Nathan Halliday, a 34-year-old man from Kirkby, UK, was holding his pet hamster Mochi when the animal suffered a seizure and bit down on his hand.
But the real trouble started just a few minutes after when he began suffering the telltale symptoms of anaphylaxis, a severe life-threatening reaction. Suddenly, he developed difficulty breathing, and his whole body swelled and was covered in hives.
Luckily, his partner reacted quickly and called emergency services.
Said Halliday:
It was absolutely horrendous especially as I had no idea a hamster bite could cause something like this.
My whole body felt swollen and my throat hurt – I couldn’t even speak and it was like breathing through a straw. I was covered in hives.
Nobody had ever heard of what had happened before. It amused the doctors but they were very professional about it.
They gave me epi pens for the next time a hamster wants to take me on.
All jokes aside, the experience was really very scary.
A 2023 study published in the journal Allergol Select concludes:
Anaphylaxis from animal bites is rarely reported with only approximately 40 cases described in the English language literature. However, anaphylaxis occurs more frequently than suggested by published case reports and should be considered in a symptomatic patient following a bite.
Halliday described the circumstances leading up to the bite:
I sat with Mochi in my arms for an hour and a half while she slept.
She rested her hands on my thumb and suddenly she bit right through my hand.
She clamped down and wouldn’t let go – I think from having a seizure – and my partner Rebecca had to pry her off me.
Once we’d got her off, she took a couple of breaths and died.
Just a couple of minutes afterwards, I started to get a bit itchy.
Halliday, who is asthmatic, took a few puffs of his inhaler and realized something was wrong.
He continued his story:
We’ve got an oxygen meter and the levels had dropped to 84%. It was like my whole body had swollen and was all tight so we dialled 999 [emergency services].
I couldn’t breathe. My throat had swollen and I was covered in hives on my back, chest and arms.
I’ve been bitten by hamsters in the past and nothing like this has ever happened. It was quite scary.
An ambulance arrived within four minutes, and he was rushed to Aintree University Hospital, where he was administered oxygen and two shots of epinephrine, as well as an antihistamine and a tetanus shot.
He said:
I was definitely the dullest guy in major trauma. I did try to change the story to a scorpion but I think the paramedics preferred hamster.
Mochi is now in a fancy cracker box in the garden – I don’t blame her.
We rescue hamsters from people who otherwise wouldn’t want them and I’d never say no to another one.
