Hamster Central - View Single Post - Dwarf hamster nose twitching or sneezing?

Pebbles82 · 12-26-2020, 02:08 AM

Yes hamsters can catch colds from humans. Just keep an eye on her. Hopefully it should clear up soon but if she develops a cough I would take her to a vet straight away. Some vets are doing video consultations at the moment so you may only have to pick up some meds.

A lot of people worry about catching diseases from hamsters but that doesn’t happen - they are fairly disease-free animals and don’t transmit - however hamsters are very susceptible to catching things from us - particularly respiratory illnesses as they have a sensitive respiratory tract. If someone ever has a cold it is better to get someone else in the family to put food and water out and to hand wash before doing it.

In the meantime you could give her some immune boosting foods if you have any. Brazil nuts have something in that boosts the immune system so you could chop a Brazil nut (out of its shell) into quarters and give her a quarter but only about twice a week. Hemp seeds are packed with all the vitamins and minerals so a pinch of those daily would be an immune boost as well. If you don’t have any, Amazon sells Linwoods shelled hemp seeds. I use those. They are quite fluffy and nutty - hamsters seem to really like them and lick them up.

12-26-2020, 02:08 AM
Pebbles82 Hamster Antics Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 23,533	Re: Dwarf hamster nose twitching or sneezing? Yes hamsters can catch colds from humans. Just keep an eye on her. Hopefully it should clear up soon but if she develops a cough I would take her to a vet straight away. Some vets are doing video consultations at the moment so you may only have to pick up some meds. A lot of people worry about catching diseases from hamsters but that doesn’t happen - they are fairly disease-free animals and don’t transmit - however hamsters are very susceptible to catching things from us - particularly respiratory illnesses as they have a sensitive respiratory tract. If someone ever has a cold it is better to get someone else in the family to put food and water out and to hand wash before doing it. In the meantime you could give her some immune boosting foods if you have any. Brazil nuts have something in that boosts the immune system so you could chop a Brazil nut (out of its shell) into quarters and give her a quarter but only about twice a week. Hemp seeds are packed with all the vitamins and minerals so a pinch of those daily would be an immune boost as well. If you don’t have any, Amazon sells Linwoods shelled hemp seeds. I use those. They are quite fluffy and nutty - hamsters seem to really like them and lick them up.