Bad odour

[Alesha]

Hi this morning i noticed this on my hamsters new toy it wasn’t there last night im wondering if anyone knows what it could be it doesn’t have any scent to it. Although her pee has been smelling really fishy recently and she’s become more jumpy and paranoid does anyone know what could be wrong or what this stuff is?

 

[Maz]

Hi. It's hard to tell from the photo. Do you mean the brown stuff in the middle? If her urine is smelling she could have a uti or womb infection, so it will need a vet visit in case she needs antibiotics. It doesn't quite look like blood to me on the saucer but it's possible or she could have peed on the wheel with food on it and it turned to mush! But as her urine smells it strongly suggests she has an infection and it's quite important to see a vet as hamsters can go downhill very quickly without treatment.

 

[Alesha]

Hi. It's hard to tell from the photo. Do you mean the brown stuff in the middle? If her urine is smelling she could have a uti or womb infection, so it will need a vet visit in case she needs antibiotics. It doesn't quite look like blood to me on the saucer but it's possible or she could have peed on the wheel with food on it and it turned to mush! But as her urine smells it strongly suggests she has an infection and it's quite important to see a vet as hamsters can go downhill very quickly without treatment.

Thank you for your response, I have noticed it was blood as she has a cut on her foot which isn’t bleeding anymore I’ve taken her toy out as I think that may be the cause as she’s been on it constantly since I brought it. would you recommend I clean the cut or take her to the vet?

 

[Maz]

Do you have a photo of the cut? You could bathe it with saline (being careful not to get her wet - maybe just dab it with the wrung out corner of a soft cloth like a microfibre cloth). That will help clean it and help with healing but if it shows any sign of infection (redness or swelling) you'd need to take her to a vet straight away. To make saline, dissolve a teaspoonful of salt in a pint of boiling water and wait till it has gone cold (or virtually cold).

I can't see anything on that saucer that would cause a cut - does she have another wheel? Wheels with mesh or wire surfaces are very bad for hamsters feet and can cause a condition called bumblefoot. If the saucer was her only wheel she could get stressed without one so putting another one in asap would be an idea. It's possible she injured her foot on something else and the blood just came off on the saucer.

Is she a syrian, dwarf or robo hamster? They do better with an upright wheel as a main wheel anyway - 8" diameter for a dwarf and 11" or 12" diameter for a Syrian.

This doesn't explain the bad fishy smell though so I think you need to take her for a vet check anyway as she might need antibiotics. Female Syrians can get pyometra (womb infection) and that always needs treating urgently.