Hamster breath

[Tubbytiger]

Hello, I have a 1 and 5 month year old hamster and she was cuddling with me on my chest the other night. She yawned and my face was pretty close to her and her breath kind of stunk when she yawned. I waited until she yawned again and the smell was coming from her breath.

I know that really bad breath can be a sign of an impacted cheek pouch. However, her breath doesn't stick super bad, it just does not have a pleasant smell like morning breath or cat/dog breath. I checked her cheeks and I cannot feel any lumps. There is no discharge coming out of her mouth and I looked into her mouth and it looked normal. She still is using both her pouches to gather food and does not seem to have difficulty emptying them. Also, when her mouth is closed, it does not have a smell. She was also in heat when this happened, could this play a role in her smelly breath?

So can hamsters have a not so nice smelling breath? Could this just be because she is getting older? Should I take her to the vet just to be on the safe side?

Thank you.

[Ithuviel]

animals in general will not have minty fresh breath....that's all i can advise.

[cypher]

I can't say I've ever really noticed any strong smell from my hams breath, I don't think I've had one yawn in my face though but have been nose to nose many times.
It may be nothing but I would keep an eye on her for any signs there may be a problem.

[Tubbytiger]

Okay, thank you so much! I will keep an eye on her to see if anything changes or her breath gets worse.

[Vierville]

Bad breath can also indicate a mouth abscess. My dwarf Nanuk had an 'eye infection' which we took her to two different vets for with no success. The third vet immediately smelled her breath, opened her mouth and found a mouth abscess which was the root cause of the infection. The vet sais that bad breath is a primary indicator of cheek pouch impaction, abscesses and other oral infections.

I agree that animals' breath is not usualy minty fresh but keep an eye on her bearng the above in mind.