Wound on back got worse! HELP!

j3nns · 08-20-2014, 08:57 PM

Hi! I have a female syrian hamter around 16 months of age. I went to see my hamster yesterday morning and noticed that she has an inch sized wound on her back. The wound was not bleeding and it does not seem to be infected. I'm not sure how she got the wound and there is nothing in her cage that would cause a wound like that. But, I thought that it might be the tube that she uses to climb up because she always bites it and there was an edge inside the tube so I removed the tube and her wound does not seem like it was made by scratching. Then this morning I went to check on her again and noticed that she has another wound right below the first one and the size of the wound is similar to the first one. I have never seen her wound bleeding and it seems to be scabbing slowly but I am worried that there will be a new wound again tomorrow. She is still her normal self (eating, sleeping, drinking, and going to the washroom just fine) but I did notice that she is scratching a bit more than usual. Could this be an allergic reaction to something? I gave her a small piece of apple 2 weeks ago (something she has never had before) ,and 3 more times after that. It really breaks my heart seeing her wound. Someone please help!

**DrKMcK** · 08-21-2014, 12:43 AM

A photo would help as I can't really understand just what the wound looks like. I doubt that the apple did this, but don't give hammy anything new for a bit and see how it goes. I really think that your hammy will need to see a vet. Don't panic just yet since hammy is not bleeding, it will not be an emegency just yet. For tonight, are you able to take any tubes out of the cage and leave hammy on one level with only food, bedding, water and a wheel?. Take anything else out of the cage for now. Check all of hammy's toys and house for sharp edges. Is hammy in a cage, a bin or a tank?

souffle · 08-21-2014, 02:59 AM

Could the wheel be too small and rubbing on her back? Check the spindle for fur caught in it. I'd see a vet in case it is infected or in case she has mites that she is scratching at.

j3nns · 08-21-2014, 10:12 PM

[IMG]C:\Users\Jennifer\Downloads\20140820_191444.jpg[/IMG]

j3nns · 08-21-2014, 10:25 PM

She has 2 wounds on her back, each cut is an inch long horizontally and the cuts are directly below each other. She lives in a 2 level cage and there is a tube that connects to a separate small box where she likes to sleep. I have blocked off the second level so she isn't able to climb up.There is no fur caught in the spindle of her wheel but I thought that her wound could be caused by the wheel rubbing on her back so I removed her wheel yesterday. She cleans herself very well so I don't think that mites would have caused this and her wound. Her wound doesn't look like it is infected either, instead it looks like it is starting to heal/scab a bit. She is still acting like her normal energetic self, she eating well, sleeping well, and going to the bathroom perfectly fine. I don't find any other problems with her other than the wounds on her back.

j3nns · 08-21-2014, 10:32 PM

How does an infected wound look like?

**DrKMcK** · 08-21-2014, 10:33 PM

Something has cut her. You need to check all of the edges of her cage, her houses and all of her toys and tubes. Run your hands lightly over everything she has. I would get her a new wheel, one that has no spindle, like a Silent Spinner or a Comfort Wheel. If she heals well, then fine and dandy, but if she gets another wound she must see a vet. If you had a picture of this it would be easier to see if it could be from her scratching herself. A hammy can give themselves pretty deep scratches. I hope she's okay and heals well.

**Bec** · 08-21-2014, 11:16 PM

Agree with the above comments, do all the checking in the cage.

A photo would also help if you can post one.

Also, Neptune had mites caused by the stress of his recent operation... and he had been scratching himself aggressively, but we were checking the cage etc and it was only when we took him back to the vets that they confirmed it was mites.

There is a pic in his thread, the 2nd photo you come to on the page [16]where he is on the laptop....the first is his wound where they removed his scent gland. The vet gave him an injection and antibiotics and his scratch has healed now. He has also made a full recovery from his operation.

Neptune's Thread

Hope this helps

j3nns · 08-22-2014, 06:38 AM

This is a picture of her wound on the second day, when I discovered that there was a new one directly below the first one. Her fur normally covers her wound so I have to blow around her wound area in order to see her wound.

This is the link to pictures of my hamster.

I tried posting a picture onto my post but it didn't work.

I checked her cage and everything and there doesn't seem to be anything that would cause her this wound.

BrainGirl · 08-22-2014, 06:49 AM

The pics don't seem to be showing for the rest of us

If you click on GO ADVANCED below the quick reply box then click on the attachments icon (paperclip) at the top of that screen, you can upload your picture files through that