# Syrian Hamsters health



## Tia Thurland (Mar 15, 2018)

Hello, my Syrian hamster is struggling to fully open his left eye, I have been away for 4 days, and my sister refreshed his water and checked food, as I came back tonight I noticed his eye and he is very hunch backed, his wheel is big so there is no problem there. He has also left his bed and pushed sawdust into a corner downstairs and is sleeping in that. The only thing that has recently changed is his food, he is only 6 months old.


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## PepaCub (Sep 26, 2013)

It could be a number of things - and the fact that he has moved his bed makes me think it could be something where he isn't quite comfortable. Whether that is that he feels too hot, too cold, or his old bed just isn't right for him right now. Also, 6 months is sort of a peak in reaching adulthood in the sense that if he were in the 'wild' he would be in his peak - so perhaps it is something hormonal - and the eye is just a red herring?

However, the eye comes first here anyway. As long as he isn't rubbing the eye, and it doesn't look red or swollen i would see how he goes overnight. All potential eye problems need to be deal with fast so you don't risk losing the eye or having other internal head problems - so this is what you should be watching most over the next 12-24 hours.

Does he have any other symptoms - and why was there a food change (and what did you change it to) - as that might be related?


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## Tia Thurland (Mar 15, 2018)

Hello, I cleaned him out today as I routinely clean on Fridays, and he is now in his bed again so im going to see how he goes with that. I took him to the vets today as I was still concerned about his eye and they gave him an injection as well as this they have given me some medicine that he has to have once a day for 6 days. we changed his food as he wasn't keen on his old one and he only picked out the sunflower seeds and thats all he ate, he is now on another dry food, for Syrian hamsters but it still has the sunflower seeds. Thank you for your help. I hope he will be okay soon


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## PepaCub (Sep 26, 2013)

Good job you took him to the vets then, someone actually looking at the eye is always best for sussing out how serious something is.

I bet he didn't like the injection - but it will get the medication into him faster - so hopefully you should start to see an improvement over the weekend hopefully.

You can buy foods that are 100% extruded - so all the biscuits look the same. These are better foods for fussy eaters overall - even if they look a bit boring to us.


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## Tia Thurland (Mar 15, 2018)

No he wasn't keen on the injection... bless him, thank you for all your help im going to look into the food, and ill keep you updated on how he progresses


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## PepaCub (Sep 26, 2013)

Fingers crossed he is all sorted out and back to normal before you know it.


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## Tia Thurland (Mar 15, 2018)

Hello, sorry to bother you again, he can now slightly open his eye but hopefully this keeps on improving, however when he was out of his cage today I noticed he had hair missing on his back where he was injected on sunday. But it looks sore where this has happened, what should I do. Ive uploaded photos.


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## PepaCub (Sep 26, 2013)

Sorry I couldn't reply sooner - how is he now?

Although he has reacted to the injection site and has lost hair, it doesn't look like he has been over grooming it to the point of breaking his skin. Hopefully in the past few days you have noticed an improvement?


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## Tia Thurland (Mar 15, 2018)

Hello again, really sorry for the late reply, we had an improvement for a while where his eye was better, however it has gone back to what it was, I have some medicine left so I treat him with that again?, also he was walking down his ladders today and fell, he then struggled to go back up, so I have moved his bed to the second floor, after noticing this I realised he also doesn't run in his ball much anymore. he is only 7 months old.


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## •HamsterOfficial • (Mar 2, 2018)

He may of been ill, so he still has to recover from the illness and therefore should relax and he won't be as energetic until his body has fully healed which can take weeks or 2-3 months. It's not unusual he doesn't have much energy after being ill and he needs this time as recovery time.


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## Tia Thurland (Mar 15, 2018)

okay, thank you, also I have him one now and he cannot open either eye fully or use his back legs well at all.


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## PepaCub (Sep 26, 2013)

Perhaps you need to call the vets again and have a chat with them about his lack of progress, perhaps they could prescribe a different medicatioon without having to see him again?

Not sure about why this would be affecting his mobility? Can you describe how his movement actually is to them, ie is ther rolling sideways, stumbling, slipping, dragging etc as this can all help the vets to try to diagnose the severity of the issue.

Anyway - fingers still crossed for him.


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