My Ozzy is drinking and peeing a lot

[Daddystig]

My Syrian Ozzy has taken to weeing in his food and weeing in his exercise ball. We have also noticed that he is drinking a fair bit as well.
Ozzy generally is in good health but in hamster terms he is quite old at about 2 years old

[Pebbles82]

Hello. Yes 2 years is quite old and it is common for them to drink and pee more as they get older - their kidneys don't function as well. Is he weeing in his food bowl or just on his hoard? They are different things. If he's weeing in his food bowl he is scared someone is going to steal his food and is "marking" it as his territory. Similar with his hoard really, although if it's just his hoard it may be more loss of control a bit.

The trouble with pee'd on hoard it can be an "itch scratch" cycle in that if you take away his hoard, he will pee on it to deter anyone from stealing it! If it is pee'd on you need to remove it but if there is any dry hoard left that is dry and not soiled (their hoards can get quite big) then try and leave a bit of that, and also add a good handful of new food to where the hoard was, in exactly the same place - ie replace their hoard. They get very anxious if they don't have a hoard.

It can be a difficult time in that you want them to just enjoy their old age as long as possible without too much disturbance and upset, so cleaning out less is good and gives them some peace. On the other hand you need to make sure he isn't in too big a mess.

I would just spot clean mainly and avoid regular big clean outs - and if he pees on his hoard regularly then remove the wet hoard and add new food there. The cost of the food isn't that much and it's a small comfort to an older hamster.

Presumably that means he is also peeing his nest? That is also tricky as they really hate their nest being messed with. Their hoard and their nest are their security blanket. But likewise it will need removing if pee'd on - and again see if there is a bit of it that's dry that you can leave behind. Then put a big pile of new nesting material in the cage (not inside the house) - torn up strips of plain white toilet paper are best - in a big pile - and he will take some and take it back to his nest and rebuild it.

For the rest of the cage - ie the substrate, just spot clean the substrate. Having 3 to 4" deep at least is good and compact it down well so it's a firm surface to walk on as he's older. With that depth you can just take out the odd handful and replace it with a clean handful and mix it in a bit (that is spot cleaning) and it's less upheaval and disturbance for him. I tend to do it when they're in the cage - he may follow your hand around to check what you are doing! But they feel more accepting of it if they can see what's going on.

[cypher]

It does sound like it's a symptom of old age if Ozzy is fine in himself, peeing more can be a sign of a UTI but it doesn't sound as though that's the problem, it's important not to overdo protein as they get older as this puts more of a strain on their kidneys which do function less well with age so cut back on any high protein treats.

[Daddystig]

Thank you very much for the advice
From me , Mrs Stig, Ozzy ,Fudge and Freddie