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Old 03-23-2019, 01:42 PM   #1
Bella_01
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Exclamation Elderly hamster has dry, red, flaky skin - Advice Please!

Hi, I haven't posted on here in ages, but I thought it was the best place to go to get some good advice.
My Syrian hamster Bella is almost 3 years old now and for the past few weeks, she has been scratching a lot. Yesterday I took her to the vets to get her tooth cut as it is misaligned with her top tooth but now her upper tooth is also misaligned so she cannot eat as well as she could in the past. What are some good soft foods to give an elderly hamster as well as her normal Harry Hamster food mix?

I also took her to the vets to ask about the scratching as her skin is quite red and flaky. The vet took a sample of Bella's skin (I can't remember what it was called) and said she couldn't see any mites on her skin. Could it be possible she has mites under the skin? If so, what can I do to help?

Her food or bedding haven't changed, she has Kaytee Clean & Cozy unscented bedding. Tomorrow I am going to clean out her cage fully and use wooden litter pellets as her bedding with lots of toilet paper to make it soft. Of course pellets wouldn't usually be my choice of bedding but I want to see if she has developed an allergy to her current bedding. If after I change the bedding I still don't see an improvement, I will take her to a different vets to get a second opinion. But I would like to try everything else before I take her to the vets as I really don't want to stress her out, especially at her age.

Is there anything else I can change or do to help her? I bought some cod liver oil from Boots today as I heard that could help, but now I am unsure whether I bought the correct one. This is what is bought:

https://www.boots.com/boots-cod-live...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

Could I use Sudocrem on her skin? Or something different?

Any advice would be very much appreciated as I don't really know what to do.
Thank you.
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Old 03-23-2019, 01:55 PM   #2
cypher
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Default Re: Elderly hamster has dry, red, flaky skin - Advice Please!

Dry skin is quite common in older hamsters, it would be very unlikely that she would develop an allergy to paper based substrate & changing the substrate would be stressful which could just cause more problems.
Don't give cod liver oil, it's far too high in fat soluble vitamins & harmful for hamsters.
You can give evening primrose oil just a drop a day & extra flax seeds to help with dry skin, a little wheatgerm can help & you can also try a pinch of brewers yeast powder on food.
You can give baby food & porridge which she should be able to eat ok, there's a thread here about that.
Feeding Hamsters with Missing Teeth or Who Are Elderly
I wouldn't put sudocream or anything like that on her skin, if it's very dry a tiny amount of coconut oil is safe to use.
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Old 03-23-2019, 02:07 PM   #3
Bella_01
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Default Re: Elderly hamster has dry, red, flaky skin - Advice Please!

Thank you for the advice cypher. I won't use the cod liver oil and I'll look into evening primrose oil, flax seeds is her favourite food so I'll continue to use that. I'll buy wheatgerm and brewers yeast powder too and try using coconut oil on her skin.
I'll also look at that thread, thanks!
So do you think it wouldn't be mites then?
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Old 03-23-2019, 02:23 PM   #4
cypher
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Default Re: Elderly hamster has dry, red, flaky skin - Advice Please!

If the vet did a skin scrape & that was clear mites are very unlikely to be the cause.
Iwould try a more nutritional based approach for now with the EPO, flax & other things for now & see how she goes. If she's been having problems with her teeth & maybe not eating so well it could be that.
Does she have fresh veg. They can help provide some extra nutrients too.
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Old 03-23-2019, 02:31 PM   #5
Bella_01
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Default Re: Elderly hamster has dry, red, flaky skin - Advice Please!

Ok, I'll definitely try some softer foods for her and see if she gets any better. She gets fresh veg every few nights, do you think I should give her some more often?
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Old 03-23-2019, 09:18 PM   #6
cypher
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Default Re: Elderly hamster has dry, red, flaky skin - Advice Please!

If she enjoys it & is able to manage veg then you can give it every day, try to give some variety but broccoli really good for them.
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