Help anyone?

[babyirish]

i have a 2yrs+ syrian male hamster. On 31 May i brought my hamster to the vet coz i've noticed that his belly is way bigger than before and the breathing is not the usual, like a bit fast. The vet said that he's bloated and didn't noticed any lumps. He gave him gastro medicine for 3 days. After 2 days of giving him the med, i've noticed only a very minimal improvement on the size of his belly and i've noticed also that one of his back foot is swollen but its not a bumblefoot and he also has somewhat like excess fat in his throat. am worried now. i dont think he's not only bloated, there must be really something wrong inside. can you help me, please? 😢 i took a few pictures so you can see his condition. thank you in advance.

[Pebbles82]

Hello. He looks ok to me. At two he is quite elderly and they can get a bit of a swollen belly for all kinds of reasons - he could carry on like that for some time without too much issue and you would know if he was in discomfort. He is the equivalent of an 80 year old human more or less and with older hamsters things start to gradually fail- kidneys , liver , heart - and not function so well. The swelling could be any of these things - usually fluid. Or it could be a tumour possibly. But as time goes on you will see if anything changes or he seems to be suffering in some way. At his age I would just keep monitoring him and letting him live out his life.

However you mentioned some kind of thickening (?) under his neck. That could be a tumour or even a cyst. It’s a difficult call - whether you put him through more stress going to the vet or just let him carry on. A tumour in the neck area/surgery may not be successful at his age. I had a two year old hamster with something similar - a neck swelling. They decided to operate as it was affecting him being able to walk properly and getting stuck in things. Sadly he died under anaesthetic. That is the risk. On the other hand it saves dying a painful death later, so to speak.

Does the lump under his neck seem to be bothering him? Can you tell if his pouches are empty (eg nothing stuck in there). Also check his bottom teeth and see they haven’t grown too long.

Signs of suffering are sitting hunched and ears down all the time. He doesn’t appear that way in the photos. How is his behaviour?

You also mentioned breathing. Is he just stopping to pant a bit or is it more like rasping? If the first then he may just be ageing - heart eg. If the latter it could be an infection (or allergy depending on his bedding) or it could be he is getting into his twilight time. They can have breathing changes when they are near dying.

[babyirish]

Hi Seredendipity7000 thanks for your reply. I really do hope he's just fine and the reason is really old age.

About the excess skin on his neck i tried touching it this morning and the texture is soft and i didnt feel any nodes/lumps. Also, the other day i've noticed that he's touching it while he's grooming and he even attempt on grooming that part. Btw, his teeth are just fine, they have not overgrown.

Alsk, he can still walk without falling but with a little bit of curve at his back. He's also very attentive especially when his fellow hamsters are making noises. He even tries to get out of his cage by climbing.

I've seen a video (link posted below) which is somehow related to the breathing of my baby. I hope its just normal.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rADxVRSCBMA

Do you think its a good decision to bring to the vet? To make sure that the excess skin on his neck is not a lumps/tumor?