Injured

We had a hamster get injured today at work.

And it's like...bizarre how he ended up getting injured.
As it was one of the little robo dwarf hamsters.

And when I checked in on that particular cage he and his two other buddies were all doing good. I hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary and made sure their food and water were filled and such.

And I was supposed to do the animal count today.

But I didn't remember until I was halfway through my opening tasks.
And so I figured I would just save the count for later, when opening was done. That way I could make sure that opening did get done.

Only.
As I was getting ready to finish up the bedding change.
I decided that if I wanted to ensure the animal count got done before I was off in an hour.
I should do it now and then finish putting everything back in the reptile cages I'd been cleaning afterwards.
And if I didn't get it done then that would be fine. Because I had a coworker who could take over for me and finish with the cages.
But I'm the only one, since my manager is gone, who can do the count. 
-Technically I could have given it to a different manager, but since I'm the quickest at it...I figured I'd just do it.

And things went swimmingly until I came to that robo dwarf cage.

And I noticed immediately that the hamster sitting on the wheel was injured.

But I thought at first that his two other buddies had taken a dislike to him and that he'd been attacked.
As I thought I saw blood on his bottom, or at least scabs of injuries.

So I left to go grab a cage so I could isolate him.
And when I came back.

The wheel had shifted slightly.
And I saw this foot.
Sticking out between the wheel.

As the wheel itself is one of those quiet wheels that has two pieces to it. A white part and a colored part that click together.

And apparently the seal between the two pieces had become wide enough that it left a gap. A crack of sorts.

and the poor hamster had gotten his foot caught in that crack.
And couldn't get it out.

He'd rubbed the leg raw the poor hamster.

And who knows how long he'd been stuck like that.
But I'm guessing it was for a while.
As I had been busy with opening tasks so I hadn't needed to go over to the hamsters as no customers had shown interest in them yet. 

I quickly took action to free him from the wheel.
And gah.
It's not pretty.
I mean the leg is still whole and such.
No obvious blood besides a redness to the leg where the skin was rubbed raw.

But I think it might be broken.
Because the hamster was just dragging the leg behind him as he walked around. It wasn't moving at all. 
So it's either broken or dislocated.

And that puts us in a bit of a pickle.

Because hamsters don't do well being put under anesthesia. 
And that sort of treatment...usually requires anesthesia.

An even bigger problem was that our vet had left early that day.
So we couldn't get him seen right away. We have to wait until tomorrow to drop him off--as it was determined that the injury while not good...wasn't life threatening. So we could wait for tomorrow.

I'm mostly hoping that the leg will recover in the meantime.
But it's probably not likely. *exhales*

Still.
I do hope that he'll be able to recover.
As that's not a fun thing to have happen. :S Not at all. 

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi