possibly sick hamster, but very active?

Hello!
I think that we have narrowed it down to what dolce seems to have (possibly pyometra but suggestions are so helpful), the only thing is her activity level. One week she wouldn't even come out of her nest, even at night, and I would stay up pretty late like after midnight and she still wouldn't have come out once. She is still drinking a lot, and I haven't noticed her eating much, even her favorite treats (millet and I got her a new edible log bc she devoured the first one and there are barely any bit marks) But all of the sudden she has become super active. She gets up every night and she has been staying up from around 7:00pm until early in the morning. She is running a lot, and runs around her cage like back and forth with her chew toys and I have even seen her run backwards! I see her trying to escape a lot too! She's a riot. She cleans herself a lot, and does this weird thing where she shakes out like a wet dog? I'm also pretty sure I heard her stomach grumble the other day.
And the reason why I think she may have open pyo is the strong smell she has had, all the time and not just when she is in heat. She doesn't sit still so it is hard to examine her, but when she was climbing to get out one day I saw that her privates did look like they were a little wet with the pus type stuff. As I said, I can't be sure though because of how much she moves. She sits in a hunched position a lot and I see her staring off into space when she isn't running. I have tried to feel her stomach, and see if she has a pear shape. I think she has kind of always looked slightly pear shaped, nothing alarming. Her stomach did feel a bit hard but I'm pretty sure that it was all normal.
She likes to run when she gets out and everything so that is the only thing that is confusing me. My dad thinks that I am being paranoid, and I'm starting to think maybe I am and everything is fine, but the symptoms are bothering me.
The vet is not an option, unfortunately, so I can only go online to try and find answers

If anyone has any suggestions to ease my worries I would be so grateful to you, and thank you for even reading this!

I hope to figure out what may, or may not be going on.

Does Dolce seem swollen or bloated?

Here are the symptoms of pyometra;
Swelling of the stomach
Discharge from the vent
Foul smell
Bleeding from the vent
Increased drinking and urinating
Reduced appetite
Irritability, or unusual biting
Hunched posture

The rumbling you mentioned is common in hamsters when digesting fibers, so there is no real concern there.

The "shaking like a wet dog" you also mentioned, could be brought on by stress or a possible foreign object lodged within the ear or ear canal. Please take a look and update us.

Since there are so many symptoms and different things going on,
I strongly recommend you convince your father to let you take Dolce to the vet. Perhaps show him some of the research you've collected. As pyometra is a terminal illness.

Alright, so I have just checked on Dolce. Nothing seems to be in her ears so I'm not sure what else could be making her shake. Tonight she has been burrowing all over the place in random places like shoving her face down in the bedding. She has been cleaning a lot and scratching as well as her shaking thing. I picked her up and she wouldn't let me look at her gentiles but when I held her I felt them and around her "vent" as you said, the hair was a little matted and it was extremely smelly. Like one of the worst smells, like her on heat but even worse. I am so confused as to why she has these symptoms but she is so active and doing so many weird things.

I haven't heard of the shaking associated with Pyometra. There is a possibility of another illness, however, the other symptoms you mentioned are very closely related to pyometra. Try wearing gardening gloves or winter gloves and observe her clearly. Perhaps, attach some photographs.

Good luck, and best wishes for Dolce

Upon further research with my professor, he has discussed with me that the increase in activity could be brought on by anxiety of the condition. I understand the difficulty of the situation, but I once again, strongly recommend bringing Dolce to an exotic animal clinic to perform surgery on the ovaries.

If the veterinarian is simply not an option, just spoil Dolce and make sure she's as comfortable as possible.

MrHelpful wrote:

Upon further research with my professor, he has discussed with me that the increase in activity could be brought on by anxiety of the condition. I understand the difficulty of the situation, but I once again, strongly recommend bringing Dolce to an exotic animal clinic to perform surgery on the ovaries.

If the veterinarian is simply not an option, just spoil Dolce and make sure she's as comfortable as possible.

I appreciate all of this, thank you so much. I will do what I can to see if I can bring her in, and if not I will spend as much time as I can with her.

