Very poorly hamster

[Tillylils]

Hello,

We got our first hamster about 5 weeks ago. For the first few weeks he was fine, but then he started sneezing. He then became lethargic and would only come out of his nest with coaxing.
We took him to the vet and he was given baytril. He wasn't getting any better so we took him back and he was given an anti inflammatory and the vet recommended another vet who specialises in exotics.
This vet quadrupled the antibiotics and gave him.a probiotic and he has been on these since Friday.
Since Monday we have been using a nebuliser with f10 and he seems to be improving slightly.

This evening when we nebulised him it seemed to really stress him out. We put him in a washing up bowl with a towel over him with the nebuliser nozzle inside. When we got him out he had pooed lots and weed and his tail end was wet. I cleaned him up as best as I could and have put him back in his cage and left him alone but I'm worried I've caused wet tail.
This is our first hamster and I'm so stressed out trying to help him but not getting anywhere. Does anyone have any advice?

a very unhappy experience for all of you, do you have a 'pet's at home' near you ? some of them have vet facilities and can give advice, or make a pt with you vet again.
poor little fella, hope he is better soon, but hig hug for you as you really are doing your very best for him,

Not sure what vets you're using, but try the ones inside pets at home as they see hamsters on a daily basis.

Not coming out much is normal when you first get a hamster and is also seasonal (mine is very lazy in the winter as it's colder and her natural instincts tell her to stay in bed!)

With regards to the sneezing, what bedding are you using, if your hamsters sneezing switch to a paper based bedding like breeders celect or back to nature, or shredder paper should be fine in the meantime. The dust in beddings like wood shavings, sawdust and carefresh could be the cause of sneezing.

With regards to wet tail your hamster should be on baytril and if it's dehydrated syringe feed some water, pinch the scruff and if it stays pinched your hamster is dehydrated). The most common cause of wet tail is stress, but don't blame yourself :)

Tillylils

I hope your wee fella gets well soon 💐

FrogLou

Our hamster is really sick too (she is 1 year, 9 months) the vet thinks she's picked up a mite from the bedding. She was fine before I went away, but I've just got back & she's a mess 😢 Lots of missing hair. The vet picked some skin off, not terribly kindly either. He picked her up by the scruff of her neck and she was clearly in pain, I've never heard her make so much noise 😢

He gave us 'spot on' & some antibiotics, but didn't seem that interested. He says if we wanted to have her PTS he'd support that. I think he's really a 'big animal' type of guy. He said she was dehydrated, but didn't suggest giving her water by syringe. I asked about food but he sad just keep food no what we are doing (Pets at home own brand food, but the one with added bits & a small bit of cucumber/apple etc)

How much water is it ok to give by syringe? Do you have any other suggestions?

I think I'll book in with the Pets At Home vets in a few days s instead if gong back to the one we went to tonight.

Sorry for the hijack.

Pinching the scruff tells you how dehydrated she is if it doesn't "spring back" just a syringe of water by mouth a couple of times a day assuming it's not stressing her out too much, honestly scruffing them doesn't hurt them if done properly and with some hamsters it's the only way to pick them up without them biting you!

As a rule hamsters are classed as exotics so to be honest your vet probably doesn't have much experience which is why he wants to pts!
As hamsters get older they can get bald patches naturally, and they can also get ringworm which would cause it to but I think your vet would've picked up on that as it's found in bigger animals to. You need to be cleaning out daily to remove the mites from the cage/bedding, I had a mite problem and I found by switching from wood shavings to a paper bedding solved this completely. I found if I missed just 1 clean with wood shavings she'd have terrible mites, I haven't had the problem since using paper pellets. Paper pellets are expensive so while you're full cleaning her everyday I'd just use tissue paper or shredded paper to keep the cost down.
Food wise I'd keep her on the same thing unless she's loosing weight there's no reason to change that, another good fruit for them is chunks of kiwi :)

It was hurting her, she never 'complains'. I told him she never bites and will willingly step onto his hand. I guess it was particularly painful as she's dehydrated and her skin is sore - maybe arthritis too.

I'm fine giving her the water with the syringe, I'm just not sure sure how much I can give her without upsetting her tummy/making her uncomfortable.

Ironically we were using wood shavings but recently went to paper when the 11yo wanted to try the rainbow coloured stuff. Sigh.

She quite likes a bit of kiwi 😊

Is it carefresh you're currently using? Carefresh is really dusty, as I'm sure you've noticed if it's that you're using, it's the dust that the mites like.
Is it the little animal syringes you're using that are about 10cm long and about half a cm in diameter if so two or three a day is fine, just space them out so one in the morning and one in the evening?

Yes. I think we will see what the other options are. I didn't really want to use it but the 11yo really wanted to make her cage 'pretty' for a change & I didn't think it could do any harm.

Yesterday I gave her about 3mls 3 times. When I was talking to the girl in Oets At Home last night she suggested more, more often. However, I don't want to be waking the hamster up all the time so I'll join st give her some when she's awake. I think I'll need to balance out the advantages v the disadvantages as she's quickly started letting me know she doesn't like having things squirted in her mouth! So I think I'll squirt the antibiotics but just sort of make the water available with a little squirt if she starts drinking it.

I also bought some tea tree creme last night and put that on. Hopefully it'll help to repair the skin & stop any itching

She seemed a bit better last night. So fingers crossed!!