Health checks

[Myles1]

I feel so angry and bad I had to give one of my hamsters a physical health check due to a concern I had that thankfully turned out to be nothing serious. The only thing is it went wrong like every other physical health check I've given hence why I rarely do them now.

The hamsters hate it! They bite, claw, fight, scream and wriggle around. This makes me feel like I am abusing them and sabotaging all the things we have together. I always make sure I follow the techniques correctly so I know I am not doing anything wrong which gives me piece of mind.

Does anybody else feel like a failure and want to cry when things like this happen? I don't know what it is but I always find myself becoming too emotionally involved even though I know it is a necessary thing to do.

To me it is somewhat of a similar experience to when parents take their newborn babies to the doctors to get those dreaded shots they so desperately need before they are allowed to meet the world.

[peasypea]

When I got Nelly I made it a regular thing to scruff her, check her teeth and feel her all over as I know that hamsters are prone to being stressed by these things. I made it quick and she got a treat at the end of it. After a few times, she didn't mind any more. I started when she was a baby, once I'd hand tamed her, but maybe it isn't too late to start doing it with your little guys? She doesn't resist at all, I can look at her teeth no problem and make sure there are no problems there.

It just makes me feel happier knowing that if she had to go the vet then she would be less stressed out by being scruffed and felt around. It also helps the vet out a lot, as they wouldn't have a kicking and screaming hamster hopefully, and as an owner I wouldn't find it as stressful. So helps everyone out

[kyrilliondaemon]

What techniques are you following for the health checks?
To be honest most of my pets don't notice they're getting a health check apart from when we check their teeth. I check most things as they wander over my hands, to them its completely normal time being handled except that I'll be more careful to feel for lumps or bumps and I do that with things that often happen during playtime anyway. Checking teeth is more difficult but thats often the only part of health checks my animals notice at all and when done correctly they're usually fine with it.

[Myles1]

I follow ErinsAnimals weekly health check guide. I forgot to state in my original post all of my hamsters came from homes where they were either abused by children, mistreated or never had any human attention whatsoever. Maybe this is why they freak out when it comes to health checks?

Originally Posted by peasypea

When I got Nelly I made it a regular thing to scruff her, check her teeth and feel her all over as I know that hamsters are prone to being stressed by these things. I made it quick and she got a treat at the end of it. After a few times, she didn't mind any more. I started when she was a baby, once I'd hand tamed her, but maybe it isn't too late to start doing it with your little guys? She doesn't resist at all, I can look at her teeth no problem and make sure there are no problems there.

It just makes me feel happier knowing that if she had to go the vet then she would be less stressed out by being scruffed and felt around. It also helps the vet out a lot, as they wouldn't have a kicking and screaming hamster hopefully, and as an owner I wouldn't find it as stressful. So helps everyone out

I'm not that confident scruffing them to be honest.

[kyrilliondaemon]

I don't know what ErinsAnimals suggests for health checks I'm afraid. Some of my own pets haven't had the best starts in life (e.g Nelly was given up for biting, Nut was grabbed a lot by children) but they're ok with health checks. I avoid restraining most of my hamsters unless I need to, I can scruff them well but while I was still learning to scruff properly I learnt to check their eyes, ears, skin e.t.c while they wander over my hands. I check for lumps and bumps while they're handled and I only really scruff if I need to check teeth. It's a routine that made things easier when I was still new to hamsters and it works so well I've never seen much need to change it.

Could you try and work parts of the health check in to your normal handling routine? Maybe changing how you do the health checks would make them less stressful for your hamsters.