Poorly ham- persistant tummy problems/diarrhea

[beasleyham]

Hi all,


I posted this in another thread and it was suggested I post with a different name in case anyone else has experienced this.

I'm posting on here as I'm struggling to think what else I can do to help my poorly ham. Any advice would be very much appreciated.

She's a syrian hamster, about 9 months old and has had wet tail/diarrhea- not sure which for about 4 weeks now.

She's had it before, last October, and after a prompt trip to the vet and a week's course of antibiotics she recovered fully.

This time however, despite 2 more trips to the vets and two more courses of different antibiotics she seems to only be getting worse.

Her symptoms are: soggy butt, loose 'mucus-y' poops, sleeping a lot more than usual, moving about slower than usual.

On advice from the vet I've been cleaning her cage daily with pet friendly spray and putting in new bedding/wood shavings etc, changing her water regularly, cleaning her butt with warm lightly salted water and have kept her on her regular food of dry hamster muesli stuff (though I bought a fresh pack just in case). I've also given her alfalfa bales to munch on as I read online that can help. She's not had any fresh fruit or veg- the vet said they thought it was caused by eating sugary fruit, though they weren't 100%.

She's still drinking plenty of water and seems to be eating normally, and she's happy to come out and be held with a bit of coaxing... but otherwise just is not getting better at all.

I posted this in another thread and have had suggestions it could be an underlying problem with her bowels or womb infection.

If anyone can offer advice or has experienced similar I'd really appreciate any tips/advice to make my ham better again- thank you

[Tutu]

Food wise if you try to give her plain cooked rice she might like it. I gave my Syrian tea spoonful rice per day and she liked it when she was poorly. It must be at least uncomfortable for her if not painful to keep having bad tummy poor thing.
I hope someone come along soon give better advice!
Best wishes

[missyme]

my vet advised to give my hamster some probiotic powder in her water, this is a must for good tummy health and i have put this my my hamsters water every day since she had antibiotics. it should also help with her wet tail. you can do this even if they are not well as a precaution against illness.

the best one is called avipro plus this is tasteless. either online (amazon uk or from a vets) or vetark proc-c probiotics, (from pets at home or online) this one makes the water green but i don't think it effects the taste. change the water every day.

i also take the bottle to my hamster when she was poorly in her bed so she could drink to keep her fluids up. I would suggest you get some porridge oats and mix with a little water and sprinkle some of the powder on the porridge (you can also sprinkle it on food) if she isn't drinking a lot, this all worked for my hammy.

keep us posted...good luck x

[souffle]

If it has gone on this long I would say it is almost certainly a womb infection that is the underlying cause. As the infection progresses it does affect the bowels causing this issue with looseness and general unwellness. If she has no discharge then it can be a closed pyometra which means that the womb will be full of pus and this makes them very ill.
If she is well enough you could consider a spay if a scan shows that there is pus in the womb. Pyo always returns and the second course of meds is usually ineffective. I think you need to see the vet again and see if they can find the root cause of her problems.

[beasleyham]

Hi Souffle and Missyme- thanks for your suggestions and thoughts, they're really helpful.

As coincidence would have it, I just bought some of that probiotic powder from pets at home today, so will see how she gets on with that. She's still coming out from her bed often enough to eat and seems to be drinking a fair bit anyway so that's not a problem.

Souffle- you sound very knowledgeable! She has no discharge which might suggest the closed pyometra you mentioned. Do you know if she would be in pain if this is the case? The reason I ask is because last time I took her to the vet, he had a prod at her tummy/lower abdomen area and said that felt normal and she wasn't in pain. Though you say the second course of antibiotics is usually ineffective which coincides well with what's happened with Beasley Ham.

I've just had a bit of a google session about spaying, it seems quite risky/costly for hamsters?

Thanks again for your really helpful advice- it's very much appreciated!

[beasleyham]

Hi all,

Thought I'd provide an update on how Beasley Ham is doing as you all were so helpful with your suggestions.

I ended up taking her back to the vet again as she wasn't getting better. Long story short, after sending her poop off to the lab it's been confirmed that she has internal parasites- worms effectively. I've been told she's most likely acquired these either from the pet store before I got her, or from her food (which is worrying as she only has hamster muesli from pets at home).

I didn't want anyone else to go through all the palaver (and vet costs!!) we went through, so in case anyone in the future has a similar problem, I've researched it and common ways to detect parasites are:

* Persistent diarrhea or weight loss
* Repetitive licking of the butt region
* Maggots, larvae or eggs in the hair around the butt area

If you suspect this is what it could be, ask your vet to send a sample off to the lab- this will confirm it quickly and you can get treatment.

Hopefully this will sort us out now, thanks again for all your help and kind words

[basilthehammy]

Awwww i am so sorry to hear...

[Clairealex]

So glad to hear that you got to the bottom of it, and it's something that's often not considered so thanks for updating and altering everyone to it!

Hope she's on the mend now

[Scoobysue]

I'm so glad you have found the cause of her illness. I hope Beasley Ham is feeling better now.

[DexterChloe]

Wishing your ham a fast recovery. Poor little mite!
If I were you if be writing a strongly worded email/ letter to the pet store you got her from. I very much doubt the P@H musli would be the cause of her worms so she must of had it before you brought her home. Poor baby.