Please Help, Hard Lump On Ham Groin and Wet Bottom

[ellsbells98]

Hi, I've never posted before but have spent a good hour looking through the 'lump' tag to see if ay other hams have been through what my Tiny Ham could be going through.

Juliet or Tiny Ham as I call her is 2 years and 5 months old and my first hamster. For the last 6 months has been losing her fur off of her tummy and butt, which when I spoke to a vet, they said it was just old age. She's been sleeping a little more than normal now and I put it down to her just slowing down. I got her out of her cage this evening to roll around in her ball and have a cuddle and noticed a pretty large and hard lump on her groin and her bottom was wet with a poop stuck under her tail. I used a cotton bud ad some warm water with a drop of baby shampoo to clean the wet and sand off of around her anus and noticed she had little sore red patches around the area, so after researching put a thin layer of Sudocrem on to help soothe the area (hence the white on the photo). I'm planning on getting my parents to take me to a vet that specialises in hamsters first thing in the morning but am incredibly worried and wondered if anyone had a clue what it was. I have also attached a video as I noticed her walking very differently, as usually walking on the side didn't change the way she usually walked when she was younger.

Google Drive: Sign-in

I recently came back to my parents from uni and brought Juliet (the Tiny Ham) back with me and she travelled in her cage (I took everything out that could fall or hurt her and she was safely strapped into the backseat of the car to reduce stress as she hates her carrier.) She's gotten me through a lot of hard times and I'm so scared that she could be hurting. if anyone can help at all please let me know

[cypher]

I’m really sorry to hear this, it’s hard to say what might be going on as there are a few things it could be & I can’t see your photos (it says to sign in).
There’’s a thread here that shows how to upload photos to the forum.
How To Embed Photos
I don’t think there is much you can do until you can get her to a vet, I would do that as soon as possible.
She is a really great age so some of her symptoms may well just be due to ageing but the lump is worrying & needs to be seen by the vet.
Good luck, I hope the vet can help & she can stay comfortable in her old age for some time yet.

[ellsbells98]

Hi,

It turned out that the lump is a tumour in one of her mammary glands and the wet bottom is just some sores leaking. I've been prescribed some antibacterial cream and wash to apply twice a day as the vet agrees that shes pretty much oblivious to the lump and still runs over for food and a fuss if she sees you. Also apparently I'll know when the time to put her down is which obviously breaks my heart but her quality of life is so important to me more than me wanting her around.

Thank you for the kind words and support it means a lot to me!