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juneandmary · 06-20-2019, 09:44 PM

Hello everyone,

It's been a long time since I've posted! My Mary passed away last month with very little warning which was so difficult, but something good did come out of it. With an empty cage just sitting around, I was able to adopt a young black Syrian male from a nearby animal shelter (who they were going to "get rid of" the following day).

Some info about him:
- male Syrian named Frodo
- 14 weeks old
- was living in a critter trail at the shelter
- was never handled by anyone at the shelter (not tame)

With that, I noticed the day I brought him home that his feet were enlarged, inflamed, and covered in crust/scabs. He also began to lose fur on his back and on his face, and his ears are crusted shut. I immediately made a vet appointment and was sure that it was mites, but the vet found none. We are currently waiting on results from a ringworm test but tonight I saw that his feet seem to be healing on their own with no treatment, which had me thinking that all of these symptoms could possibly be credited to all the stress he's been going through? He was living in a tiny cage in a loud front room at the shelter with dogs always barking and people shouting, and maybe the transition to his new home with me caused the symptoms to worsen?

This may be premature as I haven't heard back from the vet as to whether he has ringworm, but I just wanted input as to whether or not stress could cause such a severe reaction in hamsters.

Sorry for the long post, any help or advice at all would be much appreciated!

06-20-2019, 09:44 PM
juneandmary Newborn Pup Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: California Posts: 15	Syrian Hair Loss! Hello everyone, It's been a long time since I've posted! My Mary passed away last month with very little warning which was so difficult, but something good did come out of it. With an empty cage just sitting around, I was able to adopt a young black Syrian male from a nearby animal shelter (who they were going to "get rid of" the following day). Some info about him: - male Syrian named Frodo - 14 weeks old - was living in a critter trail at the shelter - was never handled by anyone at the shelter (not tame) With that, I noticed the day I brought him home that his feet were enlarged, inflamed, and covered in crust/scabs. He also began to lose fur on his back and on his face, and his ears are crusted shut. I immediately made a vet appointment and was sure that it was mites, but the vet found none. We are currently waiting on results from a ringworm test but tonight I saw that his feet seem to be healing on their own with no treatment, which had me thinking that all of these symptoms could possibly be credited to all the stress he's been going through? He was living in a tiny cage in a loud front room at the shelter with dogs always barking and people shouting, and maybe the transition to his new home with me caused the symptoms to worsen? This may be premature as I haven't heard back from the vet as to whether he has ringworm, but I just wanted input as to whether or not stress could cause such a severe reaction in hamsters. Sorry for the long post, any help or advice at all would be much appreciated!