Scratching near eye and Respiratory Infection

[Sauropod8]

Hi Forum,

Moss is a male Syrian, approx 5months old. I got him in the adoption section from P@H as he had been bought twice and returned as unhandle-able.

I recently went on hols for 2 weeks, we had a house sitter for the animals. Came back on Friday last week (12th) and Moss was snuffling around his cage, sneezing, very sniffy.

I took him to the vet on Saturday (not an exotic vet, only a regular vet had availability). Suspected respiratory infection which does seem to fit the symptoms. Moss does not like to be handled so the vet visit was traumatic, he bit the vet twice!
Anyway, he has been on Baytril antibiotic (2x day), Loxicam anti inflammatory and decongestant (1x day) for the last 4 days. I haven't seen an improvement in his breathing yet.

Last night I thought his right eye looked a little like the fur was thin around it.
This morning, he has a visible sore with red skin, like he has been scratching it. His eye seems okay, just the skin around.

I dont really know what to do! I have tried to bathe the eye with warm water and cotton, but it doesn't seem crusty or anything. He is on teabag bedding and has reptile sand in the cage. I have removed coco soil, sprays and moss enrichment in case these were causing a reaction.
As mentioned, he is skittish and handling him to administer the medicine is quite a task, but we are managing so far. He weighs 120g in case that's relevant (I'm sure he has lost weight while we were away, but he is eating).

Should I book another vet appointment? I have emailed them the photo.
Is it too soon to expect an improvement in his breathing from the antibiotics yet?
It's sad to hear him sniffing and sneezing and not running on his wheel as he used to!

[Sauropod8]

Update (2 days later):
I emailed the vet photographs as taking him back in would be too stressful. The vet has prescribed an antibiotic eye drop ointment, to put on the sore skin next to Moss' eye. In case any accidentally gets in his eye, the eye drop form is safer.

Moss is still hamster-ing around but we haven't seen an improvement in his breathing and snuffling. We are still administering his oral antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds - tomorrow will be a week on those.

I weighed him again yesterday and he's down to 114g, so seems like he's lost another 6g despite my best efforts giving him cooked chicken, mealworms, sunflower seeds and Chubby Cheeks syrian mix. I don't know how else to fatten him up while he's poorly, I'll cook him a scrambled egg today.

[Miko]

Hi buddy I felt so bad after seeing his red eye ,personally I hate when hamsters get such eye or respiratory infections. In my country ,a vet that knows about hamsters is rarely available still I've kept 7 without any advice of vet and all ... Anyways, my hamsters had eye/breathing problems the most and i successfully treated it with Enrofloxacin (also known as Baytril ). Sometimes it even gets worse but as you're giving the right medication I dont think it will get worse, my hamsters used to take about 10 -20 days for the complete recovery so be patient and observe him.
I'd prefer giving him thyme water (boil water with thyme seeds & give him through a syringe when cools down) it will help in breathing. And clean the eye with saline water twice a day.
Observe him for 5 days and if nothing changes, take him to another vet and get some advice.
I hope he recovers soon !!

[Sauropod8]

Hi Miko, thanks so much for the reply!
That is semi-reassuring, just that you have seen it take a while for Baytril to take effect/ help for the respiratory infection. Moss has been on it for 7 days now, and I have just picked up some more to keep him on it for another week or so. He still is struggling with his breathing but we are just hoping the antibiotics kick in very soon and help him out.

We have been putting the antibiotic eye drop cream on the sore next to his eye. Since my original post 3 days ago, this has now scabbed over and gone hard, hopefully that means it's healing, but he has his eye semi-closed which makes Jim look so sad. I hope it's just because that sore is healing and the skin is pulled tight, so will get better. The wound itself does seem better.

I'm just concerned now that we have weighed him again tonight and he is down to 106g �� I have been giving him everything I can think of; boiled egg, cooked chicken, mealworms, sunflower seeds, Chubby Cheeks mix. He seems to be eating it in his bowl and stashing some of it, so it's worrying he is still losing weight. I added extra bedding and we have covered his cage with a blanket to try and keep him warm.

Thanks again for the reply. Fingers crossed Moss starts getting better soon, I feel so bad for him

[Miko]

It's good to hear that his redness is bit better , And Dont worry about the weight, he will eventually gain it back once he gets better. Hamsters start losing weight when they are not well as the body is trying the best and results in the loss of energy and nutrients. But if you think he's losing a lot then it's better to ask vet.
His eye will remain semi closed because of the pain and irritation around it ,just make sure there is no severe discharge (it if happens, he may have conjunctivitis).
This med works really slow and I know that so let's hope the best for him ! At last I'd suggest to clean and disinfect his cage and remove wooden material ,it will help preventing in any further irritations.
Get well soon Moss ♡

[Sauropod8]

Thanks again, we do hope the meds are just slow to act as I'm not sure how else to help him
Tried to take a photo of his eye but he's always moving so it's difficult! But it is scabbed over.
Thanks for your reply about his weight, it is quite worrying how much he has lost and compared to my other hamster who is 236g!

[Sauropod8]

Update: Day 9 on antibiotics. Moss still doesn't seem to be improving in any way in terms of his respiratory infection. He is still snuffling, sneezing and his sides are visibly moving in and out when he breathes. He seems to be eating, just not putting any weight on.
His eye is still half closed as the sore next to it is scabbed over. Not the best photo but you can sort of see.

[Sauropod8]

Update Day 11.
His eye looks so bad now. The fur is gone and its just grey skin, but his actual eye ball seems to be covered by the skin as well.
Not sure whether to continue with the eye antibiotic cream or not, he's still on all the other meds for the respiratory infection. His weight today 94g �� how can I help him? He's wasting away.
Looks worse as I've just bathed with water.

[Miko]

That's so bad poor lil hammy . Idk if I'm right but that watery thing looks like eye discharge to me. I wonder why the medicine is not working, maybe the root cause is different?? The discharge is a sign of eye infection, recently my 1.5 year old hamster had such case and I treated it with enrofloxacin and he took a whole month to recover ,umm id like to know the antibiotic composition if possible . Overall his appearance is still fine ,the fur may look greasy during this stage because of a few reasons : if hammy is not grooming or the weakness makes him look like that,if he's still eating on his own there's still a way out !!
I would suggest taking him to another vet because otherwise the condition may get worse. I hope the best for you ,pls recover soon Moss.

[Sauropod8]

Miko thankyou so much for your kind words and support!

So Moss is down to 88g now, he is eating by himself but I don't know how to get him to keep the weight on. He is now on a probiotic alongside the antibiotic (Baytril oral medicine). The antibiotic eye cream is isathal 10mg/g (active substance fusidic acid).

He doesn't seem to have the energy to be grooming himself properly, he has a wet/crusty tummy where he is walking through his own wee. He's still being active, coming out to his food bowl, his sand and stuffing new bedding back to his chamber. I'm just worried that he is wasting away, he really needs to gain some weight to help fight the infection.