Robo Skin Condition Advice Please!

Leila0420 · 12-14-2019, 05:48 AM

Recently my old man roborovski called Pangolin (Pangus for short) has been losing his fur. His skin looks dry, flaky and occasionally a little bit scabby. I've attached some photos for reference, but his fur loss is predominantly around his pouches and the back of his neck. Because he's not keen on being handled, aside from sitting on my hand in his cage, I've not been able to check his belly or underfluff very well and was planning on trying the glass jar technique (hoping that it doesn't stress him out too much).

To give some history Pangus is an adoptee and he's been part of the family since early January this year. He was a pets at home adoptee, he had been in the shop for over 2 months and was apparently 9 months old when he was handed in so I reckon he is coming up to 2 years old now if not older (which is pretty good innings for a robo right?). He must have been very neglected in his first home because it took a very long time to get him used to human contact and even now he is still a skittish little thing (but he always comes looking for me when he hears my voice although it's probably just because he knows I have the tasty snacks

). Because he only likes handling on his terms and is very nervous of strangers I am worried about taking him to the vets. I thought I would ask advice here first and get him an appointment next week.

He's in zoozone 2 so plenty of space. When I first noticed the hair loss I gave his cage a thorough clean, most of his toys are wooden so they all got a long slow disinfecting bake in the oven. He has a sand bath and has always been very skinny with a tendency for greasy fur on his back where he's now balding. He's totally fine in himself aside from the fur loss, still very zoomy and loves his wheel.

Only major change recently has been food. Burgess dwarf was my staple mix so since it's been cancelled it's been difficult to find a good mix. I first tried JR dwarf mix and Bunny dwarf hamster dream mix through zooplus. Pangus liked it but I have another other dwarf hamster called Wednesday and she became really fat on it. Since then I've slowly changed to Harry Hamster (with all the big pieces cut or crushed into smaller chuncks) with millet, flax seeds and fenugreek seeds mixed in. I've always given them extra flax and fenugreek seeds so that's not a new food addition, the only new thing is the millet which I get from jolleys bird seed.

Wednesday my other hamster (who lives in a different room to Pangus) has had no signs of hair loss (aside from a little under her double chins when he ballooned off the JR / bunny dream mix but she's fine now). However we have had issues with mice in the floor boards and I'm slightly worried he may have caught something from them...

Any advice would be much appreciated!! Sorry it's a long post I just wanted to be thorough.

imawizard · 12-14-2019, 07:02 AM

I am having a similar issue with my eldery robo (approx. 2 years 6months) Albert. He too was a pets at home adoptee who had been there for 4 months. Recently he has been scratching and losing his fur around his lower back and the skin is flaky. It looks similar to your photos of Pangolin but the flakiness is further down.

I have read that the skin particularly in male hamsters can become dry and flaky due to the reduced production of sebum which is often seen with age. Males are more susceptible because the secretion of sebum is stimulated by hormones; testosterone levels decrease as they age, therefore so does the secretion of sebum.
(Hamster fur loss)

If this is the case then are there any treatments that can help?

Albert has been treated for mites and like you I have sanitised all of his wooden items and cleaned his cage thoroughly. Changed his substrate from softacard to kaytee clean and cosy- mainly because it is softer.

I've tried adding flax seeds (linseed) to his diet and cod liver oil. Yet there is no improvement.

I would also be interested to see what other members suggest

Leila0420 · 12-16-2019, 05:31 AM

Hi Imawizard, thank you for your reply and I’m sorry your Albert is having similar problems. The link you posted was really informative!

I’ve been looking through posts on here for any kind of skin condition eg Cushings and a lot of them seem to recommend tea tree cream, sudocrem or diluted tea tree oil to help reduce symptoms of dryness/ flakiness. I’m not sure about sudocrem as google searching suggestss it’s not good for pets if ingested so I might try the tea tree cream as you can get it at pets at home. Does Albert appear to be itchy? Pangus didn’t but I was stroking his bald patches yesterday to see if there were any scabs and he seemed to really enjoy it (he actually sat still for once!)

When you tried adding cod liver oil to his diet what did you do? Just mix a few drops in with his food? I might try the soluble vitamin supplements you can put in the water bottles and see if that helps too

And changing his substrate to something softer is a good shout too, thank you!

flowerfairy · 12-16-2019, 11:05 AM

Tea tree is a very strong essential oil. I would consult a vet before doing any home treatment. Good luck.

Engel · 12-17-2019, 02:02 PM

Tea tree oil is antibacterial and anti fungal which is all well as good but it dries the skin out! If you or your hamster are suffering with dry flaky skin then maybe that's not the best thing to use :/

AmityvilleHams · 12-17-2019, 05:34 PM

Tea tree has great properties for humans, but I would be extremely concerned using it for hamsters. It isn't exactly considered safe either, and knowing enough about essential oils I can say right now that they are far more concentrated and therefore stronger than any plant in its raw whole state.

At the very least, it is known that ingesting tea tree oil in rats has caused mucosal irritation, respiratory distress, and even coma. Going by the rat toxic dose(the low end), you'd probably be looking at not just under half a ml of tea tree essential oil being toxic to a 250 gram animal. For a 125 gram animal, you'd get an even scarier toxic dose - 0.2375 ml. Narrow it further to a 20 gram animal(very close to the small side of robo weight), and you get a 0.038 ml toxic dosage. 1 drop is considered 0.05 ml.

My personal preference would be a high quality coconut oil. There is scientific proof of the benefits as far as healing(and even seeming to give pain relief), but it isn't harmful if ingested. As long as you don't apply too much at once(be very sure it soaks in whether human or animal) and never ever under any circumstances try and use oils and such on any sort of rash it can be a very effective solution.

The reason I say not to apply coconut oil and similar products on rashes is because they can spread the irritants and make things worse. I had to learn this the hard way and thought something was seriously wrong with me after a pretty bad skin reaction to all sorts of different ingredients.

imawizard · 12-21-2019, 08:23 AM

As the others have mentioned I would avoid tea tree oil as it is quite harsh. Also sudocrem is probably not the best as you say it is not good if ingested and I am sure I've asked my vet about it before and they said not to use it.

Aww bless him, Albert isn't a fan of being held or really stroked, he does seem to be itchy but I haven't seen any scabs just flaky skin.

Yep just 1-2 drops of cod liver oi added to his food a couple of times a week