Fur loss - symptom of aging? - Page 2

AprilPearl · 04-16-2017, 11:33 PM

Oops sorry. In that case, go with the primrose oil. I really hope the cod liver oil didn't hurt my first hamster. It seemed to work for him so I thought it was doing good, and the vet had reccommended it; perhaps I put too much trust in professionals. Sigh.

cypher · 04-16-2017, 11:45 PM

I think a lot of people even some professionals may just assume you can give something you might give to a human but that's not always the case, I'm sure you didn't hurt your ham AprilPearl as he lived on to a good age but it isn't a chance worth taking as you never know.
I've had great success with that mix I suggested treating both large areas of fur loss & just general old age dry itchy skin, quite a few others here have tried it too & it really seems to work, all those things have other health benefits too so you can't really go wrong with it.

AprilPearl · 04-16-2017, 11:49 PM

Thanks Cypher. I hope you are right. Wish I had been a member here back when he was losing fur, though. In future, I think I will always check over stuff here!

Quicksilver · 04-17-2017, 01:11 AM

Thanks Cypher for the advice about not giving him cod liver oil as unsafe. I wasn't aware of this. As both you and Serendipity7000 have suggested we will try Ralph with evening primrose oil, flax seeds and nutritional yeast and see how we get on. I'll keep you posted-hopefully some of his fur will start to grow back at some point. Ralph likes his daily veg but I do know he can be a bit selective with eating his main hamster mix ( he's on Harry Hamster by supreme). The vet had suggested pellets too, we tried this and kept seeing Ralph spitting the pellets out!

Thanks for the advice. I'd be lost without HC

it's this type of info that's not always available in books and it seems that a lot of vets don't have much experience of rodents which is sad as hamsters need vets too!

cypher · 04-17-2017, 01:32 AM

As long as he's not being overly selective with his Harry Hamster I'd indulge him & stick with that, some hams really don't like pellets & I don't think there's much point in trying to change his food to something he's not keen on at his age.

AmityvilleHams · 04-17-2017, 01:43 AM

Vets are by no means perfect,for example take a look at the whole gimmicky industry of veterinary diets for dogs and cats(which happen to be absolutely awful in almost any situation,except maybe one brand I've seen that has half decent ingredients and even then some aren't the best to be fed).

At the end of the day you can always learn from previous mistakes,and that is part of being a good pet owner.Don't feel like you're a terrible person for not being some impossibly perfect person,that simply cannot be done

As for the diet,Harry Hamster is perfectly fine.Are the pieces that get avoided larger pieces?If so you might be able to break certain things up to make it easier to eat,which may help.I think between the evening primrose oil,flax seeds,and nutritional yeast you should have extra things covered for the fur,so I can't be much help with that unfortunately

Quicksilver · 04-17-2017, 05:10 AM

The pieces Ralph avoids are the large green and orange pieces mainly. We gave up on the pellets as we could tell he didn't like them. I'm learning from my mistakes and just get anxious I suppose partly as never had hamsters before. A positive thing is he's very tame and loves being handled which helps as can health check him. I'll learn to chill out more