Winter white odd behavior

[BuNNY]

Hi Everyone

We seem to have noticed something strange going on with our male winter white, it has been hot here the last couple of days, and i can see the heat has been bothering him, we do have smooth rocks and some section of tiled floor for him to cool off on in the cage. But he seemed real hyperactive running on the wheel, up and down the stairs and doing laps of the cage. He was even trying to climb through a loo roll upside down? this is not normal behavior for him.

Also since last night, I noticed him storing bedding in his cheek, now he is walking with his head at an angle (pointed away from the cheek in question), and I can see a big bulge in his cheek, and I can feel its the bedding in there, he hasn't taken it out since last night, and it really looks this is what is causing him some discomfort and making him walk with his head angled away from the bulge.

so my question is are these two behaviors above normal?

Can stuffed cheeks cause discomfort as I have described above? I am able to move the stored bedding in his cheek around very easily but he doesn't seem like he wants to pull it out despite the evident discomfort. There is nothing else in the cheek, just one clump of bedding.


Is there anything to be concerned about?

[cypher]

It does sound as though the heat may be distressing him, you could put some of the rocks in the fridge for a while to get cold then put them back in the cage to help cool things down, you could also put a mug in the fridge & put that in the cage to make a cool place to go if he is too hot.

I would try to gently remove the bedding from his pouch if you can, he may be having trouble getting it out if it's been in there that long & the pouch could become impacted, if you doesn't remove it himself & you can't get it out then you may need to get your vet to do it for you.

[BuNNY]

Thanks Cypher, I will have a look again after work today, I did move both the hamsters cages under a ceiling fan before I left today as we are going through a heatwave.

Just a quick one, is it normal if something in the cheek is causing discomfort for the hamster to walk around with his head at an angle? Like I said he seems to be walking around with his head pointed away from the cheek with the bedding in it.

If the bedding is still in his cheek after I get home today I will see if I can try and get it out, would I just have to try push it towards his mouth and he will then just allow it out?

[cypher]

I'm not sure about the head angle tbh, if he wasn't doing it before & there's such an obvious lump in his pouch then it would seem most likely that would be what's causing it but you'll only know for sure once it's out.
To get it out yes, just gently move it forward to his mouth & try to ease it out. He might not be too happy about it but hold him firmly but gently & you may have to hold his mouth open a bit to remove it. If it's still quite moveable it should come out ok.

[BuNNY]

So anyway got home this evening and the bedding was out. He is still walking at an angle and I noticed his one eye is bigger than the other. Anyway we are at the vet now getting it looked at.

[mzwiwy]

Hope all goes well and you get some help for your little hammy. Update when you can.

[cypher]

Hope he's ok & it's nothing serious, let us know how he gets on.

[BuNNY]

Thanks for the wishes, we took him through and the vet immediately said it was an inner ear infection, he has seen it before many times. So he has said we need to put him on antibiotics, so he got a couple of injections, one antibiotic and a cortisone. He will need this for the next 4 days, so we will be taking him every evening for these injections. It was rather comforting to see the vet so certain and also the fact he had seen it a few times, he also commented that usually the hamsters bite when they get the injections, and our marshmallow was very well behaved, took the needles with no issue.

He is still eating and drinking, and still very active this morning, but I can already see the angle he was walking at has very slightly improved, the eye is still the same, but on the plus side there is no evidence of it swelling. the other good news is we also caught it early. I did see another post on this forum with another winter white with a similar eye issue, although ours was definitely not as bad, I hope the other one was treated and is better now!

I will let you know of the progress as we go through the treatment.

[cypher]

Ear infections aren't uncommon & they do usually get better fairly quickly with antibiotics, I've had to use ear drops with one of mine, so fingers crossed he'll be better soon.
Eye issues are common in Russian hams too but you did really well to get him to the vet quickly & get all this checked out.

[BuNNY]

Hi Everyone

So we are going for the 4th round of injections this evening. We have noticed that after we get home from the treatment his head straightens out and he walks like normal, so the cortisone definitely helps, but then the next day he slowly regresses until the next treatment as it wears off.

We have noticed however that he is looking slightly better now, his eyes are almost normal again, and he doesn't look as uncomfortable as he was before. head still at a slight angle but slightly improved. So progress is slow, but progress nonetheless! The vet did say that after 2 to 3 days the infection would have been treated, and the other 2 rounds of injections are to make sure that it doesn't come back, but it could take a couple of weeks further to fully recover, for his head to straighten out completely.

I will come back and update within the next few days after the treatment has been completed.

I would like to update throughout since others can see what we have been through, what to look for, how to treat and when to expect recovery.

I have tried to take pictures of him but he moves around too much and they end up blurry!