My Hamster Needs Help in His Old Age!

[Natasha95]

My Syrian hamster is now about 22 months old, and he's really starting to show his age. I never hear him run on his wheel anymore (so he must either not be using it or just be walking slowly on it), he pees pretty much everywhere in his cage now, he never wants to come out of his cage, he sleeps a lot and gets annoyed if I wake him up while cleaning his cage or feeding him, and he's eating a little less. I've started adding baby food to his diet and he seems to like it. I also added a bowl of water to his cage so he can drink from it if he doesn't want to reach up to his bottle.

I'm worried because I've noticed him shaking in his sleep, almost like he's taking jolty breaths (if that makes sense). And last night, I took his food bowl out and poured some of his favorite baby food in there, and as soon as he smelled it, he perked up and got excited trying to find it. When he realized it was outside of his cage, he stood up at the door but was a little wobbly and seemed scared to come out (I think he might've just been too weak to climb out). It completely broke my heart to see him try to leave his cage and not be able to, and I hadn't seem him get excited about anything in so long, so I immediately just placed the bowl in front of him, and he devoured the food.

Do you guys think he might have arthritis? I don't want to stress him out in his old age by bringing him to the vet if I don't need to. Is there anything I can do to make him more comfortable?

[cypher]

It does sound as though it may be old age, they do generally sleep a lot more when they start getting old & some do lose weight, keep an eye on his weight & check his teeth to make sure there isn't a problem there that may be stopping him from eating hard food, if he eats more soft food like baby food or porridge you will need to keep an eye on his teeth anyway as they may not wear down normally.
If he's struggling to get about make sure everything he needs in the cage is on one level & within easy reach of his nest.
Sometimes as they age the kidneys get weaker & they drink & pee more which may be why he's peeing in different places, don't give too much protein as they need less at that age & it can make it worse.
They do often get a bit arthritic if he seems stiff & has difficulty walking then it might be worth considering taking to him to the vet, they will often give metacam & it may be worth the stress to get him some pain relief.

[Natasha95]

Oh, I didn't know about the protein! The baby food he gets excited for has chicken in it

Also, I found this Oxbow Natural Science Joint Support Vitamin for small animals, and I'm wondering if it would be okay to give to him. The active ingredients are:
Glucosamine (Plant Based)
Manna Oligosaccaride
Tumeric Powder
Ginger Root
Yucca Schidigera Extract
Docosahexaenoic Acid
The inactive ingredients are:
Timothy Grass
Barley Flour
Oat Groat Flour
Mixed Tocopherols (preservative)
Rosemary Extract

If any of these ingredients are unsafe, I won't give it to him, but I bought it just in case. I also called the vet, but they were closed for some big meeting. But, to be honest, I don't trust this vet because she's given me misinformation about hamsters before. It's the only "exotics" vet I could find near me, though.

[Pebbles82]

I wouldn't give that - and he may not eat it anyway - it might be too much for his ageing digestion. A vet can prescribe Metacam when they're older which gives pain relief and is an anti-inflammatory.

When our hamster got like this, he basically enjoyed hamstery things but was slow and tired.

It can help to move their food bowl and water bottle closer to the nest so they don't have to go so far to get it - he may still explore his cage but doesn't have to so it helps if the food and water are nearer his house.

I also used to put out some tasty extras and used the little baby food lids for that - a bit of baby food on one and some shelled hemp seeds or ground nuts etc on another.

Also some soaked science selective food in another little lid - as well as his normal hamster mix (they still like pouching the food even if they find the hard food more difficult to eat).

Sometimes they still enjoy out of cage time and perk up a bit but if he is showing signs of fear or distress at coming out, he may be feeling unwell.

It does sound like he is in his twiligtht time now so important to just let him eat whatever he likes and not worry about whether it's healthy or not Chicken baby foods are popular - pumpkin and chicken was our hammy's favourite.

I would also remove any levels in case he climbs up and falls. When I did this I put all the toys from the shelves on the floor and movedthe shelves rigt to the top of the cage so they touched the top - he couldn't get up there/on them but it still made it darker underneath so he still felt safe under a shelf.

