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Old 07-08-2020, 03:48 PM   #1
xJincks
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Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Scotland, UK
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Question Hamster losing his sight, looking for tips

Hi all

Just looking for some tips on how to help a hamster who is losing their sight.

My wee dwarf has started developing cloudy eyes and has been acting different recently. He also hasn't been on his wheel much which he used to be on all the time.

We adopted him from pets at home over a year ago. He was attacked by one of his cage mates so he has a ripped ear, and he was absolutely not keen on being handled when we got him home. I was totally prepared for him to be a hands-off hamster but he turned out to be such a sweetheart, and it is heartbreaking to see him getting old. I just want to make him as happy as possible.

He is currently in a detolf but I was wondering if it would be better to put him in something smaller? Or would it be better to keep him in something he is familiar with? I have a skyline marrakesh free, it's definitely too small for a syrian so I wasnt sure if moving him to that would be a good or bad move.

Any other tips and suggestions would be much appreciated!
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Old 07-08-2020, 09:56 PM   #2
cypher
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Default Re: Hamster losing his sight, looking for tips

Sorry to hear this, have you had his eyes checked by your vet to see what the problem may be?
I wouldn’t move him, it’s important to keep things as familiar as possible, hamsters find their way around by scent so keeping cleaning to a minimum will help.
You may need to rearrange the cage depending on your set up so that things are on one level & everything is easy for him to reach other than that you should be able to keep things the same.
One of my hams lost his sight toward the end of his life but he managed so well I wasn’t even sure he was blind until the vet confirmed it.
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Old 07-09-2020, 07:06 AM   #3
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Hamster losing his sight, looking for tips

Main thing is to keep the layout the same and not move things around and don't clean out too much. They rely very much on scent and do actually create scent trails round the cage as they don't see well. Just spot clean the substrate in the pee area and pick out the odd poop if they start taking over and leave changing the substrate for a long time - to keep his scent trails and things smelling familar - it you have at least 4" of substrate that will be fine in a large cage and you can easily go three months without changing all the substrate that way.

When you do clean things don't clean everything at the same time so most things still smell familiar most of the time. If you have a platform it might be best to remove the ramp/access to it in case he falls- it will still give overhead cover that way if left.
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Old 07-10-2020, 04:17 AM   #4
xJincks
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Join Date: Apr 2019
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Default Re: Hamster losing his sight, looking for tips

Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher View Post
Sorry to hear this, have you had his eyes checked by your vet to see what the problem may be?
I wouldn’t move him, it’s important to keep things as familiar as possible, hamsters find their way around by scent so keeping cleaning to a minimum will help.
You may need to rearrange the cage depending on your set up so that things are on one level & everything is easy for him to reach other than that you should be able to keep things the same.
One of my hams lost his sight toward the end of his life but he managed so well I wasn’t even sure he was blind until the vet confirmed it.
No I haven't taken him to the vet yet. He is still his usual self, just has cloudy eyes. If he starts acting differently or if his eyes look hurt I will take him to the vet straight away.

I heard it is common for red eyed hamsters to lose their sight (not sure if that is actually true or not?) so I just want to be prepared

He does have a wee platform were I put his food and water, so I'll sink that a bit lower into the substrate. Thanks for your help!
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Old 07-10-2020, 04:24 AM   #5
xJincks
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Join Date: Apr 2019
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Default Re: Hamster losing his sight, looking for tips

Quote:
Originally Posted by Serendipity7000 View Post
Main thing is to keep the layout the same and not move things around and don't clean out too much. They rely very much on scent and do actually create scent trails round the cage as they don't see well. Just spot clean the substrate in the pee area and pick out the odd poop if they start taking over and leave changing the substrate for a long time - to keep his scent trails and things smelling familar - it you have at least 4" of substrate that will be fine in a large cage and you can easily go three months without changing all the substrate that way.

When you do clean things don't clean everything at the same time so most things still smell familiar most of the time. If you have a platform it might be best to remove the ramp/access to it in case he falls- it will still give overhead cover that way if left.
Luckily he is a very clean hamster and always does the toilet in the same places so spot cleaning is easy. I am usually able to just take the bedding out to clean the cage and then put his bedding back in, but I didn't think about scent trails so I'll try and not move his bedding too much.

Thank you!
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Old 07-10-2020, 05:04 AM   #6
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Hamster losing his sight, looking for tips

It sounds like cataracts maybe. How old is he? Sounds like just over a year. As Cypher said it may be an idea to have a vet check to see if something else is causing the cloudy eyes. Most dwarf hamsters are hybrids and are prone to diabetes and I believe that can cause eye problems as well. You can actually check for this with ketodiastix yourself.

Vectis Hamstery has a very good page about diabetes which might help - although it's for Chinese hamsters, the same applies to other dwarf hamsters. It contains info about testing at home with ketodiastix.

https://vectishams.com/chinese-hamster-diabetes/
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