Clive

[Ria P]

I forgot to ask about Clive possibly eating his own hair.

There's something endearingly babyish about Clive. The vet is lovely and great at handling hamsters but Clive squealed and squawked because she's a stranger. Soon as he was handed back to mum (me) he was quiet.

[cloudy]

:Oh how precious! Clive will always be your baby.

[Pebbles82]

Good that he trusts you

[Stanza]

Good news there is no sign of mites, ringworm etc but I guess still puzzling for you as there is still hair loss. Nice of your vet to message the exotic vets to see if they can think of other reasons. Hopefully they’ll respond quickly.

I didn’t realise the price change was so big. My local vets said they are happy to check Hams if he becomes poorly but for anything out of their knowledge he’d have to go to the exotic vets which is a 30-40min drive.

Pleased Clive seems well in himself and so cute he stopped squeaking when you took him back to hold, shows how comfortable and loved he feels with you.

[Pebbles82]

How old is he again Ria? It could just be an ageing thing. Although I find that tends to start behind the ears first. I always understood that the only way they could rule out mites was to do a skin scraping and look under the microscope. Although usually they have scratched themselves and made their skin sore with mites.

[Ria P]

Providing the people i bought him from were truthful, he is 11 months and not old enough to show signs of aging.

If he had mites, i think the others would have them too. I don't use hay and freeze all food and cork logs. A demodex overgrowth doesn't itch but looks quite different.

Clive's been changing colour to much lighter ever since i got him but it could also have been a very gradual thinning of his fur, come to think of it now. His undercoat is cream and his back end as well.

If he were a human, i'd say that he has a thyroid problem.

As a side note: I'm now no longer convinced that mite treatment is as toxic as people think. I'm also no longer convinced that a skin scrape is necessary when there are clear symptoms of mites.
Reason for that is that Rodney had no side effects of the anti parasite treatment even though he's old and has a suspected infection.

[ShadowNinjaHamster]

Aww, he looks cute!
I've never seen such a hamster before.

[Ria P]

He's a sable.

[Ria P]

The exotics vet thinks that Clive could have cushings disease or cutaneous lymphoma and my vet thinks it could be genetic and Clive could have been born with a poor immune system. She wants to rule out a simple demodex overgrowth that led to bald patches by treating him for demodex. She says it won't do any harm if that's not the case and its not invasive. I'm all for it because it would also eradicate any internal parasites should Clive carry any.

She is looking into a saliva test to test for cushings but she also knows of his nervous disposition and the level of stress this would cause him. Her approach is holistic and person/animal centred which is something i agree with.

By that i mean that, if tests and treatments would cause more distress than the symptoms of an illness, i would not go down that route.

Because of Clive's squealing and squawking she forgot to weigh him but needs it for his records. I thought my scales were wrong when it showed over 200g so i took him to the animal hospital to get weighed. 205g. I didn't think that he was that heavy. I hope there's nothing sinister going on inside him.

He slept in the transport box but immediately started to squeal when he woke in unfamiliar surroundings. I picked him up, cuddled him and he stopped at once and stayed quiet.

Whatever is going to happen, my main concern will always be his happiness and comfort.

[cloudy]

I am sorry to hear this Ria. Despite cushings Clive seems very well in himself. It is just so sweet how he is reassured by you cuddling him. 205g is a wonderful weight.