How to feed hamster that doesn’t want to eat

[Lemon]

I’m been syringe feeding my hamster Cow and it’s been extremely difficult. I get so nervous about the stress of holding her like that when she’s sick, and she’s been eating some things on her own but it’s not enough because she’s losing weight pretty fast. (She has wet tail)

does anyone have any tips on how to get them more interested in eating larger amounts? I tried so many foods but she’s interested in very few of them

I feel so bad because she is eating some by herself and she gets so upset when I have to force it

Her hydration is ok but I’m so worried about the effects of the stress on her from repeatedly waking her up and making her eat forcefully, and I’m scared I won’t be able to make her eat enough

They also just gave her a subcutaneous fluid shot and she’s been acting very upset and maybe in pain at home. Idk if that’s normal after the shot because they did the rest at the vet without me there to see her response.

[souffle]

Unfortunately this is not uncommon. Even when the bacteria has gone the damage that the infection has caused to the bowel can be bad and may not improve which means the hamster cannot absorb the nutrients from the food and continues to deteriorate.
I would try and let her eat on her own as you can't force feed them long term. It's no life in my opinion.
I hope she rallies round but you have tried your best x

[SKB_Hamsters]

The difficult thing is you can’t force them to eat if they don’t want to. When I had to syringe fed my russian, Waffle, earlier this year. I did little feeds 3 to 4 times a day until he started to eat again on his own. I didn’t force him to eat if he didn’t want to I just put a little in his mouth - if he ate it good if not I tried a few hours later. I gave him as much as he wanted I didn’t force him to eat. He now back to eating his seed mix by himself and maintaining a healthy weight but then he didn’t have a digestive infection but his loss of appetite was related to his upper respiratory issue so my experience is slightly different. However I didn’t have the same success with my other Russian a few month prior and had to have her put to sleep.

Wet tail can cause a lot of harm to their digestive tract. It can take them longer to recover. But the damage can be too much for some to recover from. I know how awful wet tail can be it took the life of one of my syrians. Try your best, offer her the wet food in her cage however If her weight continue to fall daily then speak with your vet as sadly it may come to you having to make a very difficult decision

[Lemon]

Update: instead of holding her so she can’t escape the food, I’ve kinda just been following her around with the syringe for a few minutes until she decides to willingly take it

It’s probably annoying but I think it’s a lot less stressful since it’s not truly forced

I think she gained 2 grams in the last 48 hours

I haven’t given up on her yet because she still has energy to explore and eat some things on her own and drink water

She’s such a friendly little ham and doesn’t bite and I’m gonna try to be hopeful for now because she’s definitely feeling better than last week

[SKB_Hamsters]

You know her best from your update their is reasons to be optimistic. As she eating somethings by herself and that she has also gained weight in the last 48hr that this is a good sign. Is she still having diarrhoea/soft poos? You caught the symptoms very early so she has a better outlook of recovery but you still have unknown with how much the wet tail has affected her so her recovery may be longer. Wishing her all the best

[Lemon]

She does still have diarrhea but last week, it was covering her entire underside all the way up past her stomach to her neck in just 24 hours. But now it’s mostly just around the tail area. I think it did get a bit better

She ate .8 grams of 20% protein liquid mix out of the syringe today in one serving without fighting it, and I’ve seen her occasionally eating and drinking throughout the day and night

I’m coming back in a few hours to offer more and she’s still on antibiotics