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Originally Posted by Serendipity7000
Is that the scab on the side of his face? Where his pouch is? I thought it was under his chin. On the photo it does look like something that could be infected - a pouch abscess possibly. Don't worry about antibiotics - it's better than infection getting in the blood stream. I've always found they're fine with them for a normal course, and you can give probiotics afterwards to help the gut. Our Robo did look a bit ropey when on antibiotics but looked back to normal after finishing them.
I think it's probably the first thing they'd try - that and Metacam. If it is a tumour, metacam can apparently help shrink them.
Cancers are similar to with humans - some can be slow growing, some fast. And they can start fast and slow down - there's no fixed thing really.
I think it would be a good idea to see the exotic vet. A biopsy may well need an anaesthetic, even though it's visible and external, but possibly not. In which case, as that's a bit risky, it's probably best to do trial and error. Eg see if antibiotics improves it and if not - well it's something he's living with and on pain relief for.
The hardest thing with the antibiotics is making sure they get the regular dose without causing stress to an older hamster, which is why I always give it in food - none of this trying to hold them and syringe it - they can just get too distressed,
As it tastes really bad, most food doesn't disguise it, but I had a great tip on here from Vectis about a particular meaty dog food for small dogs (looks like corned beef in the packet) that disguises the taste and hamsters absolutely love it!
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Thanks Serendipity. It's sort of half under his pouch and half under his chin. He's back on metacam now so I hope at least not in pain. He seems happy enough to take that in baby food and quite likes it but I know most hams like the taste of that one. It's making him quite constipated but I think he's also just got old man constipation anyway from eating less... Still loves his cucumber so I'm giving him extra - and defrosted peas. And baby biscuit mush, which all my older hams seem to love. ('Farm animal biscuits' for babies made from flour, apple juice and water, mushed up with a bit of live yoghurt.)
The vet was really unsure about antibiotics as the scab is dry and has never been wet or weeping. I saw Percy last night trying to pick up one of his old favourite tiny dog biscuits but he didn't seem to be able to open his mouth wide enough, which was concerning, so it's definitely now impeding his eating, but he is still taking in other foods. I'm in 2 minds as to whether they should have tried antibiotics but given his age and the pain relief available at least he's not suffering. Both vets were agreed that they didn't want to try antibiotics; one is an exotics specialist.
In order to make him(or us!?) feel better, we baked Percy a birthday cake last week! He loved it. Sort of(!) It was from Vanilla Ham-Ham's Youtube channel - hammy-safe, made from carrots, flour and no-sugar yoghurt drops. I've attached a couple of pics and I'm so glad he was energetic enough to enjoy it last week when he had more of an appetite...