Health Issue? Obese dwarf with irritated eye and bald patch.

Eleyna · 10-17-2018, 06:32 AM

Hello,

I have a 14 month old Campbell Dwarf (Bruce) and I am slightly worried about his health. In August I noticed he had developed a small bald patch behind one ear. Over a month it didn't increase in size and there were no signs of infection or mites but it didn't get any better (I had also been supplementing his diet with nutritional yeast). Then at the beginning of September I noticed the corner of his eyes looked red (his natural eye colour is black) and it almost looked like a very small lump of skin or the under eye lid was being exposed. This was mostly visible on his right eye but now and again it can be seen to a milder extent on his left. I took Bruce to the vet and was immediately told he was obese (I weighed him at home at 85 g) and until then I hadn't really noticed that he had gained quite a lot of weight in the past few months. The vet also mentioned that his pouch was very smelly when she emptied it but didn't think there was an infection. She gave me some ear drops to apply to the bald patch but didn't know what was wrong with his eyes (she thought perhaps that it could have been weight related). Having applied the drops to his bald patch for 2 weeks there was no improvement with the hair growth. I restricted Bruce's diet (still supplementing with yeast) but he doesn't ever seem to be eating a lot of his food and there has been no weight decrease. Bruce is not active in the day but would always be in his wheel in the late evenings. He doesn't seem like he is in any pain or is less active than he used to be but I am still worried when I take him out of his home and can see the red around his eyes.

Does anyone have any similar experience with this? Also I could do with suggestions for weight loss techniques. I currently give Bruce 1 tablespoon of Harry Hamster mix every day along with a couple of mealworms every 2-3 days (he simply does not eat any fresh fruit/veg I provide). I have two other Campbell dwarfs that don't have weight issues. In fact I adopted a male (Coco) that was very obese when I got him and he has trimmed down to a healthy weight since joining the family. This makes me wonder if Bruce's weight gain is health related rather than overfeeding.

Thank you,
Eleyna

cypher · 10-17-2018, 08:25 AM

Is he a Campbell's or a hybrid?
These eye problems are very common in hybrids (not sure about pure bred Campbell's) & are unlikely to be related to weight, usually vet's prescribe antibiotic or antibiotic & steroid eye drops, if the eye seems irritated you can just use over the counter human drops for dry eyes.
He probably is a bit overweight but many do get to that kind of weight & do fine, as long as he's active then I wouldn't worry about that too much. Does he have out of cage time?
I wouldn't feed HH to a dwarf but some people do, I always think a dwarf specific mix like Burgess dwarf hamster harvest or the Bunny Dwarf HamsterDream Expert from Zooplus is better.
They won't eat a tablespoon a day, more like a teaspoon or maybe two at most so you don't need to give too much.
You could try giving some evening primrose oil, a drop a day at most, & some flax seeds to help with skin & coat condition but without knowing what the problem with his ear is it's hard to say how much that will help.

Eleyna · 10-17-2018, 12:24 PM

Thanks for the swift reply Cypher!

Bruce is most likely a hybrid as he came from a pet store. He usually gets 30 minutes a day of time outside of the cage during which he is very active. And he lives in an Ikea detolf so definitely has enough space to get exercise. I have used the Burgess dwarf hamster mix before so may go back to using that. And I can definitely try supplementing with flax seeds. I plan to visit my vet this week and can suggest antibiotics/eye drops, they seemed happy to help with Bruce but my local small animal vet only usually deals with rabbits hence me asking for opinions from the experts

cypher · 10-17-2018, 10:35 PM

It sounds as though he's getting plenty of exercise so I wouldn't worry too much, you can make small changes like trying dried shrimps in place of mealworms as they have a lot less fat but generally hams get stressed if they don't have a good supply of food available so it's best not to cut back too much.
I've had hybrids ranging from around 60-80g & none of them seem to have had any problems relating to weight.
Hope the vet can help, if you have any photos it might help see what might be going on.