I also added a few new toys at floor level - a tube tied to the bars at substrate level and a little hyacinth ball I would stick pumpkin seeds in - he enjoyed pulling them out.

He may have some days better than others. Our hammy at this age used to still use his wheel but only for about 10 seconds!

As Cypher said, see if you can get a look at his teeth without distressing him (eg if he yawns?). If the bottom teeth have got very long he won't be able to eat. As long as he can open his mouth properly he should be ok, but they can get so long that they puncture the palate of the mouth and that does require vet treatment then.

At the age of 2 our hammy's teeth had got too long and he had to have them trimmed - he was not happy at all - but he did start eating his hard food again. Even then, they can get toothache in the back teeth in older age which stops them eating hard food - so then it's a vicious circle - if they don't eat hard food their bottom teeth get too long.

At his age you don't want him having a lot of hassle and vet visits unless absolutely necessary, but if he is in pain or needs his teeth trimming for comfort, it would be worth a visit for this and to get some metacam for him.

But play it by ear - if he is nearing his time, then best to just keep him comfortable. If it helps I did a little video about setting up a cage for an older hamster. You can see he's a bit doddery. I had taken the levels out and added the large cork log so it was something low and interesting to climb over and also a tunnel. His baby food is in the little pink egg cup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIxHqvr9wTY

[cypher]

I wouldn't use the Oxbow Natural Science Joint Support Vitamin for a hamster, the ingredients are safe I think but it would be impossible to figure out a safe dose for a hamster as it's only one or two tabs for a rabbit or guinea pig, a hamster would be a tiny fraction of a tab!
The amount of protein in chicken baby food is fine, it's not that high so don't worry about that.

[Natasha95]

Thanks for the replies! I won't give him the vitamins.

Just an update: he seems a lot better tonight for some reason. He was actually awake when I came to feed him, so I picked him up and let him out of his cage because he hasn't come out in so long. It took him a while to get his bearings, but after a while his energy increased, and he even did some climbing. I thought I was going to have to pick him up and put him back in his cage because he hesitated when he got to the door, but he kind of jumped up and climbed back in on his own. This "adventure" must've tired him out, though, because he almost immediately went back to sleep as soon as he got in his cage, after jogging on his wheel for a few seconds.

I also made a ball out of a toilet paper tube earlier and put some treats in it, and he had fun with that. Maybe he was missing some stimulation in his life?

I also wanted to clarify that he is still eating solid food. He nibbles on his lab blocks every night. I just started giving him baby food because I noticed that he wasn't eating much of his seed mix lately.

I moved his water bowl down off the shelf and put it near his igloo, so it's closer to him than that the water bottle is. But when I moved his food bowl down, he still went up the ramp looking for food on the shelf, so I ended up putting it back up there. I don't want to move things around on him too much. I did lower the shelf, though, so the ramp isn't very steep.

[cypher]

It sounds as though he's doing pretty well really, they can be a bit unpredictable when they get older having good days & not so good days so you just have to take it as it comes & let him guide you as to what he needs.
It's lovely when they perk up a bit & have some fun though.

[Pebbles82]

Excellent - he will have good days and bad days maybe. I think their natural enjoyment of fun comes out however old and failing they are - unless they are seriously suffering or in pain. How about two food bowls? One in the old place and one near the house? Or leave the food bowl where it is and scatter feed near the house a bit.

[Pebbles82]

He might be using his wheel at night when you don't see. As I say our hammy would jump in, run for 10 seconds and jump out again (I think to just to keep up his old habits and because he liked his wheel even though he clearly didn't have the energy to run in it for long at all).

You could put a bit of substrate or small piece of toilet paper on top of the wheel when you go to bed and see if it's gone in the morning That's how I tell if the wheel is being used or not.

Our Syrian is over 18 months and isn't using his wheel every night at the moment - some nights he is (I also have to keep unblocking it as he digs round it and blocks it up!).

It is cold weather at the moment too and they can often perk up a lot when it gets warmer (although that may not be till May or June!)

[Natasha95]

I'll try scattering food around his cage, too. That might even help keep him mentally sharp and stimulated. And, I put substrate on top of his wheel, and it looks like he is using his wheel at least a little!