Walter is a rescue hamster at or around two years old. I was in hospital for a month and had not seen Walter be very active the month prior to my return home or two weeks post. Normally, Walter will come to the side of his cage and ask to be held etc.
The last few times I cleaned his cage, he was asleep in his coconut. I moved him, coconut and all, to his playpen and cleaned his cage. He did not come out to play with his toys as he usually would.
The housekeeper said she cleaned his cage, but the house had a strange smell on my return. Animal smell. Not necessarily pee ammonia. But an animal or barn type smell. I do have two dogs as well. I washed the walls in my house and cleaned Walters cage myself. It didnt look as clean as it normally would. Im not suspect that my house keeper only cleaned the cage one or two times, not weekly.
I finally saw Walter last night. In total, its been ten weeks since Ive had a good look at him. And my god, did he change. His beautiful fur is missing. He is barely opening his eyes. He looks boney to me. And he bit when I picked him up. This is not my Walter at all. Hes actively gone for naps with me and nuzzled in. Hes the sweetest fella, normally.
Is this old age? Or I suspect he could be ill from ammonia burn. This is my first hamster and I've never seen an old one before
Walter - senior or ill? - Album on Imgur
Sick or old Syrian hamster?
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