# Dwarf hamster breathing issue?



## Niixa (Oct 15, 2017)

I have a female winter white dwarf hamster who is roughly 10 weeks old, I bought her home on the 12th October and she was completely fine, but when the evening came around I noticed she was what sounded like coughing.

She appears to be coughing whilst awake and makes rasping squeaks when she wakes up. She is however active in her cage, goes on the wheel and scampers around, eating and drinking just fine, but she coughs and sometimes squeaks whilst grooming, I've only had her a day and she showed no signs when in the pet store and her sisters were fine as well. She is not gasping for breath at any of these times and seems bright and alert.

I checked for runny eyes and nose and there's no leaking at all, she's not too hot or cold and she's able to fall into a deep sleep but she rasps and squeaks every now and then. I have been burning tea tree oil(diluted in water) next to her cage and the raspy squeaks (whilst she is asleep) have stopped or a lot quieter, I have to really listen rather than hear them in my room from my bed.

She's still a baby and I don't want to stress her out with vets if this is nothing serious, could it be new home jitters? I have wondered if sawdust might be too dusty for her so for now I've switched to TP until I can get some Carefresh/paper based bedding.

Any advice is appreciated, I just don't want to stress her out with a vet visit that may not be needed, thank you!


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