Hamster losing fur - help!!!

[AmityvilleHams]

It's definitely a very confusing and frustrating thing to think about Hopefully the cause gets figured out,or a solution is found.

[chewiesaurus]

Thanks both!

Cypher:

1. Still using Fitch for the substrate and toilet tissue for his nest

2. I don't think there's anything mites could be hiding in other than his food? He had several wooden toys and I've replaced them all with plastic ones. Maybe his sandbath??

3. He has two sandbaths - is that good or bad?

4. Burgess Dwarf Hamster food is the main mix I'm using. He gets nuts, seeds and veg on top of that, and occasionally baby food

5. Switched from cod liver to evening primrose

6. No probiotics - can you elaborate on that? haven't looked into that/don't really know what they are

7. He's just had some new toys which could be stressful? But he seems to be really enjoying them, he got a brand new wheel! The only other thing I can think of is I was looking after my friend's Syrian last week and she was in the same room as Fili/Anakin/Chewie/Marvin - having her around ended up stressing out Chewie and Marvin (my Syrians) out too much so I moved her, but could she have had an effect on robos too?

AmityvilleHams:

Yep, done that! I don't know how much cleaner I can make his cage...

Oh just remembered - he does have cardboard tubes. They get changed every few days, but could they potentially be bad? He really enjoys having them so it would be sad to take them away! (but also he has some plastic ones too so it's nbd in the grand scheme of things, I'll just get him some extra plastic ones)

[cypher]

The substrate, toys etc sound fine then, sand baths are good & shouldn't have any mites in them I wouldn't think, you can change the sand weekly for a while if you think it might help but I doubt that would be a problem.

I would keep up the evening primrose long term as it should help a little even if it isn't a cure for the underlying problem, whatever that might be.

Having a strange ham in the room could have been stressful but if that's not an ongoing thing more of a one off it doesn't explain the cycles of improving then getting worse again.

Probiotics for hams are similar to what we would have (like the live bacteria we get in yogurt & other things) it can really help to boost their immune system & help when they are under stress (being unwell & having meds both count as stressors!) as well as helping to replace the good bacteria that the antibiotics will kill off, this alone, even though antibiotics are needed can cause a problem when used long term.
There are a few available, one you can get easily from P@H & probably other pet shops Pro c, another one I use & have found to be particularly good both for sick hams & as a weekly boost for all my hams is Potent brew.
There are others available but not very different really.

ETA forgot to say, if they're not included in his extras already I would add just a sprinkle of oat flakes, flax seeds (aka linseed) & wheatgerm to his food, he's only tiny so just a little pinch every day or two should be enough.

[chewiesaurus]

Wait, how often should I be changing the sandbaths? I tend to do them every 2-3 days - he pees in one of them and I don't want him rolling around in his pee!!

Will do with the evening primrose

No it doesn't - but could be a possible factor for him suddenly getting really bad last week? Esp because the Syrians were going crazy and rattling their cages non-stop for several days in an attempt to break free, so that could maybe have stressed poor Fili out? Idk, not something I'd thought about until just now.

I hate pets at home with a passion so I've been trying to boycott it, but if it's the best place to get the ProC stuff I'll reluctantly go... how do I give it to them? And should I do both, or just one? And how often? etc

He gets flaxseeds, he loves them! I have been sprinkling them around his cage so he can go foraging for them. It's very cute. My Syrians like oat flakes but Fili's never seemed overly interested - though his appetite has been better recently, maybe I should give him another go with them? Will look into wheatgerm

Thank you so much for all your help!!!!

[cypher]

You should be able to scoop out any clumps of damp sand where he pees, I have old scoops which came with rather useless sand baths or ham toilets that I use but you could use an old spoon or fork even!
I was just thinking given his current condition if you remove damp sand then changing sand every week might be a good idea, I clean mine far less often than that & they all pee in them! Like everything else removing their scent too much or too often isn't a good thing.

You can get Pro c lots of places, pet shops or online I only linked to P@H so you could see what it is really.
Don't put it in water as it is hard to monitor how much they get & water bottles would need a very thorough clean daily if you did, I find they seem to like the one I use & it's liquid so I just put a drop on their veg once a week, with the powder you could just sprinkle a tiny pinch onto wet food or veg daily, at least I think it's daily, I haven't used the pro c for years so do check the dosage if you choose that one.
Hope that helps.

ETA Memory like a sieve this morning lol! I keep forgetting things but another thing to try is brewers yeast, a lot of people use it for hams but I'm not sure how they get them to eat it, I have tried sprinkling a few flakes in with food but no idea if it gets eaten or disappears into the substrate but I do mix a little into porridge when they have it & they gobble it up at the speed of light!

[chewiesaurus]

Okay cool thanks! Is the potent brew the same (one drop once a week)?

I'm going to order some now

[cypher]

Yes, it's easy to work out the dose with Potent brew as it's one drop per 30g body weight, so it's safe to say 1 drop for a dwarf ham even if they weigh a little less or more, the dose is once a week for healthy animals or daily for sick animals, I have used it daily for a week then once a week after that with a ham which wasn't well. If the problem is on going I might do something like daily for one week a month & weekly for the rest of the month, hope that makes sense!

[chewiesaurus]

Potent brew hasn't arrived yet btw but it's on its way.

But I literally do not understand this hamster... haven't done anything differently in the last few days but his skin is now less red and there seem to be bits of fur growing back.

It's really strange though because his head/shoulders are absolutely fine, then his back/bum are red and bald.

I just don't understand!!!

[cypher]

It could just be that the extra supplements you've been giving are really starting to have an effect now & fingers crossed the improvement will continue & his back will get better too.

[chewiesaurus]

Just wanted to leave an update on this in case anyone else has something similar. It eventually got diagnosed as Cushing's Disease and the poor little baby died about a month ago he was really strong right up until the end, but by the time he died he only had a few little patches of fur left and his face was mostly bald. Really sad, but he stayed optimistic and happy until the day before he died and he was so sweet and friendly and I love him