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Old 03-31-2020, 12:08 AM   #1
XMarye_T
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Default Hamster clicking, suspected allergy

Hi! I have a medical question.

Tldr; my hybrid hamster, 1y4m old was found clicking and breathing really fast last night. Called vet, he wouldn't have a look at hamster because he's untame and bites. Adviced to put hamster back on previous bedding which I did. Hamster made it through night, is active and eating/drinking, but he still breathes more quickly than normal and still clicks with every breath. Do I wait it out like my vet instructed or do I still go to the vet?

So my hamster is a hybrid hamster, 1y 4m old. I adopted him from a shelter but when they gave him to me he had a small cut. They said the vet had checked him, the cut was healing, and he was fine to go home.

We put him on aspen shavings, in the shelter he was on shredded paper. I also gave him a sandbath with chinchilla bathsand. After a few days I noticed him scratching himself so much that the cut had a new crust on it, and his paw had cuts on it too. Took him to the vet, a very old lady who didn't seem to know how to treat an untame hamster (I was taming him but it went slow as I only had him a week). She said he most likely had mites, and we put a drop of stronghold rose in his neck. She gave me the rest and told me to repeat after 2/3 weeks, which I did.

In those three weeks he never stopped scratching, even after completely desinfecting the cage. In fact it got worse, because he was developing an eye infection too. By accident I had left the sandbath out of the cage after the second time desinfecting it, and the next day his eye had cleared up. I was suspecting him to be allergic to his sandbath. However the scratching never stopped, so I bought a different bedding: ekoo cotton n card. Its kinda like a pulp, with really soft cotton and pieced of recycled card. Not the fluffy cotton nesting material, but like I said, more like some sort of pulp. The lady in the store said it was good for allergic hamsters so we tried it.

Que to last night, I find him in his nest breathing so fast as if he had ran a marathon, clicking with each quick and short breath. I did a quick online search for what that could mean and I called the vet immediately. He told me there wasn't much he could do for me because my hamster still bites (excuse me what, you're a vet...). Anyway he told me to put him back on aspen shavings instantly and hope he would make it through the night.

He did. He's running around on his wheel, he's building himself a nest, he's foraging for food and I saw him drinking a little. However he's still clicking with every breath, but otherwise seems fine.

My question: do I wait this out, like my vet told me? Or do I still call and take him to the vet, even though he said he wouldn't be able to do much because the hamster is not tame?
Thanks
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Old 03-31-2020, 05:48 AM   #2
Ria P
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Default Re: Hamster clicking, suspected allergy

Not much of a vet that one.

I can only tell you what i would do.
I would look for an exotics vet or a different vet if you can't find one to get a second opinion. Your hamster may have a chest infection in need of antibiotics. All the vet needs to do is listen to the hamster's breathing.
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Old 03-31-2020, 06:49 AM   #3
cypher
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Default Re: Hamster clicking, suspected allergy

My first thought would be a respiratory infection of some kind too, an allergy is less likely from what. you've described.
I would try to find a better vet if you can, most vets whether exotic or not should be able to diagnose a respiratory problem.
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Old 03-31-2020, 04:07 PM   #4
XMarye_T
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Default Re: Hamster clicking, suspected allergy

Allright, here's the update: my friend found a different vet in the area that specializes in rodents. She listened to his breathing and gave him antibiotics. We're not entirely sure what is causing the respirory problems, but after giving him the meds and he fell asleep his breathing was a little slower and more steady.
She also gave him something to relieve the itching so his cuts can heal up.
Right now he just pouched a bunch of food I gave him and started to eat them in his nest. I'm taking that as a good sign. I also gave him more toilet tissue and he's currently busy working on his nest, which I'm also taking as a good sign.

Could you explain why you don't think it's an allergic reaction? I feel like a few hours after we put him on this new bedding he got sick, so it's a little hard for me not to connect those two things. But I'm interested to know what could have caused this so I can avoid it in the future. Was it stress from changing his bedding so much? Was it a bacteria in the bedding? Was it something completely else? I'd love to know. Thanks guys!
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Old 03-31-2020, 10:00 PM   #5
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Default Re: Hamster clicking, suspected allergy

