Hamster not walking properly

[Hammyyy]

Hi,

A couple of days ago my hamster was having trouble walking. He keeps tipping over on his front legs. He hasn't fallen from anything whilst I've been with him.

He can still walk about but has trouble staying upright and sometimes falls over to one side.

I have just checked his belly today and I have found a small white lump above his skin under his leg. There seems to be a number of lumps under his skin.

I have attached a picture of these.

Does anyone have any ideas of what could be causing this and any possible treatments? The hamster is around 2 years 2 months old.

Thanks.

[DrKMcK]

I'm not really sure what that is. I would take him to a vet. At 2 years and 2 months he's a senior. I first thought he might have had a stroke, but the lumps make me unsure. Only a vet could tell you. Please let us know what happens. Some others on the site might have some other answers for you. Hope you two are okay.

[souffle]

He doesn't sound well with the stumbling and I agree it would be best to see a vet. I'm not sure about the lumps either but there is a chance they may be skin tumours and sometimes these can also be present internally causing problems with his organs.
He is a very old lad now and he must have been well cared for to reach this age and it could be that his time is near but I think it best to have him seen. I hope he rallies round for you.

[Hammyyy]

We have been to the vets today and we were told that it's more than likely due to old age.

The pus spots I felt last night seem to have dissapeared and the vet said there are no signs of any tumours. He's still toppling over now and then though.

We were given the option to give him antibiotics for a week or to get him put to sleep but we decided to give him a chance with the antibiotics.

Thanks.

[hamsftw]

Good luck! Hope the antibiotics help your hamster!

[newcastlemam]

Good luck Hammyyy I feel its always best to try before making the decision to pts.

[csockman]

Aye, I agree that the medicine was the right move - good luck with the ab, and let us hope for the best.

[DrKMcK]

Fingers crossed that Hammyyy does well on the meds.

[shiny]

How is your hamster doing now on the antibiotics? Hope all is ok

[Hammyyy]

Sorry I haven't been on any sooner to let you all know an update!

Hammy had all his medicine and it didn't look good after a week. He lost over 15g of weight and was still toppling over.

However, I didn't feel as if he should be put to sleep so I let him do what he wanted. He slept most of the day and I gave him water through a syringe for around a week and a half and gave him a range of food such as carrots, wet cereal, breakfast oak biscuits and anything he seemed to want to eat. I know this probably wasn't the best idea giving him everything he wanted but when he lost weight I thought that giving him anything would be better than nothing.

I weigh him every day and last week he seemed to lose weight almost every night (about 2g). This could just be due to changes that are normal but the lowest he went was 106g and he was 125g when we took him to the vets as told above.


Hammy has been out tonight and he's walking so much better than he has been. He is going quite fast and I can hardly catch him when he goes for it! He's also + 6g from last nights weigh in
He's also managing to empty his cheeks out himself and he's also going for water himself now from his bottle.

It's a good sign he could be getting back to normal, even if he is old!