Hello dear Community,
so I've had my hamster Murmel since the 22nd of February. He is 7 months old now and a long haired Syrian.
I am generally a little overprotective when it comes to my hammy
and always notice the slightest difference in his behaviour. Up until now its changes have been totally normal for his age. But recently we left for a vacation in Mexico and left Murmel with my grandmother.
Now, I am sure she took excellent care of him, that's not what I am implying. But today when I got him out to run around (because he desperately needed it) I noticed that he is always countinously folding one of his ears back while he walks. Not both ears, only his left one.
He isn't displaying any signs of illness from what I could see. He was a little sceptical of me in the beginning of the free run time, but that is understandable after me being away for three weeks. I was actually surprised he warmed up that quickly. After about 10 minutes he was already running up to me again, placing his paws on my thighs.
He didn't arche his back, he didn't limp, I couldn't feel any hard spots on his tummy, his teeth are healthily yellow, his eyes are not cloudy or anything, nothing's swollen and he eats, drinks normally. I couldn't see any swelling, knots or red spots in his ear, both ears look the same, normal like they always do. He is also right now putting his paws on the cage bars, looking and smelling in my direction like he always does after taking a nap. He is a curious little guy who always inspects everything for any tiniest change after being in his nest for more than 20 minutes.
To sum it up: He acts normal, only that he continuously folds his left ear back when he starts to walk (at times to the point one could think he doesn't have a left ear), and sometimes even when inspecting something around him for a longer period of time.
I did notice that the left of his ears is bent back just a tiny bit (almost unnoticeable if you don't take a close, hard look in the right light), so I am thinking it might be that he bruised/ squeezed that ear while squeezing through a tight spot like he always does (doing things the normal way is too boring for him). Or it might be a tick he developed while I was away. Thing is, I don't know.
I will be calling my uncle first thing tomorrow who is a vet, to get his opinion on the matter, and since I'll have to leave for 2-3 days afterwards I have asked my parents to keep an eye on him and to take him to my uncle in case he starts displaying any sign of illness the following days or my uncle decides he wants to take a look at him while I'm away.
But, still, I am worried. So I wanted to ask you guys if you have observed this kind of behaviour in your hammy before, why that was and what you think. Maybe it will also help someone in the future.
With kind regards,
Sasha
