Dandruff

[AprilPearl]

Quigley has developed a bad case of dandruff. He’ll be 2 years and 6 months old next week and I wondered whether it was just an age thing? Or could it be mites?

It hasn’t showed up very well in the picture but there is a lot of dandruff close to the skin. It’s as though someone has sprinkled grains of salt all over him!

Otherwise he is doing well. If it could be something serious we will take him to the vet but don’t want to stress him out unnecessarily.

[Dessi]

I don’t know what they are but I would think it’s better to be at the vet for 10 minutes than having to live with whatever causes this.

[AprilPearl]

I’m a little hesitant to take him to the vets because we only took him a few weeks ago for something else and he’s an old man now.

He doesn’t groom his back and sides much anymore which I guess could be the cause of the problem. Maybe he’s stiff?

If nobody else has any idea what it could be we'll probably have to take him to the vet to be on the safe side, though.

[souffle]

I've seen this quite a lot in our old and especially long haired hamsters. I think it is just dry skin myself and have always just left it. I don't think they groom themselves as well and spend a lot of time sleeping so the skin just drys and flakes. It has never seemed to bother them mind you and no itching or anything. Sometimes adding in a little wheatgerm in porridge can help or some extra more oily seeds like sunflower hearts may give them a little boost. We do gently brush but you can sometimes see bits of fur come out with the brush so it is more superficial brushing. I'm sure it;s all to do with getting old. If he seems happy enough with no itching or anything else of worry I would leave him be.

[Ria P]

Half a teaspoon of brown linseeds daily is meant to be good for their fur and they like them.
They sell them in supermarkets.

[AprilPearl]

Thanks Souffle. That sets my mind at ease.

He gets a pinch of brown linseed sprinkled on his food every other day (and a sprinkle of hemp on the days when he doesn’t get linseed). There’s also sunflower seeds in his mix. Hopefully that’s enough oily seeds for his coat - don’t want to overdo it though.

I might have to start brushing him since he’s not grooming so much as he used to.

[Ria P]

He looks a beautiful hamster. Do you have a photo of his face to share?

[souffle]

He might be struggling with the length of the coat as well. We often give long coats a little trim. When your heating comes on after the summer it does dry out the skin as well in older hammies especially.

[AprilPearl]

Thank you Ria P. He is! I took some pictures of him last night but he didn’t want to hold still so they’re not great (excuse the messy room):




There are pictures of him from when he was younger on his thread:
Quigley
Photobucket has blurred the pictures but there are some videos from YouTube which aren’t blurred

You’re probably right, Souffle. He has some tangles in his coat too. I didn’t realise it had gotten long again (it’s usually quite short but sometimes the skirt grows out).

[flowerfairy]

Awwww he is just sooooo lovely!