Hamster with wet neck/chest

[Flissy]

My hamster Stella has for the last month or so had a very wet neck from time to time. The wet patch extends down her neck and onto her chest but I can't work out what it is? The skin around that area seems quite loose, scraggy and possibly bald but its difficult to tell.

At first I thought she might be dribbling because her teeth were too long, but she had them clipped about a month ago and its still the same if not worse.

I'll book her in for a vets appointment next week but just wondered if anyone had any ideas? She smells quite strongly too (similar to her *in-heat* smell) but I don't know if that is related or not as she's always been a stinky hammy!

Also I don't think it's her water bottle but I really can't tell! She's still eating and seems otherwise fine so I'm more confused than worried :confused:

[Hamtastic]

It could be walking under a low hanging water bottle or playing with it. That would make her head/back/chest area wet if she does this often. When I was gauging the height of the water bottle in Lucy's bin, I had it too low at first, and Lucy managed to climb under it and stand on her back legs reaching to the top of the bottle. She ended up with a bunch of water on her.

[suga]

She maybe chewing the bottle and water.dribbling down her front because of this.

[souffle]

If her teeth have been clipped once it may mean that they are misaligned and need done every few weeks. Did she still drool after they were clipped last time?
It can also be caused by bar chewing, water bottle chewing, tooth problems or abcesses, pouch abcesses and sometimes respiratory infections causing her to mouth breathe and thus drool.
Respiratory infections can travel to the womb and cause pyometra and a smelly discharge.
I think she needs reseen by the vet and checked for all these issues just in case.
You could try replacing the bottle with a bowl to see if that sorts the wetness out.

[Flissy]

Stella had her vet visit yesterday, and she has an infection in her lower gum :(

She's dribbling because of the infection, which was caused by her wobbly bottom teeth. So the vet gave her an antibiotic injection and said that when the infection has cleared he will either pull the teeth out, trim them again, or they might just fall out on their own. (Apparantly she would be perfectly ok without her bottom teeth and they would probably grow back)

So hopefully she will be on the mend soon, poor Stella :(

[fluffymunchkins]

Oh no, poor Stella :(
I hope she gets well soon, lots of cuddles your way xx

[suga]

Hope stella feels better soon.

[racinghamster]

I was going to suggest that the drooling was tooth/mouth/pouch related but the others have covered this. Poor Stella eh? At least you know now what`s going on and I would say keep a close eye on how she eats and whether she`s managing to nibble food okay. If her teeth are actually slack, this is where infection can enter the gums, so antibiotics should help with that, but if the gums are open, this could re-occur. Removing problem teeth is probably a good idea rather than stressing her by return vet trips all the time. I went through similar with two of my gerbils and I know it`s not fun, so I sympathise.

Try breaking up any large extruded biscuits in her mix as these can be rather large and add to her mix jumbo oats and Kallo organic puffed rice. Both available from Tesco and any health food shop. Keeping her diet as normal as possible will prevent her from losing weight and condition. So by breaking up anything that is large or very hard normally will help her. :)