My hamster died yesterday, can anyone PLEASE help tell me why?

I had a calico hamster, Kali, and she died last night. We really loved her and I just want to know a possible explanation to have some closure so any help is much appreciated.



When we got her from the pet store, we weren't sure of how old she was, she seemed like the biggest one there and she was very tame, which makes me think maybe it was old age and she might've had past owners, at first we thought she was just very loving. We have two dwarf hamsters and they're a little aggressive, but when you reached in the cage for Kali, she never minded your hand, and she was even excited enough to just crawl out of her cage towards us.



Yesterday morning we pulled her out and she sat with us very calmly, but she seemed pretty normal, just figured she was tired because it was the morning. in the afternoon, I went to feed her, and usually she runs downstairs (she had a top compartment) quickly and gobbles up the food and takes it upstairs. I didn't really think anything of it when she didn't come down quickly. then a few hours later we went back to check on her, and she was curled up into a ball next to her food, I thought she was dead. so we pulled her out and she was still alive but VERY limp, like her back legs weren't working, or half her body wasn't working right, Idk. she was trying to move but her eyes wouldn't open, so we thought maybe she is dehydrated (her bottle was empty), and didn't know what to do so we rinsed her off with lukewarm water and then dried her with a towel, wrapped her in the towel and held her. she seemed a tiny bit better, tried moving and stuff... we sat with her for about an hour and gave her some water with her bottle, she opened her mouth and she did swallow and then she opened her eyes finally (just a little) and tried crawling forward. it was more like she was dragging herself and trying to lay on her side but we kept putting her on her stomach because we wanted her to be able to breath well. she suffered for hours (probably five?) sitting next to us, we had our eye on her hoping she would get better.....



I called where I got her from but they didn't know very much. I called the vet (it was too expensive for us to take her in so I just asked them for advice) and they couldn't really tell me much either. I posted a question on here and people tried to help but the answer was mostly that she was going to die. at one point in the evening, she started to go through like seizures, she would throw her head back (towards the sky) and open her mouth and start screeching :( she was in so much pain but we didn't know what we could do..... eventually she just became very stiff, so she was dead.



I just want to know what might have caused this, maybe I can prevent it next time, or at least have some peace of mind. like I said, Idk how old she was to begin with. I didn't change any of her diet, I took care of her, it was the same food and we played with her often. it has been cold lately in our house because the Winter is coming, Idk if that is a factor. she had a top bunk in her cage, and she liked to sleep, poop and eat in there, and she had shredded newspaper, Idk if she ate newspaper that was bad (urinated on??) or if she couldn't breathe with all of it in there, I did my best to keep up with cleaning to avoid diesease.... please let me know anything if you can help, Thanks.My hamster died yesterday, can anyone PLEASE help tell me why?
oh Honey. sorry to here that. but it sounds like she got her food the food was dry and when you have pets like that they are always shoving food in their mouths and they must always have water close. if i was to say she chocked on the food and there was no water to wetting the food sorryMy hamster died yesterday, can anyone PLEASE help tell me why?
I think you should use like wood straps , instead of newspaper, it could have poisoned her.
it didn't like you.... lol!!
i dont know?
Just a few days ago, one of my hamsters died in the same way yours did (seizures, etc.), and it was because she had been thrown.

Maybe your hamster fell off her top part of her cage, or was dropped accidentally by someone.

It is also possible that she was dehydrated.

I'm sorry for your loss ='[
Im sorry for your loss i hate it when my hammies die :'(

You always feel just that little bit guilty which is just human nature.She could have been dehydrated, been ill (cancer,diabetes,tumor,poisoning, wet tail or abscesses) most of these don't have any or no symptoms at all and if the hamster is quite old then most people mistake the symptoms for old age. Your hamster could of died from old age but most hamsters that die from old age just sleep away and hamster died in a horribly stressful way (poor little thing)!! Also your hamster could have fell off of the top level of her cage and got internal bleeding or it could have choked on a bit of food wedged in her throat or stuck in her pouch. I feel sorry for you no one likes it when a hammie or any pet for that matter dies...

Bury her and make a cross out of lollipop sticks in her memory in your garden and plant some flowers in her remembrance.

This should ease your pain



Hope this helped

Amy :)
I am so sorry! It sounds like maybe she was just old or perhaps she was sick... Did she fall or hit herself anywhere? Because I had a parakeet and it hit the lamp and fell on the radiator and died from internal bleeding. It was horrible...I really loved him! Anyway before he died he acted very much like your hamster did. It might have been internal bleeding. Either way I'm still very sorry! I'm a huge animal lover and have like five pets. One of them is a guinea pig and I don't know what I'm gonna do when she dies, I love her so much...Anyway I hope I helped...
hamsters don't have a very long life expectancy its only 2-5 years that could be why i don't think cold temperature would be a factor because i had 2 dwarf hamsters about a year ago and we had to live with no heat for while through winter and we kept a towel or blanket over their cages but they lasted through it so more than likely it was old age
my hamster was also the same.. do you think you overfed it?? or maybe it was just old age.. she could also be sick at that time..



they shred newspapers all the time.. my hamster does that too.. i think they use it to warm themselves.. ???
I know the feeling ! I had a dwarf hamster named Tink and she dies pretty much the soame way and all about a year after i got her ! I felt horrible because i thought i had done something wrong !! I dont really know what happened either ! All I do know is that pet stores arent always honest and we have know idea what they do when it comes to saleing them. The guy who helped mw pick a hamster said it woul live for four years but she barely made one year ! Im so sorry ! I took a little rectangle white box, but some of her shredded bedding, cut a little blanket out of some old fabric and layered her in the book underneath the blanket. Then we put a flower next to her and put me and my younger sibling but little notes inside with her. We buried her in our yard with our rabbit. I hate it when you dont know what happened and you feel guilty ! Tink loved to be petted and she loved to run around out side her cage ! She was so funny ! She would lick our fingers through the cage and then bit my sister's finger ! I miss her !