Female Syrian is losing her fur !

[WillowHamHam]

Originally Posted by souffle

I've seen this before in females and it seems to be a female hormone related fur loss as they age. The next baldness is quite severe and could be due to her drooling if there is a tooth problem or if she chews the water bottle spout and the neck is constantly damp. Can you take a look at her teeth. What has helped I found was feeding a porridge with wheatgerm daily and upping the green veg and particularly beansprouts and soya based foods like tofu. You can also try a multivitamin for small animals in the water but also give a plain water bottle as well. The vitamin one needs changed daily. Some extra oil in the diet like linseeds can boost the coat as well.

I will see if I can have a look at her teeth when she gets up later. Is there anything abnormal that I should look for? I don't think that she chews on her bottle too much, but she may do it during the night whilst I am asleep. Would a treat-like multivitamin be an option? I feel like she may be more inclined to eat those than drink from her water bottle, as I have heard they tend to favour the water without the vitamins. I will certainly give the extra green veg a go, I'm sure she wont be complaining about that!

[cypher]

I use this vitamin supplement which you don't need to add to water, just the tiniest pinch on veg or any other wet food works fine, either the hams like it or don't notice it's there but it all gets eaten!
I had a female hamster with hormonal related hair loss which responded very well to a drop of evening primrose oil daily so that may help too along with the flaxseed.

[WillowHamHam]

Originally Posted by cypher

I use this vitamin supplement which you don't need to add to water, just the tiniest pinch on veg or any other wet food works fine, either the hams like it or don't notice it's there but it all gets eaten!
I had a female hamster with hormonal related hair loss which responded very well to a drop of evening primrose oil daily so that may help too along with the flaxseed.

Ok, great. Thank you for the recommendation, I will look into getting some of that now

[Pebbles82]

The Linseeds work wonders and both our hams really like them. I just put a pinch of them on a separate little dish and they always eat them. I got a bag of brown linseeds about the size of a bag of sugar - it'll probably last forever.

Another option for vitamins and boosting her condition is hemp seeds. They are supposed to contain all the vitamins and minerals they are. I used them with our last Syrian when he was older and also give them to our current syrian.

I got the shelled hemp seeds by Linwoods (Amazon or Holland and Barrett sell them - they are quite light and slightly fluffy looking - taste nutty I think - they get snaffled up. So I have a little dish with a pinch of linseeds and on the other side of the dish, about a quarter teaspoon of the hemp seeds. I put them out every day - unless there are still some left from the day before, which isn't often.

Plus veg as Souffle says. I also give half a brazil nut a week. Brazil nuts are supposed to contain some unique compound that boosts the immune system.

There's some information about hemp seeds here - they are good for skin conditions and hormone balancing as well apparently. And have Vitamin E which is the skin vitamin (plus other Vitamins and minerals).

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323037.php

This has just made me wonder about female hamsters and hormones - and her age - do hamsters go through the menopause?!!!

[WillowHamHam]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

The Linseeds work wonders and both our hams really like them. I just put a pinch of them on a separate little dish and they always eat them. I got a bag of brown linseeds about the size of a bag of sugar - it'll probably last forever.

Another option for vitamins and boosting her condition is hemp seeds. They are supposed to contain all the vitamins and minerals they are. I used them with our last Syrian when he was older and also give them to our current syrian.

I got the shelled hemp seeds by Linwoods (Amazon or Holland and Barrett sell them - they are quite light and slightly fluffy looking - taste nutty I think - they get snaffled up. So I have a little dish with a pinch of linseeds and on the other side of the dish, about a quarter teaspoon of the hemp seeds. I put them out every day - unless there are still some left from the day before, which isn't often.

Plus veg as Souffle says. I also give half a brazil nut a week. Brazil nuts are supposed to contain some unique compound that boosts the immune system.

There's some information about hemp seeds here - they are good for skin conditions and hormone balancing as well apparently. And have Vitamin E which is the skin vitamin (plus other Vitamins and minerals).

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323037.php

This has just made me wonder about female hamsters and hormones - and her age - do hamsters go through the menopause?!!!

That's a good question, I do wonder! I will make an effort to incorporate more veggies into her diet, and I may give the hemp seeds and half a brazil nut a go as a more natural option to a vitamin powder (unless the vitamin powder would be necessary as well/better than this). Would flaxseeds do as a substitute for linseeds? I already have some for my other pets so it would be better ideal but I am very happy to get linseeds if thats what she needs

[cypher]

Hemp seeds are a great food & hams do love but unless there any issues with teeth I give the whole ones rather than the shelled, having any seeds in the shell is good enrichment for them as well as being good for teeth & the nutrients are better preserved in the whole seed, you can get them from ratrations too.

Flaxseeds & linseeds are the same.
I would give the vitamins as well until you see some improvement, if you just give a tiny pinch it won't be too much.

[Pebbles82]

Yes Invermectin is for mites. It is quite strong so if she doesn't have mites it would be better if she doesn't have any more - which is why I asked if they did a skin scrape first.

[WillowHamHam]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

Yes Invermectin is for mites. It is quite strong so if she doesn't have mites it would be better if she doesn't have any more - which is why I asked if they did a skin scrape first.

That's what I thought, it seemed like quite a lot for such a small animal as well! I was wondering if it may be the cause of her itching, as I didn't notice her itching before. Do you know if this is very likely?

[WillowHamHam]

Originally Posted by cypher

Hemp seeds are a great food & hams do love but unless there any issues with teeth I give the whole ones rather than the shelled, having any seeds in the shell is good enrichment for them as well as being good for teeth & the nutrients are better preserved in the whole seed, you can get them from ratrations too.

Flaxseeds & linseeds are the same.
I would give the vitamins as well until you see some improvement, if you just give a tiny pinch it won't be too much.

Ok, I'll do that then. Thank you
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...A1KJ9EZ0A471HB
Is this evening primrose oil suitable?

[Pebbles82]

I suppose it could aggravate her skin, yes.

Giving linseeds makes a noticeable difference to fur condition and growth quite quickly I found. Certainly within 3 weeks. So if it doesn't improve with Linseeds then it may be something other than age and hormones.