my hamster has a lump

[fuzzyhammie]

please help- my hamster has a lump on the side of his body and he also is missing a patch of fur- I have not been "playing" with him for a while and I was noticing that he got smaller. Then today I realized that there was a patch of fur on either side of his body! He also has a lump on one side
please help! My parents say that we aren't going to bring him to the vet if it has a tumor and it will cost a lot and might not cure it even though that's exactly what I want to do
please help!
also please tell me how to post not just post a thread

[racinghamster]

Hi fuzzyhammie. Is your hamster a Syrian? If he is the `patches` on both hips will be scent glands. The lump on the other hand could be anything. What age is he? Can you feel the lump?

[cypher]

If you've noticed him getting smaller then it sounds as though he has lost weight which is usually a sign that something is wrong & needs to be checked out, the fur patches on his sides could just be his scent gland but the lump is more worrying, it could just be an infection not necessarily something as serious as a tumour so if you can try to persuade your parents to at least get a diagnosis from the vet & take it from there.
I don't think you can add photos until you've done a few posts, can't remember now it's been such a long time! But you do it by using the go advanced button below the reply box then scroll down to manage attachments or you can upload photos to a host site like Photobucket & post the link directly.