No idea what's wrong with Buddy?!?

[BlossomBuddy]

Hi, I just joined because I desperately want help with my hamster, Buddy. He is a male longhaired syrian, literally just over a year old. For a while now i've noticec he scratches more than usual and always does this weird thing where he shakes his entire body like a dog? I literally couldn't find anything about it on the internet so I decided to wait. I thought he may have mites but it doesn't seem like it. I noticed he developed (or maybe i just couldnt see it before) this brown patch of skin on his head. It has no texture and isnt raised, just looks like pigmentation. However now he has these patches all down his back. These past few days I noticed he has lost some fur in the middle of his back (not sure if its from scratching or what) and today it's looking worse. He is really acting weird tonight with the shaking and excessive scratching and now digging the carpet, which he has never done before. He is also pretty jumpy in my hands and he usually the sweetest ham ever. I have read about cushings disease but I don't really know whats up with him. Please help if you can! Can't find any info anywhere and my vet is useless sometimes. Thanks!

[cypher]

Hi & welcome to the forum
If you're not happy with your vet would it be possible to find a better one? From what you say my first thoughts are either mites or cushings too but you really need a vet to give a proper diagnosis.
If you have any photos you could post that might help but I think a vet check really is the best thing.

[BlossomBuddy]

Hi & welcome to the forum
If you're not happy with your vet would it be possible to find a better one? From what you say my first thoughts are either mites or cushings too but you really need a vet to give a proper diagnosis.
If you have any photos you could post that might help but I think a vet check really is the best thing.

Thankyou:)
My vet is lovely but I don't know how far their small animal knowledge stretched. Had a bad experience recently when i took my rat in and they didn't even notice she had lice:-(
Cushings did come to mind but doesn't that start with loss of fur on the lower back area?
Also mites could still be possible as there is little brown dots but they never seem to move and a lot of other symptoms aren't there?? I tried this johnsons insectiside spray on him that worked for my rats but it didn't seem to work for him. Are lice and mites similiar? With lice i could easily see them moving and there was dry skin, hairloss, weight loss and i could see the eggs (bleh).
I will definetely be taking him to the vet soon though!!

[cypher]

Mites are different to lice, you can't see them & they can be under the skin so your vet will need to do a skin scrape to be sure.
Cushings does normally begin on the lower back but I think the progress can vary a bit, I'm no expert on that tbh, only really know the basics & it is often misdiagnosed so you really need to discuss everything with the vet & see if you can find out what's really going on.

There's some info here (http://www.merckvetmanual.com/pethealth/exotic_pets/hamsters/disorders_and_diseases_of_hamsters.html) (scroll down a bit) on various causes of hair loss & mites that might be worth a read.

[squeakylittlepaws]

I'd also look into whether it's ringworm.

Be careful with ringworm it's infectious to humans. It's not actually a worm it's a fungal infection (sorry if you know this).

If you're struggling to find a good vet and live in the UK, take him to a Pets at Home that has a vet4pets or companion care in house. They're a separate company to pets at home but I've always found them to be pretty decent and I've visited a few. I tend to use them on weekends because they are open all day Saturday and Sunday and you don't have to pay an additional weekend charge, plus they are open late in the evening. I generally find them pretty good for things like skin infections/respiratory infections etc mostly because the vets gain a lot of experience from treating the animals on the shop floor. For more complicated things which require surgery I take them to an exotic specialist vets.

You can search on the pets at home website for stores close to you that have a vet.

[BlossomBuddy]

I'd also look into whether it's ringworm.

Be careful with ringworm it's infectious to humans. It's not actually a worm it's a fungal infection (sorry if you know this).

If you're struggling to find a good vet and live in the UK, take him to a Pets at Home that has a vet4pets or companion care in house. They're a separate company to pets at home but I've always found them to be pretty decent and I've visited a few. I tend to use them on weekends because they are open all day Saturday and Sunday and you don't have to pay an additional weekend charge, plus they are open late in the evening. I generally find them pretty good for things like skin infections/respiratory infections etc mostly because the vets gain a lot of experience from treating the animals on the shop floor. For more complicated things which require surgery I take them to an exotic specialist vets.

You can search on the pets at home website for stores close to you that have a vet.

Thanks for replying! Yeah I know I should have taken him by now but I started treating him for mites but there seems to be no difference so I'll book him in for the vets tomorrow. I'll also have a look for the pets at home vet - although i don't think there is one nearby me as my p@h store is a small one. I also thought about ringworm but it's been a while and I've handled him the whole time and nothing has happened to me so I'm not sure thats it.

[squeakylittlepaws]

how'd the appointment go? Did you find out what it is?xx

[Thin Lizzy]

Hi Blossom Buddy and welcome to HC,
If it's mites then it could be they're under his skin. The only way my ham got rid was to get 3 injections over 3 weeks at the vets.