Neurological issues and what to do

[jesselle]

For those who don't know, my hybrid Emi (2 yrs old in 10 days!) has had an issue with an ear wart that was removed but returned with a vengeance a few months ago. I decided against more surgery and vets trips.

I mentioned a while back that I was worried the growth (it's inside his ear too) was the cause of some repetitive behaviour. He has always been crazy and keen to come out, often leaping off his toys in order to get my attention.

Lately he's doing this NON STOP and I'm finding him at it when I'm not even there. He seems to have a compulsion to go 'up', climbing up the playpen/me and scrabbling at table legs when free roaming. Watching him in his cage I can see him on his back legs a lot and I've just noticed tonight that he seems to slightly jerk his head upwards every now and then.

He eats and sleeps well, does explore normally when free roaming but sometimes just gets locked on to the idea that he must travel upwards. He does scratch at his ear occasionally, so I know it must cause a little discomfort. But not overly so. His balance is ok for an oldie.

My poor little old man - he seems to calm himself by going on his wheel and saucer but I worry he's too old for that! He's 42g now (was always at least 65g in his prime) but still has bright eyes, a gorgeous coat and no other real old age afflictions (minus the kidney trouble he was diagnosed with at around 17 months).

My actual Q was how do I judge when his quality of life with these suspected neurological issues is suffering too much?

A very rare photo of him being still

[kimlck]

If it were me, then i would leave him with his wheel untill he doesnt want to use it, then i would remove it ( perhaps putting something on there that is easily removed with any movement)
And i would weigh him daily to keep an eye on weight loss.
Other than that then i would trust my gut, you know when you have to help, i always thought that when the time came to help them i would get it wrong, but you will feel it.
Sry i cant be any more help.

[JBH316]

I think that if he is still able to do everything that he normally does without too much difficulty and is still happy, then it's probably not time to make that decision.

I had my 2 year old hybrid put to sleep last weekend. She had mammary tumours diagnosed on xmas eve and the one in her groin grew very rapidly and started to affect her back leg. She was no longer able to climb her cage, use her flying saucer or climb over things - all things that she LOVED to do. She was still eating but less than normal and had started losing weight. She was still bright enough but I didn't want to let her get to the point where she was really struggling. Had she been a lazy hamster, I probably would have been able to let her go on for a few more days but it was the right time for her.

That is how I judged things for her but I do think you will instinctively know when it's time so I wouldn't fret too much about that.

[jesselle]

Thank you guys

I love this little guy so much, I just don't want him to be suffering.

He's still very able to do all of his usual things and sleeps well, which is good.

I guess I will just know when it's time.

[racinghamster]

Jess, this could be due to the ear wart affecting his balance, but changes in normal behaviour can look to us to be something worrying, when in fact, to the hamster, it`s something of a change that they easily adapt to. My robo Fred (over two years old now) started to `spin` a few months back, yet he snaps out of it whenever he wants to and runs about, sits still to eat and drink, sleeps his normal patterns of sleep and runs about like a loon during the night! He also goes to a corner, stands up and does a few stand ups and circles and then scoots off again. He still runs in his silent spinner fine as well.

I would suggest not worrying too much about this behaviour change, but the growth in his ear will almost certainly be more problematic just because of where it is located. It could be blocking his hearing on one side for example. I`m pretty sure my Fred has either hearing loss or his eye sight isn`t great because he `lunges` and `squeaks` in attack mode if anything gets too close to him, so I believe he does have some kind of deterioration in those areas too, although there is no way to test this clinically.

Emi should continue on as well as he can regardless. Just keep everything in the same place because moving things about might cause him upset. I leave Fred`s layout exactly the same and he knows where everything is within a millimetre! I cleaned his bedding area late yesterday afternoon and it was like dodging a bullit!!! But afterwards, he was excitedly running in and out, checking his fresh bed and basically, doing what he normally does. x