Bald around ears and falling over

[Jessi]

Wilberforce is 6 months old. Back in February he stopped using his wheel. Then in march he started falling over (off his toys or just rolling onto his back and getting stuck). He also scratched all the fur from behind his left ear and was generally less active. I took him to the vets - they were very knowledgeable and diagnosed an ear infection - although there was no obvious redness or discharge. They also removed a lump of wax from his ear. He had 7 days of septrin which seemed to help - he was up and about a lot more, he stopped falling although he still couldn't use his wheel and his hair grew back. It's now 10 days since his antibiotics finished and he has scratched his left ear so badly the last couple of days that it's bleeding. He is also stumbling again. Throughout all this he has been eating and drinking well. He has been suffering from random patches of hair loss over different areas of his back since December. I showed the vet pictures but they really couldn't work out the cause.

Has anyone got any experience of hamsters with similar symptoms? Or any other ideas what could be going on?
The vet said if he got worse again that there was not much else that they could think of. I know there's a possibility it's a brain tumour but it did improve with the antibiotics and the scratching makes me think it is an ear infection that just hasn't cleared up. Any help would be much appreciated.

[Hamsterita]

I have no idea of what's happening to him to be honest.

It's strange that he got better with the antibiotics and then worse when you finished them. Maybe he was recovering but he didn't have a full recovery and that's why his condition got worse.

Maybe you could try to ask to another vet.

[cypher]

It is hard to say what's going on, it could still be an ongoing ear infection as that can interfere with balance & may be causing him to keep scratching at his ear so it sounds as though he may need more antibiotics, they often need more than one course to get over things completely so I would discuss that with your vet.
Not sure about fur loss elsewhere tbh, you could give him some extra flax seeds (linseed) & some evening primrose oil, less than a drop a day really so try putting some on his food, also brewers yeast (the supplement form not the brewing form!) can all help with his coat condition & make him more comfortable.
I would also give him some probiotics to help his system cope with the antibiotics & that will also give him a general boost.