Dwarf Hamster health

[sailorjerry]

Good evening all,

I am starting to become increasingly worried about my Russian Dwarf Hamster, Pepper. She's nearly a year old - over the past couple of months I have found myself having to go to vets more and more frequently.

First she had a protruding eye - it's still a problem but not as bad now (the vet didn't seem worried)
Then, she lost all the fur around her other eye and it was very red and angry looking. I was given some drops - it's relatively healed, but the fur never completely grew out, a week or so after the treatment, it looked like she had something in her eye, when I cleaned it, the tissue had a little red spot on it, worrying me that her eye could have been bleeding.

I was having a look at her last night, and I've noticed she's now lost fur around her ear and has a warty looking lump in her ear... I've read on another thread that it could be a sign of old age, but I'm just beginning to get increasingly worried that my next trip to vets will tell me something I don't want to hear..

Please tell me it's just my lovely hammy entering old age, and nothing I need to start panicking about?!

[Rodent Fan]

Sorry to hear your hammy has been unwell I guess that like humans, some hamsters are just a little unlucky with their health. Has your hamster seemed okay in herself otherwise? Eating, drinking well, activity levels etc? I have read that hamsters can get warts on their ears, so it could indeed be a wart, but only a vet can diagnose the lump so it would be best to get her an appointment as soon as you can. Hope it goes well!

[sailorjerry]

Thanks for your reply!

She seems a little slower these days, but again I've put it down to her age. She still drinks and loves snatching sunflower seeds from me! haha.

I'm going to go shopping tomorrow and spoil her - see if that helps haha.

[cypher]

Sorry to hear your little ham is having so many problems, I know how worrying that can be.
She really isn't very old yet, I start to think of them as getting into old age at about 18 months really.
It does sound as though she may have an ear wart which isn't that uncommon, your vet may be able to remove it without too much difficulty for your ham.
Has she been tested for mites? Mite problems do generally begin to show around the ears & eyes & hams don't always get itchy & scratch a lot, they always have mites but stress, including the stresses of previous illness, can cause them to get out of control & it may be worth getting her checked by the vet as if mites are a problem then a simple treatment could help make her a lot more comfortable & may reduce the recurrence of eye or ear problems.
If she's still ok in herself generally & doesn't seem to bothered by her problems then don't worry too much, they often surprise us & go on living happy lives long after we've been panicking about their health!
Good luck with her, I really hope you can get these issues sorted for her.

[sailorjerry]

Thank you for your lovely reply!

I wasn't at work today, so I decided I would spoil her a little. I've got some bedding I used to use when I first got her to stop her from burrowing (I know hamsters should, but I feel as though she's got incredibly lazy!) and a new wheel which she has loved running on so far! I've also bought her some "play 'n' bedding pods" made from Kapok seed pods - I've heard they're really good for them to chew and play with.

I also decided to get her some vitamin drops for her water, to see if that will help her out. I'm hoping once she's got back into the habit of using her wheel and doing some more exercise, I might see her become more active? I will keep an eye on her - fingers crossed!

Thanks again

[cypher]

It's nice you've had a chance to spoil her a little
Just wanted to say though that there is some debate about the safety of kapok pods, personally I wouldn't use them.
Hope she enjoys the new wheel.

[sailorjerry]

Thank you - I've just done some more reading into it - I'm annoyed with myself for not checking first

[AmityvilleHams]

Nobody is perfect so don't feel bad We've all made some sort of mistake at some point,but the point of mistakes is that you can learn and grow from them.

[cypher]

Don't feel bad about it, I think most of us have bought something that turned out to be a mistake at some point in our ham lives!