Bella

Hello, this is Joshua the Hamster blogging from Athens, Greece.

I would like to talk to you about Bella.

Bella is my new friend. She came to our house 2 months ago, just a little bit before Christmas. When Nick got her from the pet store, they gave him a little box for the transfer that was made out of paper. Nick had to make a short visit to the local convenience store to get some presents for Christmas. Very short stop, no more than 5 mins. By the time he got back in the car, Bella had eaten her box and was exploring the passenger's sit.

He put her in my mother's old cage that was prepared in advance.The journey from the pet store to our house is stressing for new hamsters. And we also don't like changes. So she was let alone in her new days for a couple of days without distractions in order to get used to it. Bella was easily frightened and for little reason. Bella was very shy and she was scared easily. When she heard loud noises she would wake up and cry! She made a little voice, much like a human screaming 'waaaah', that made Nick feel bad for waking her up and scaring her. But her scream was funny too. Bella got used to human voices after a day or too!

Bella was shy. That's why we don't have many pictures of her. She would also never stay still, which made taking pictures of her even more difficult. This is her only photo we got of her. 

She is not very pretty, but she has a heart of gold. She loved eating sunflower seeds and peanuts. Nick would leave a few in her cage at first, and later, when Bella became more bold, he would let her take them from his hand. She wasn't allowed to roam free in the house because she had the bad habit of biting and chewing the cables. So, she spent a lot of time in her blue hamsterball. The one pictured in the photo. I used to run behind her, and she would try to run over me, with her ball. Fun times.

What? Oh, no why would you think that? Of course she is not dead!!! 

I am using past tense because she is very sick right now. But she is getting better. You see, two weeks ago, she developed a mild eye infection. She wouldn't open her right eye. Nick didn't pay much attention to that. After all this is very common to hamsters. My mother used to do this all the time, and then after a while, usually the next day, her eye would be OK.

Alas, this was not the case with Bella, next day it was worse. Also, for some reason, she started making weird noises with her nose. Perhaps the infection, or the tears from her eye, caused her respiratory problems? That was Saturday, two weeks ago. Come Sunday, she begun breathing irregularly. Nick couldn't take her to a vet at Sunday. They had to wait until Monday.

So, once he got back from work, he put her in her hamsterball and drove to the vet. It was an adventurous journey for many reasons. First, because he had no idea where the vet was. Second, Bella was scared and Nick had to drive slowly and avoid bumps. Which is impossible if you drive in greek roads. Once he reached the vet, it was almost closing time. But they made it in time.

Bella, escaped from her ball, once they were inside the vets office and started running around her office. When they caught her, they put her on the surgical table (but they didn't perform any surgery) and the vet started examining her. Bella was scared, and -hehe, this is funny- she pooped the vet. That was when Nick noticed a HUUUGE cat on top of one of the vets shelves. He was the Vet's cat. He had this look, like he was the owner of the place, and everyone else was under his command. He just stood there, watching.

The vet weighted Bella in order to judge how much antibiotics to prescribe. She told him to give her the antibiotics (once per day) and eye drops for the eye infection (thrice a day). The antibiotics would help cure the infection and breathing problems and prevent pneumonia. She also said that Bella had to visit her again next Friday. That was when the cat had had enough, and jumped from the shelve on to the vet's surgical place and started sniffing Bella. Bella almost fainted. 

Nick started administering the antibiotics and the eye drops to Bella, but with great difficulty. Bella refused to take her medication. She even started screaming like she did the first day she got home. She hadn't screamed since then. Nick was giving a desperate fight in order to make her drink the antibiotics, but she would try to escape from his hand. However she didn't bite him. Even when she got really scared and started screaming. After 30 minutes of failed attempts to force feed her the antibiotics, Nick gave up. However he succeeded at a later time. Hoorah!

Her breathing problem vanished the next day, which was very good, because it was causing Bella to snore while sleeping. It may sound funny now, but if you were there, hearing her, it would make you worry too. However, her eye infection did not get any better. In fact it got worse. Her eye was now constantly closed and swollen. And then her nose started getting bigger too. 

On Friday, Nick visited the vet again. This time they didn't put Bella into her hamsterball, but took her cage with her. The cat was there too (along with 2 more cats), and all of them were curious about Bella. They even climbed on her cage. I am not sure if Bella noticed them. She was very tired with the infection and the administration of antibiotics, and her eye was closed shut. The vet examined Bella again. She said that her nose was big because of the abscess or something. She said she had never seen an abscess so big before. This worried Nick a lot, but the vet reassured him that it was nothing to worry about. She told him to increase the dosage of the antibiotics to twice a day, instead of just once.

Three days have passed since then. Bella's abscess now has gotten somehow a little smaller, but she still looks like a rhino! Her eye is still closed, and she sleeps a lot. However, it's encouraging the she still has her appetite and drinks water regularly.

I hope she gets better soon, because I miss chasing her in her hamster ball.

Joshua, the hamster.