Mary's Open Pyometra

Mary was our permanent resident Syrian Hamsters. She was adopted by our team due to one of our workers falling head over heels with her. She became one of our pet hamsters. We've written a previous post about rescuing Mary and her 4 sons. Mary lived happily with us for a long time. Three of her four sons found their fabulous forever homes.

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Mary's Open Pyometra:

Mary developed a foul-smelling vaginal discharge. Reproductive issues are common with female hamsters. As symptoms were suggestive of an open pyometra, we arranged for Mary to have an emergency ovariohysterectomy (spay).

Swabs of the discharge were taken, and microscopy findings were also suggestive of a bacterial infection. As the discharge was freely flowing from Mary's open cervix, the pyometra was described as 'open'.

As no signs of septic shock were present, the surgery went straight ahead once other general observations and pre-operative checks were performed.

The surgery went well, and Mary came round from the anaesthesia quite quickly. She was housed in an adapted accomodation to reduce the risk of injury and infection.

She was introduced to subcutaneous buprenorphine injections (analgesic opioid narcotic) BID and oral 1.5mg:1kg Metacam/Meloxicam (NSAID) QD. Painkillers would be slowly reduced throughout Mary's recovery. 

She was also introduced to a 30-day course of oral Baytril/Enrofloxacin (fluoroquinolone antimicrobial agent). As hamsters are quite sensitive to antibiotics, we introduced her to probiotics; there is limited evidence to support the benefits of probiotics, but we decided it wouldn't do any harm. 

Post-operative Infection:

Although Mary did extremely well post-op, she developed a moderate suture reaction and mild infection at the surgical site.

The vet removed the sutures and sterilized the area well. They decided to change antibiotics to Noroclav/Amoxicillin (as amoxicillin trihydrate) and clavulanic acid (as potassium clavulanate) 4:1 (penicillin antimicrobial agent). We continued with Metacam/Meloxicam (NSAID). Mary showed a very quick response to the change in antibiotics. 

She returned to normal and went back to live in her normal enclosure.

After a brave battle, Mary passed away on the 22nd of December 2019.