Back teeth? Pouch?

[septemberpeach]

Our hamster, peaches has been through the mill of late. He's currently recovering very well from a fight with diarrhoea.
His behaviour is normal, he's active, playing, eating and drinking normally (has even gained weight) and chewing wood, carboard etc as normal. Unfortunatley though we've had to make another apointment to see his vet tommorrrow.

We noticed, while he was poorly, he was less keen to pouch food (although still using pouches) and put this down to a general reduced interest in food due to being unwell. In the last few days though we can see that he's carrying individual pieces of food in his mouth, to transport to his stash rather than pouching. He's also not yawning as widely.

He will occasionally still pop something small in his pouch. His front teeth look fine. I can't feel any lumps or bumps around his face and neck, there's no dribbling and as I've said still eating and drinking well and very active and happy.

It seems there's some discomfort at the back of his mouth or pouch. I understood that if his pouch is impacted he would not be able to use it at all? I'm concerned he may have an abscess or tooth problem and with back teeth this may be very hard to treat.

Also confused by his overall wellness mixed with this odd behaviour of carrying the food and less frequent pouching. Anybody have any thoughts about what this might be? He'll be seeing the vet in the morning so hopefully can shed some light. Very worried and upset for the little guy. seems like he deserves a break.

[fluffymunchkins]

I'm sorry to hear of your poor little troopers troubles!
It could be possible that he has torn the pouch making is uncomfortable to use. Is he not using both or just the one?

All the best to Peaches x

[septemberpeach]

Thanks fluffymunchkins

We've watched him this evening stuffing both pouches and emptying with ease. Very confused but mostly just relieved.

I checked his face and neck carefully yesterday. Its possible I dislodged something while feeling around (although seems unlikely). Or maybe as you suggested a laceration that's begun to heal?

I think also he's a been a little suspicious of everything in his cage including his food dishes, since I've had to clean everything so much for his poorly tum. It could just be a behavioural thing. Hard to know...

We'll keep a close eye on him and cancel his vet appoint, for now, since it's been so stressful for him. His vets are a great family practice so we feel happy to discuss his progress with them and bring him in later if need. Fingers crossed he's ok. x

[souffle]

We have lots of hamsters who never pouch and just run in and out carrying food. If they feel quite secure in the food bowl they don't seem to bother pouching!
Glad to hear he seems to be much on the mend. Go very steady with his food and keep him on the same diet with no variations as once the have had diahorrheoa it can came back easily. Keep stress to a minimum too.
I would not worry to much about pouching and let him do as he wants x

[septemberpeach]

thanks souffle, that helps to know. We've become a bit over-anxious!

I was going to ask about diet. He's on harry hamster mixed with a few science selective only at the moment. We used to give him a piece of bonio once a week and less regularly a nail-sized piece of home-made 'oat biscuit' (just oats and water, a little wholewheat flour to bind, baked dry).

We don't want to take any chances and sounds like it best not to give these now? can stick with non-food treats, if not.

We'll give him lots of space to re-settle now and take a few breaths ourselves too! x