(This happened about 3 years ago so I'm totally over it but just curious on why it happened). He was a dwarf hamster about 9 months old. My theory was always that he had a heart attack because I had his cage on the floor (only place for it) and my cat scared him, gave him a heart attack and he died. He was healthy (so I thought), very active and didn't show signs of diabetes. I know that when I'd put him in his ball he'd chase and scare my cat but when he was in his cage my cat would sit there and stare at him and wag his tail. He had a proper habitat. One day I just found him in his sleeping spot rolled in a ball (that's how he slept) with no heart-beat. It was really weird and really sudden.
What could have caused this?
2007-04-14 12:05:07 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
No, he was 9 months old. I got him from a friend when her hamster had babies. He was born on my b-day.
And no, I didn't feed him to my cat. I burried him in my back yard along with all of the wild birds my cat has killed.
2007-04-14 12:13:49 · update #1
I don't think he died from fear of the cat; he was used to seeing the cat.
If the cat got a hold of him, even without serious injury, he could get a bad infection and die.
Some animals (and people too) are just born with a congenital defect that can lead to early death. I had a dog that died of sudden liver failure, apparently due to a congenital defect. There are any number of organ systems that can fail.
He could even have had some other illness that was not obvious to you.
You'll never know for sure now, though.
2007-04-14 13:55:26 · answer #1 · answered by The First Dragon 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It may be a heart attack. I had a dwarf hamster about 10 months old that died and I think it was tumor related. Many hamsters die of tumors. You can not predict them or anything they just show up in hamsters. It is very possible that it was a heart attack though.
2007-04-14 12:14:32 · answer #2 · answered by Emily Answers 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hamsters really don't live a long life at all. I had tons of them growing up. If I remember right the average life span of a hamster was something like 2 years at the most. It is very well possible it was older than you thought, or it was sick, or like you said a heart attack. It is really just hard to tell with animals when they just suddenly die.
2007-04-14 12:09:20 · answer #3 · answered by sanityisbeyondme 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He died from shock. Your cat probably scared him, he had a heart attack, and died.
2007-04-14 12:08:55 · answer #4 · answered by PuttPutt 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sounds like a heart attack, or just general heart failure if he was old...
2007-04-14 12:08:47 · answer #5 · answered by firefromabustedgun 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if the cage was on the floor, he might have gotten too cold and frozen to death, not good to keep cages on the floor
2007-04-14 12:12:28 · answer #6 · answered by Jules 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
so did you feed it to the cat?
2007-04-14 12:08:29 · answer #7 · answered by ilovemykids 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
food could have choked him sorry
2007-04-14 12:09:33 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
i kicked it =] sorry i ment to tell ya about that
2007-04-14 12:07:23 · answer #9 · answered by LazY 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