Ear Growth/Health Concern

Led · 03-04-2019, 07:44 PM

Hello,

I joined recently as my hamster has an ongoing health concern.

For some time he has had a growth in his ear. Initially, it was quite small. But it started to get bigger and began to protrude from his ear canal. After some research, I saw a number of people discussed warts that grow in their ears and can pose health concerns. I took him to my vet (who cares for all my other furry children) and she indicated that (at the time) it was not serious enough to warrant any action.

It has since grown externally and poses a major concern for his health and well-being. He is nearly three years old and when I asked my vet whether there was something more she could do, her response was euthanasia.

Maybe I'm stubborn, but I was hoping that I might be able to turn to this community and solicit some advice. For starters, has anyone else experienced this issue?

I have included photos so that you can see what he is dealing with. He is still eating, but I can tell that it is taking its toll on him and his health seems to be on the decline. The pictures I took are a week or two old, now. And the growth has gotten bigger and I see him squinting as it pushes near his right eye.

I just want to do the best I can for him and am at a loss for options.

https://imgur.com/a/PSgD0vv

cypher · 03-05-2019, 02:06 AM

Sorry to see your ham has this problem, ear warts aren't that uncommon & can be removed but I really don't know if this would be too advanced now, your ham is a really great age so any surgery might be more risky.
Would it be possible for you to get a second opinion from another vet to be certain that there isn't another option for treatment?
If there isn't any way to help him then all you can do is monitor his quality of life & do what you feel would be best for him.

souffle · 03-05-2019, 02:21 AM

It does look to be quite a large growth now and could be causing your little one some pain due to the pressure inside the ear. Smaller growths can be removed but this does look inoperable. It would be risky on an older hamster as well. I would also suggest another opinion and watching closely for any signs that your little one is feeling distressed such as lack of appetite and lethargy or hunching. You could see if the vet will give pain relief but it is always better a day early than a day late if he is already in pain.

Led · 03-05-2019, 05:55 PM

Thanks for the input. I did take him to the vet so as to address the situation when it was much smaller and manageable. They told me they wanted to adopt a wait-and-see approach. As you can see, it got worse.

And I don't want to say that I'm disappointed with the vet's recommendation/lack of action, especially being cognizant of the age issue. It's just really frustrating because the veterinary community has a very small subset of doctors that will treat these little guys. And the two that I sought help from said "Gosh, surgery and treatment is really hard because they're so small." It almost seems like a cop-out.

Sorry, I'm just venting, now.

Thank you for the replies. I suppose I was hoping for some insight or something that I may have missed. Or a veterinarian that would have adopted a more active/involved approach.

Trey (if he understood what I was doing here) would thank you, too.

weeshaz · 03-10-2019, 03:31 PM

Im sure i read somewhere that they should be removed when they are small before they become like this but ive also heard of many vets putting it off and then by the time its grown huge the hamsters too old to be put thru surgery xx so sorry ur wee ham is going thru this