General query please

Angie B · 04-22-2016, 03:41 AM

Hi, a bit of advice please.

Skittle turned 2 in February this year so I appreciate he's getting older. He's a Syrian. Other than his ongoing arthritis for which he's on daily metacam, he is well in himself and behaving normally.

Last night I noticed what appeared to be a couple of small flakes of skin on his fur. When I gently teased them off, some fur came out. Not a lot by any stretch of the imagination and no bald patches left. I know it's normal for older hams to lose fur (think of middle aged men going bald!) but he's not lost any before (to my knowledge), and I was just wondering if it could be related to the flakes of what appeared to be skin. His scent glands appear okay, not as smooth as normal but they have been incredibly rough in the past thanks to mites and he can't wash them properly due to his arthritis.

I don't know if he has mites again, he's always scratching but always has.

He of course doesn't appear to be in any pain but that's the daily metacam for you.

I don't know whether to pop him to the vet or not. His belly looks okay whereas when he had mites before it was terribly dry and flaky and was a dead giveaway the vet said that mites were present (it was the vet who turned him over and spotted his belly was a mess - I felt quite guilty as I hadn't thought to look there).

Not sure what to do. He gets very stressed out going to the vet, especially if we have to wait, and as he's old, I don't want to finish him off on what could be an unnecessary vet trip!

He's our first ham so every new thing is literally new to us.

I also think his kidneys might be starting to fail albeit very slowly as he seems to be drinking an awful lot (have a previous post somewhere in health) but he is weeing an awful lot too, so I don't know how long he has left and as I say, don't want to stress him out if I don't need to, but of course if he needs professional help then of course he'll get it.

What do you much more experienced hammy owners think, please?

Thank you.

cypher · 04-22-2016, 04:04 AM

He's doing really well for his age bless him!

Their kidneys often don't function so well in old age but if he's drinking & peeing a lot it's also possible he has a UTI which might respond to antibiotics so it would be worth seeing a vet but only you can judge if the stress would be too much for him really.
I would try giving him a few extra flax seeds & a drop of evening primrose oil on some food each day for a while to help with any dry skin/hair loss issues.

Angie B · 04-22-2016, 07:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cypher

He's doing really well for his age bless him!

Their kidneys often don't function so well in old age but if he's drinking & peeing a lot it's also possible he has a UTI which might respond to antibiotics so it would be worth seeing a vet but only you can judge if the stress would be too much for him really.
I would try giving him a few extra flax seeds & a drop of evening primrose oil on some food each day for a while to help with any dry skin/hair loss issues.

Thank you! That's good to hear

and thank you for your response too

I don't have any flax seeds, don't even know what they are I'm afraid, but I do put evening primrose oil on his food although I only do this once or twice a week. I'll do a drop a day from today onwards though - thank you for that.

Hadn't thought of a UTI

. I wonder if I could take a urine sample to the vet for them to test or would they have to see him to diagnose? Possibly a rhetorical question, sorry! I guess I could phone them and ask them - worth a shot!

Angie B · 04-22-2016, 12:40 PM

I phoned the vet and yes, they'll do a urine dip test if I take some in so I'll do that tomorrow

Thin Lizzy · 04-24-2016, 01:05 AM

Hi Angie, How did Skittle get on at the vet?

Angie B · 04-24-2016, 01:52 PM

Hi, Thin Lizzy

the dip test came back showing a little blood in it which the vet thinks is probably a UTI so he's now on antibiotics. He said that there was nothing in the urine to indicate that liver or kidneys were on the way out, which is an excellent thing of course, but said the only way to guarantee liver & kidneys are good is to do a blood test BUT as Skittle's an old man the vet didn't really want to put him through that as he is behaving okay other than drinking a lot, so that's been avoided thankfully. So good news really

He has his meds in 50ml of water which is quite a bit, so we started him on that today as we picked up his medication this morning. I don't know how long it'll take for the antibiotics to register, but I'm guessing a few days.

Skittle's losing a bit of fur at the moment too, which as I mentioned before I'd not noticed previously. It's not much and I'm not overly worried but will keep my eye on it. He can't wash as well as he used to anyway due to his arthritis so I'm guessing that's a factor.

He now has either one or two drops of evening primrose oil on his daily allowance of food, depending how much food is left in the bowl. He stashes most of his food anyway, but do you think that just one drop per day regardless of how much food is left over is enough? Too much of anything is bad for anyone and I don't want to add to his problems i.e. give him a greasy coat/upset stomach.

Skittle fell sound asleep in the sleeve of my daughter's fluffy dressing gown last night, it was really cute! We had to wake him though as it was gone 9.30 and she had to go to bed, she's only 12! But it was super cute

Thin Lizzy · 04-24-2016, 03:28 PM

Hi Angie,
It does sound like a UTI, When Archie had one, he was on antibiotics for 6 weeks, be sure to finish the course of meds and don't worry if you need to extend it. Antibiotics can be very rough on their digestives systems. Baby food - the vegetable types are great as they're soft, Cow 'N Gate Baby Cauliflower Cheese and Heinz Broccoli Cauliflower Cheese always goes down well, also some soft scrambled egg or porridge will help Skittle.
He's a fabulous age, so the little hair loss is expected.
I would stick to just one drop of evening primrose oil.
I went Aww when I read about him falling asleep in the sleeve of your daughter's dressing gown - so cute when they do that.

cypher · 04-24-2016, 09:49 PM

Glad you found the UTI, the antibiotics should sort that out.
Two drops of evening primrose oil shouldn't be too much, my dwarf hams which are a fraction of his size are supposed to need half a drop so two isn't a huge amount for a syrian but one would probably be sufficient.
He sounds very content sleeping in your daughters sleeve

Rads · 04-25-2016, 01:25 AM

Hi Angie,
Have you tried giving Skittle Sunflower and Pumpkin seed kernels as they are very high in essential vitamins, including essential complex B vitamins ,minerals inc zinc, iron, manganese, copper, folic acid etc these all may be a great help to Skittle

Angie B · 04-26-2016, 04:27 AM

Thank you everyone, your replies are very much appreciated

I will stick to just one drop of the evening primrose oil then - I didn't give him any last night as he had 2 the previous evening, but he can have one tonight though now.

I didn't know that antibiotics could be rough on his digestive system - anything to look out for? He seemed a bit out of sorts last night when I let him out for his normal poke around in the living room/dining room, I thought he was tired. He was alright, just not as nosy as normal.

He has sunflower seeds each evening; at least 4, plus whatever is in his muesli mix.

Are pumpkin seeds the big white ones? If so they are already in his muesli mix I think and he loves them!

Thank you Thin Lizzy for an idea of how long he may need the antibiotics for - I didn't think he might need them for that long though so it's something to bear in mind.

I'll look into getting him a jar of baby food the next time I'm out and he does like egg, so he can have some the next time I do one. I'll weigh him periodically, make sure he's eating okay and not losing weight while he's on his meds.

Thank you again! x