Really glad to hear you were able to find a better vet & get him seen, I hope he improves now with the meds.
It's never easy to say for sure about allergies but they aren't really all that common & the new substrate really doesn't sound like something he'd be allergic to unless the cotton in it is causing him a problem, I've never seen that substrate so it's hard to say for sure. It's possible there was something in there that shouldn't have been that caused a. problem & stress may have been a factor again it's never easy or even possible to be sure about some of these things.
If you are still concerned about the substrate if you can get kaytee clean and cosy where you are that is probably about the best, just plain soft paper, not dusty & nothing to cause any kind of reactions.
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Old 04-02-2020, 12:10 AM   #6
XMarye_T
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Default Re: Hamster clicking, suspected allergy

Thats a good tip, I'll see if that's available to me. I have also found carefresh to be available, and something called tumblefresh. Are those good options too?
The vet said I should still try Felix on the ekoo cotton n card bedding, but I'm a little scared about that, so I think getting something else would be better.

Edit: nope, clean n cozy is not available in the NL's. I'd love to hear what you think about chipsi carefresh and this thing called tumblefresh though. Thanks

Last edited by XMarye_T; 04-02-2020 at 12:33 AM.
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Old 04-02-2020, 01:45 AM   #7
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Default Re: Hamster clicking, suspected allergy

Aspen can definitely cause an allergic reaction. While it may not be the sole factor for your hamster's issues it could contribute. A lot of people don't think about that but it's hardly unheard of!

For this cotton n card bedding, I would say don't use it. Cotton has at best questionable safety, and we already know the serious dangers it poses in other forms. Even if it doesn't seem like the obviously dangerous fluffy stuff taking that risk is a very bad idea!

Carefresh in general is a very poor choice. It's a highly processed pulp often with added dyes - and an unknown odor control formula when I last checked which has questionable at best safety. We've seen many hamsters react negatively to Carefresh due to the high dust levels alone, and with it being a lesser known fact that Carefresh does source some fiber from toxic wood species that should also be a significant concern.

With aspen potentially triggering a reaction in this hamster I wouldn't be using wood substrate in general including Chipsi. It is possible that some wood species may not trigger these same reactions, but I wouldn't want to take that risk introducing more wood species that are even more likely to cause a reaction.

I would personally try hemp. It wouldn't be hard to find in the Netherlands(just make sure there are no additives as some companies do add unsafe things to hemp), and it is very unlikely that a negative reaction to hemp would occur. Typically we see hemp allergies in humans here rather than hamsters - and even that isn't overwhelmingly common!
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Old 04-02-2020, 03:46 AM   #8
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Default Re: Hamster clicking, suspected allergy

I think tumblefresh is very similar to carefresh, I did buy some once years ago so that's just what I remember so I may be wrong.
Carefresh may not be the best but as long as you don't get a really dusty batch it's not harmful so you may be ok sticking with that.
I would be a little unsure about the cotton seeds in that ekoo bedding tbh but I've never seen it only googled it so can't say for sure.
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Old 04-03-2020, 01:33 AM   #9
XMarye_T
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Default Re: Hamster clicking, suspected allergy

Hi guys, I realize I made a mistake. In my first post I said Felix was on aspen shavings. I had just watched a video about bedding and for some reason this was stuck in my head. He is in fact not living on aspen, he's living on hemp. I'm sorry that I didn't realize what I wrote sooner.

It's very dusty, everytime I put new hemp in the cage i have to wear a mask otherwise I get trouble breathing. As I'm typing this now I also realize that that is probably an indicator of what might be going on. But still, he was fine on hemp (just scratching) and when I switched to ekoo cotton n card he was very much not fine. And everyone recommends hemp to be a safe bedding. Should I just try a different brand?

Thank you for your suggestions. I will get rid of the cotton n card bedding. For now I'm going to put him back from his hospital cage (with hemp) to his main cage on hemp bedding as that's the only thing I really have enough of right now to fill the whole cage. Since hemp is suggested here I will try a different brand, one specifically for rodents. The one I used now was a more general brand, for reptiles, horses and small pets, but I guess that's not so safe then.

Thanks everyone for helping. Felix is doing much better now, I'm so relieved. He says thanks too
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Old 04-03-2020, 05:01 AM   #10
cypher
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Default Re: Hamster clicking, suspected allergy

Hemp should be ok but it does vary a lot in quality, I've used a couple from Zooplus in the past (I seem to have developed an allergy to it myself now so no longer use it!) hemparade I found to have too many sharp pieces & I didn't like it at all, Hugro hemp was much better, softer & not really dusty. You should be able to get that from Zooplus normally but I just had a look & they're out of stock right now.
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