HELP Chinese dwarf hamster urine smell

[sehiniker]

Hi everyone,
I am new to this forum and was hoping someone could help me with an issue I'm having with my Chinese Dwarf hamster. I purchased him back in April and he is a lovely little guy. I used to clean out his cage, top to bottom, about once every 2 weeks. I've noticed recently that it's been getting smelly REALLY quickly. I feel like I need to clean it every day (and have been cleaning it every few). His urine seems especially pungent. I've recently had to take all of his tubing out as that just takes so long to clean. Has this something to do with diet? He gets a seed mixture and some hard food blocks (to keep his teeth in check). I read online about hamster diabetes. How common is this? I would love some advice, the cleaning is getting ridiculous!

Gratefully,

Shanna

[mangoandmimi]

Well chinese are prone to diabetes so it could be. If he gets a sugary diet or lots of sugary treats it could have triggered it.
Does he have a hunched over position often? Or drinking a lot more? Or lack of exercise/excessive exercise? Or change in temperament? They're some diabetes symptoms.. You can test him for diabetes too, i think you can get some strips called something diastix? off amazon. Can't open another google on this slow computer so can't check -.-

[sehiniker]

Thank you! I looked at the food I feed him and there does appear to be molasses. He also get a couple of those yogurt drops each week. I think that's about it. I'm not sure if he's drinking excessively as I've never really kept track of how much he used to drink. There was one night where he was just CRAZY. He also bit my fella that night, and he usually isn't a biter. That could have been my fella's hands smelling like food. He hasn't acted that crazy since. I did go out yesterday and buy some Hazel Hamster food. I pulled out all the corn and pea pieces. Hopefully this will help (he doesn't seem to like it as much, I may go out and get him some millet too, he seems to like this and the mix is missing it). I also bought him some dust to roll in, but had to sprinkle it on him as he was not at all interested in using it. The dust has certainly made his coat look a bit better. I think I will avoid the Chinese dwarfs in the future. I just don't have time to be cleaning the cage every day. I wish he would pick one spot and pee there, but he pees everywhere so I have to clean the whole thing. It's a shame as he is a really nice little guy. Is there any other explanation for this aside from a medical one? I really appreciate your response!

Shanna

[Vectis Hamstery]

I'm sorry you're having a difficult time with your little man. I haven't found Chinese hamsters smell particularly (I have 19 at the moment!) apart from when they developed diabetes. M&M is right that you can test him using diastix/ketodiastix from Amazon or your local pharmacy. There's info on how to do it here. One of my Syrians recently developed strong smelling urine due to an infection, so it may be worth a vet trip to test his urine for diabetes or infection.

Does his cage have tubes? I did find my boys especially liked peeing on bare plastic and made plastic tubes really foul, and sometimes their wheels too. Strangely they got less foul the less I disinfected them - perhaps because hamsters rely on scent and by me cleaning the tubes/wheel so thoroughly the hamster felt he had to work extra hard to make it smell like him again. I found my diabetics did really smell in plastic tank style cages so I moved them into barred cages which helped.

A sand bath is a good idea (sand is better than dust as the particles in dust are too fine and can irritate hamsters' lungs and noses). I rarely catch mine rolling in theirs. Sometimes they use them as a toilet instead so leaving a sand bath in may help either with his coat or his smell depending on how he uses it!

What substrate do you use? I find alternatives to woodshavings more absorbent (such as carefresh, Aubiose, Megazorb) so this may be another thing that may help if there is no medical cause.