Hamster Surgery

I stumbled upon an unbelievable scene last night when I went to the Primary Presidency meeting. The hostess had been watching the hamster of another presidency member. The hostess has a cat, but not a regular cat. It's a cat that's a small part Asian leopard. Anyway, for two weeks she had managed to keep the cat and hamster from each other. But of course, that wouldn't be a notable story.

Just before the hamster was to be retrieved by its owner last night, the leopard cat sneaked into the office, knocked the cage off the desk and got a piece of flesh off the flank of the hamster. (It's at this point I showed up.) So, what do you do with an injured hamster? If the hostess's husband is a med student who's done a few animal surgeries before, you set up a miniature surgical suite on the kitchen table.

He used ether as the anesthetic to put the hamster out by spraying a common garage product that's mostly ether on a paper towel and putting it under a bowl with the hamster. He then used 4.0 suture to give the hamster seven stitches. It was only after the hamster was out that he found out it was a little more than just a flesh wound. That makes it really likely that infection will get the hamster, but I'm still impressed by the veterinary care. I don't recommend trying this at home for most people.

I had promised our moms I would get picture of our new place posted, but I'm failing miserably. The desk top computer still isn't put together, and there are still boxes everywhere. I'll be away from the computer for a few days, so it will be next week sometime when I get anything posted.