Constipated hamster?

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

Oh dear, I can see what looks like a massive ball of poo coming out of our Syrian hamster's backside, about the size of a malteser I guess, which must be pretty big in relation to his size!! It looks stuck. He seems ok, eating fine etc.

I can only assume it's constipation and the poo is stuck He gets a small amount of fresh fruit or veg every day so not sure how it might have happened.

Is there anything I can do before I take him to the vet's tomorrow? (That's if he's not died overnight ) He's not used to being held - we stroke him but that's about it for handling and I think I'd be wary of handling him anyway if he's in any pain.

Any suggestions?

I was going to suggest you get a cotton bud and try and ease it out, but if he isn't well handled then it probably won't work.

Will he sit on your hand and eat something yummy to distract him,while you...erm...storke at it to see if it will move?

Sorry I don't know what else to suggest. Good luck with the vet.

Another thought...Have you looked at the symptoms of wet tail and ruled that out?

Ok just had a quick google, they suggest getting a paper towel and soaking it in warm water. Then press to poo, for as long as possible. Theory is it should soften it and become easier for either you or hammy to remove.

Can you risk handling him?
If your worried about bites a pair of gardening gloves could be handy.

Hopefully he will be fine, then it may be worth trying to get him more used to being handled. It makes everything much easier and less stressful for both of you :)

Could you put a drop of edible oil (like olive or sunflower oil- in case hammy ingests it?) onto his bottom to see if it will lubricate it?

I found my GP2 with a marble sized pooh in his bottom early this year. )I didn't realise it was a soft eating pooh).
Luckily he is quite amenable to being manhandled and I managed to pize it out with my fingertips and my not very long nails.

Your hammy sounds like it's a harder pooh, and sizewise it would be like poohing a watermelon ouch.

Just a quick update. I also googled last night and so put a tiny bit of olive oil on a plate which the hamster licked a bit of. Later it seemed like the poo was nearly out so it hopefully lubricated things a bit and shifted it all overnight. Hamster seems ok today although hard to get a proper look at his bum while he is hiding in his nest so when he's properly awake later I'll have a much closer look.

Re handling, he was quite tame when we got him but lightning fast so kids were scared of sitting on him or hurting him some other way so we have tended since then to just stroke him in his cage or when he's being cleaned out rather than hold him in our hands.

Embarrassing update! Vet said what I could see were testicles!!! She gassed him with anaesthetic and showed me them close up on the examining table- they were huge! But she said they look normal apart from one being a bit red and sore looking so I have antibiotics to give him.

So a relief and a hilarious one at that!

Ah yes. We have a boy, they are humungous compared to the hammy!

Glad the little mite is ok! ;)

Lol

I feel a bit stupid (and poor now!) but I honestly have never seen them that big before and we've had him nearly 18 months. Oh well, was an experience getting to see a hamster's anatomy close up!