye was then admitted for some further tests, and they then came to the conclusion that Mad-Eye had an inoperable tumour growing at a steady rate beneath his eyelid, in the eye socket area. It was also likely to have been the initial cause of the glaucoma and hemorrhaging. It was terminal. It probably wouldn't have been noticed without CT scans or even MRI's - possibly only contrast MRI's would've picked it up. With the vets originally suspecting the problem was post-traumatic, there was no real reason to warrant so many in-depth scans.
Our hearts shattered. We couldn't believe that our little trooper had been fighting so so hard, for a battle he was never destined to win. One thing was clear, Mad-Eye wasn't suffering as of yet. We were told to take him home and give him the best palliative care we possibly could.

Mad-Eye soldiered on for weeks without any form of medical intervention. Eventually however, there became a point when Mad-Eye seemed to be slightly uncomfortable, so for his final couple of weeks he did have some painkillers in order to help him through his battle.

Unexpectedly one day, the tumour had grown a considerable amount - Mad-Eye was losing his will to fight. We decided to honour our brave little warrior by taking him to the vet one final time, and give him the peaceful passing he truly deserved. 
We were so overwhelmed to see how many people Mad-Eye touched. Everyone loved Mad-Eye. He is deeply missed.

Mad-Eye crossed the rainbow bridge on 16/03/18
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