Did you bring her to the vet?

PuppyPrism wrote:

Did you bring her to the vet?

unfortunately I haven't been able to

Please update me on Dolce.

MrHelpful wrote:

Please update me on Dolce.

Hi MrHelpful! Glad to hear from you,
According to my dad dolce has been out every night that I was at my moms house during the school week. She seems to be eating more as well. The drinking excessively still seems to be an issue. Last night, she barely came out at all which was pretty strange considering how my dad said she was out running in her ball the night before and has been running on her wheel. She would come out, clean herself and look around, maybe hop on the wheel for a few minutes and get a drink then run back to her hideout. Today when I got home (around an hour ago so 4:00pm for me) She was in the corner going to the bathroom. Once she was done she grabbed some bedding and ran into her nest/hut.Today and last night when I have lifted up her hideout to check on her she doesn't want to come out and see me, when she normally comes out when I put the hideout back down. She seems to be scratching herself in her bed as well. She will also start to chatter her teeth pretty loudly. Right now she is seeming like she doesn't want to get up. She seems very anxious. I'm not sure what's going on as I have never seen this before, but maybe she is fine!
I look forward to hearing back from you

I have another update, which unfortunately doesn't seem too good. I picked dolce up with gloves to get a better look. She had some clear discharge run off onto my hands and it was some of the worst I have ever smelled, and she doesn't seem to be in heat (not freezing and lifting her tail when scratched near the hind end) I saw that her bottom looked quite black and there was wetness around it, though I am sure it wasn't wet tail because her poos are not diarrhea. She looked kind of like this pic (not mine) https://s617.photobucket.com/user/blade100/media/mopyo001_zpsa119432d.jpg.html but there seemed to be a larger area of black around the region, maybe twice or 3 times the size? She is hard to get a hold of and doesn't like the gloves too much so it was a little hard to tell

Thank you for the update, and providing the clear image.

The current state she is going through is a highly advanced state of pyometra. I understand Dolce has some hesitant behaviour towards handling, however, a simple test is recommended. Press gently onto Dolce's tummy and please observe if a large amount discharge comes out, especially of a fishy-smelling nature this would most-likely, once again, confirm her pyometra diagnosis. I am aware that you are unable to take Dolce to the veterinarian, in which they would perform a £40 neuter, which would help greatly for her condition, however, you may also treat this at home by giving her a singular drop of baytril everyday for the rest of her life. I recommend getting a second opinion for this at-home option, as it may not work for Dolce. Once again, the veterinarian is the best and cheaper option.

MrHelpful wrote:

Thank you for the update, and providing the clear image.

The current state she is going through is a highly advanced state of pyometra. I understand Dolce has some hesitant behaviour towards handling, however, a simple test is recommended. Press gently onto Dolce's tummy and please observe if a large amount discharge comes out, especially of a fishy-smelling nature this would most-likely, once again, confirm her pyometra diagnosis. I am aware that you are unable to take Dolce to the veterinarian, in which they would perform a £40 neuter, which would help greatly for her condition, however, you may also treat this at home by giving her a singular drop of baytril everyday for the rest of her life. I recommend getting a second opinion for this at-home option, as it may not work for Dolce. Once again, the veterinarian is the best and cheaper option.

Hello again. The other day actually I noticed that there was blood in the corner she has been peeing in. I haven't seen it again but I think this might mean the pyo is getting farther along from what I have read. I will check her out and do the test of her stomach the best I can. Thank you so much I'll update you soon. Also, If you want to read a little bit more of what I have written the other day concerning dolce, on the Hamster Hideout forum I uploaded a new topic yesterday called "Blood in pee area" if you would like to read a little more on her current condition.

So I just got her out with my gloves and normally when I go in and she knows its me by my hands/smell she doesn't get too mad. Since I had the gloves on she was very irritable and biting the gloves. I felt terrible but I needed the peace of mind to check and see if this really is pyometra. When I pressed on her stomach she seemed to try and wriggle out of my hands, probably as any hamster would do, but the smell of her got worse. Im pretty upset as I don't know how much longer she is going to have