The Undercover Vet: Biggles the flying hamster!

One story that is very common amongst vets is problems with hamsters! I have heard many stories regarding these small furry and seemingly innocent creatures.

Hamsters are by nature nocturnal (awake at night) and a prey species (meaning larger animals such as birds of prey, hunt them for food). As a result of this, they often aren't too happy by having to come to the vet clinic. Once they arrive in the consult room during the day, they are normally trying to sleep and get pretty fed up by being disturbed (like anyone of us would). They normally arrive in a cage and hiding in some small plastic container (takeaway meal?). So as vets, we need to put our hand into the tiny door of the cage and then pick up the hamster.

From the hamster's perspective, what they see is a big clumsy hand blocking out all light and trying to grab them. So it is not unusual for them to wriggle around, try to escape and fight for their life! I know of one vet called Robert who once was examining a Syrian hamster for a minor ailment, when all of a sudden the hamster bit him.

Syrian hamsters in particular are known for biting and not being the most friendly of creatures! It may sound pretty pathetic, but I can definitely confirm that a hamster bite is excruciatingly painful. Their teeth are like needles that lock onto your finger and will not release under any circumstances. It seriously hurts!!!

So anyway, this particular hamster decided to sink its teeth into Robert. Robert's natural urge was to pull away his hand as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, Robert's sharp and swift instinctive withdrawal of the hand resulted in the hamster being propelled towards the back wall of the consult room! This flying hamster went splat into the wall and fell promptly to the ground.

It had instantly died with its posterior being the last thing to go through its mind!! The poor little fellow had bitten to try and escape with its life but ended up dying as a kamikaze! Obviously the owner was both stunned and upset by the rapid unfolding of events! Robert was lost for words and extremely embarassed by being a rodent murderer. If only they made parachutes and small helmets for hamsters - a lot of injuries could be avoided!