A MUM says her nine-year-old girl is lucky to be alive after being bitten by her hamster.
Sapphire Swannack was holding beloved pet Blue when he suddenly planted his teeth into her finger.
Mum Lucie, 31, got her antibiotics but her finger started swelling while a rash spread up her arm.
The beauty adviser said: “He drew blood and Sapphire was in a lot of pain.
“I got her antibiotics and just assumed it would heal over — you hear about wounds getting infected from dog or cat bites, not a bloody hamster.”
But Lucie, from Larkhall, Somerset, feared the worst a few days later.
She said: “I could see a worrying red rash spreading up her arm and instantly I knew we had to get her to A&E.
“Doctors put her on an IV drip as soon as we got to hospital as her heart rate was so fast.
“The poor thing was put into Covid isolation at first because her temperature was so high but, thankfully, she tested negative.
“She had an operation the following morning under general anaesthetic to flush the wound.
“The infection could have gone to her heart. She could’ve died.”
Serious infections from hamster bites are rare. The NHS advises urgent attention if a wound from an animal becomes swollen.
Blue, a Syrian hamster, has gone to a relative. Lucie added: “We’ve told them to wear boxing gloves when handling him.”
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