Thought it was Cushings, now not so sure?

[Munchalot]

Okay so waaay back towards the end of last year, Tansy started losing fur. I immediately thought Cushings and was devasted, but I took her to the vets to get their opinion.
She had all the tests, and was all clear for bacterial and fungal infection, parasites, virus etc etc. Couldn't determine the problem. There was one point where she randomly had some bad diarrhea and was acting a bit down, but a dose of Baytril quickly cleared that up. She initially lost 40g at that point, but her weight is creeping back up. No idea what caused that, she hadn't had any new foods or change in environment, and she's only allowed to free roam safely in my room, which I keep very hamster safe. Other than the hair loss, there are no other obvious symptoms, and after her tests showed to be all clear it was assumed that it must be the first stages of Cushings.

But.. she's had it for more than six months now, and the hair loss has gotten neither better or worse. Its restricted to her back end and has crept no higher. She's still perky, lively and cheeky; eating and drinking fine, and wants to come out for cuddles.
Her skin has become dry and wrinkly, but not sore or scabby, but the pigment has changed so that her skin is now covered in black spots. :/

She's about 15 months old now, but was under a year old when all this started.

I'm completely baffled. She's shown some of the symptoms of Cushings, but six months on and no muscle wasting and lethargy, and the other symptoms?
Could it just be delayed because she was young when it started? The fact that the hair loss hasn't changed for months confuses me.

I've been giving her extra linseeds, wheatgerm and other bits and pieces for her skin, but could I put something on her to help the dryness?
She nolonger has her sand bath as I figured that would do her dry skin no favours, and she has no allergies that I'm aware of. I use non-dusty bedding as I'm allergic to dust myself, and haven't strictly used one bedding, I've swapped and changed between non-dusty wood shavings, Drybird, Siccofloor hemp, Carefresh Natural, Tumblefresh and paper cat litter, etc. So I can't blame one type of bedding. There's nothing else I can think of!


This seems very late in posting, but until recently I was convinced it was Cushings so I didn't see the need in making a thread about it.
Any ideas?

[racinghamster]

Hi Munch, havn`t seen you on HC for a bit. It does certainly look like Cushings but in all honestly, unless tests for it are performed and I `think` that requires blood to be taken, you may not get an answer to what the cause is. I`ve had robo`s lose fur as they age where the fur would thin in certain areas of the body, but not on other parts. The rump was one of them, yet the head and belly fur were fine.

I`m wondering if it may be glandular or hormonal as well? There are organs in the body that can cause symptoms like this but once again, it may require testing and depending how invasive those tests are, I`m not sure it`s worth stressing a hamster if it means pain or too much prodding.

If she`s a good weight and is otherwise fine, it may be a case of leave alone and check her week on week for any further deterioration or signs that she`s not 100%.

Sorry I can`t be more help. x

[Munchalot]

Hey. Yeah I've been inactive for a long while. :3 Good to see you all again though.

The only test she didn't have was a blood test. After she'd been through the rest, and hated every second of it, I was reluctant to go back and pay £70 for a test that would probably just confirm exactly what I had assumed (I know that sounds bad). She had already been really stressed out by having skin scrapes and getting hair plucked out with tweezers, plus an antibiotic injection. She's a proper wiggle butt and got pretty upset with it all.

I did ask the vet if it could be hormonal, but she didn't think it likely. :/

Looks like Cushings is the only thing left.
But yeah, her weight has crept up again and is pretty healthy. She's happy in herself, running on her wheel, chewing everything and getting up to her normal mischief. She doesn't look at all unhappy or under the weather, she's just going bald.

The stresses they cause us. xD

[racinghamster]

Because hamsters can get hair loss due to a number of causes, I would be inclined to carry on and let her enjoy her life Munch and if she started to show signs of being unwell, then your suspicions may well be correct, but managing Cushings is all you can do anyway, so your vet would possibly be able to say then whether they though that`s what it was and treat her accordingly. x

[souffle]

Nice to see you back though sorry about the circumstances.
It does look to me to be Cushings. She may be in a spell where she will stay like that and live out her life or she could deteriorate but you will know if that time comes. I'd say increase her Vitamins a bit either with a vitamin powder sprinkled on her food or a drop in her porridge. Debittered brewers yeast can help provide extra B vits and sometimes this boosts the fur growth a bit.
There is a chance it is hormonal and related to her female hormones. With her being satin it looks more obvious. I'd just carry on dong what you are doing and I hope she enjoys a comfortable twilight time.
There is a Cushings article in the WIKI if you didn't already know that

[racinghamster]

Cushing's disease in hamsters-symptoms,diagnosis, treatment and pictures.

There are a few articles around the net Munch and this one basically gives some advice from a vet. There are some drugs that can help the symptoms, but apparently they have side effect, so the owner has to weigh up the issues with that. Personally, I wouldn`t bother knowing I could cause the hamster any more upset by using a drug. x

[Munchalot]

Alright, thank you both for your help.

I have been giving her some extra vitamins in her water, but I'll see if I can get a hold of some brewers yeast too.

I have read the Wiki article as well.

Well, she's bright and happy, and if it is Cushings there is little I can do. I'll just keep doing what we're doing and keep her comfy. Thanks again guys xx

[Piebald]

There is a cream for the skin sodocream? Not sure that's spelled right. Good luck xx