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Dry (and thin) hamster skin

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Sittinghammy

My hamster’s skin is very sensitive and dry, with cracked, dead skin all over it. He’s very fuzzy, but his fur is thin and not cery covering of his body. I don’t know how I would help his skin, but it looks pretty bad. He’s a male Syrian about a year and an half old, I adopted so I don’t know where he’s from.
Any tips?

Also, how often is too often in terms of posting?
 

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First of all, please do not worry about how much you can post. You can post as much as you wish to. :)

I remember you recently adopted your hamster so it is possible he has not had a good diet. What are you feeding him now? Along with a good diet I would get him checked out by a vet so they can check his skin just to ensure there is nothing else going on. I know scaly skin can be caused by mites for example and if this is the case a vet could give you some medication for this.

This is my opinion and I am sure other members will be along soon to give you their advice.
 
Thank you for your opinion. I really hope I can get a job soon, because though I do my best, my parents don’t always believe in taking my hamsters to the vet. It would be a good idea to get him checked out though. This is what I feed him. It’s a mix from Etsy, since mixing your own food is really expensive… it has a variety, but I can find the ingredients.
 

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Do not worry about mixing your own food. It is really difficult to do that and can be expensive too. Is it possible to write the name of the food?

There is something called flaxseed you can buy which is really good for hamster hair. My hamster loves them. He has a little pinch every morning and he gets excited for them. I am not sure which country you are in but here is a link just to show you.

 
Okay, good suggestion!
Here’s the ingredient list:
GA: 17.27% Protein, 10.64% Fat, 12.7% Fiber

Flour:Oil Ratio: 74:26

42 Ingredients: Rye*, Lentil mix* (red and green), Bell peppers (red and green), Buckwheat*, Fescue seed, Zucchini, Flax seeds*, Mealworms*, Broccoli, Spinach, Sesame seeds, Chia seeds*, Milk thistle seeds*, Poppy seeds*, Pumpkin seeds*, Sunflower seeds, Hemp seeds*, Fennel seeds*, Wheat, Oats, Split peas* (yellow and green), Millet, Sorghum (red and white), Amaranth*, Tri-colored quinoa*, Dill seeds*, Crickets*, Seafood mix (shrimp and minnow), Chamomile, Hibiscus*, Calendula*, Nettle*, Cornflower*, Dandelion root, Rose
 
That is really helpful and thank you for listing the ingredients. The mix looks good to me but a more experienced member will know more. I have not had a Syrian hamster myself. :)
 
Sorry to see your hamster has such dry flakey skin. It could be diet. Some of these mixes from Etsy might have a good selection of ingredients and the right nutritional balance on paper, but it depends how they source the protein. If a big part of the protein is lentils (which it seems to be) and the hamster doesn't like lentils (they are quite hard), he could have been having low protein. Also these types of mixes don't contain fortified vitamins, like commercial mixes do. And vitamin E is what helps keep skin and fur healthy. Flax seeds, like Rainbow mentioned, or Linseeds are choc full of vitamin E and other healthy oils and vitamins, so they can really help improve coat and fur condition. But it might not just be that.

Although some of these mixes have a lot of variety, if the hamster is having some issues, it might be better to switch to a commercial mix for a while to make sure he gets everything he needs. I use the Bunny Dream Syrian hamster mix (which you also have to send for online). Are you in the Uk? It's only available in Europe. That is a bit low in protein so needs supplementing - you could supplement with fresh food extras like a nut twice a week (walnuts are popular), a bit of chopped hard boiled egg or scrambled egg, or you can get freeze dried chicken bites. I mix it 50/50 with Harry Hamster which ups the protein a bit so there's less supplementing to do. You can also give 2 or 3 science selective pellets daily as well and they contain everything needed.

I would try with diet first and see if it improves. It could possibly be mites but I think the hamster would be scratching and sore if it was mites, and the only way to be sure is to have a skin scraping done at the vets (the mites aren't visible to the human eye so they have to look at the skin scraping under a microscope).

There are other commercial mixes you can use and it might be best to keep it simple - if you live with your parents and presumably costs are relevant as well.

I can't remember if you're in the Uk or US so won't suggest any other commercial mixes until I hear back from you!
 
Okay, that’s all interesting. He hasn’t showed any signs of not eating his lentils, and it does have mealworms as well. Protein is at 17.27%. And it has crickets and mealworms. I haven’t seen any scratching at all, or redness- I know the picture isn’t that good. He’s very active as well. Unfortunately, I live in the US.
 
Ah I missed the mealworms. I just saw the lentils near the top of the list. Ok if you're in the US then forget about the Bunny Dream mix! Higgins Vita Garden is a sugar free mix and not too bad but again I think the protein needs supplementing.

If you think he's getting enough protein from his current mix then it could be lack of vitamins. Maybe you could then keep with the current mix but give about 3 pellets of science selective daily as well. Hamsters seem to really like them - I think they smell of yeast or gravy. And see if his skin condition improves. As I said I'm slightly wary of mixes that don't contain added fortified vitamins. It's not a good idea to get vitamin drops either as people put those in their water and that can put them off drinking. But the science selective pellets will contain all the vitamins and good protein levels as well.
 
That mix sounds ok, protein isn’t too low really as he’s not very young I would think he’s probably getting enough.
How long have you had him? If he’s had a poor diet early in life before you adopted him then that my be causing him problems that will take a while to recover from & he may need some extra nutrition for a while.
Flaxseed or linseed are easy to get hold of so as the others mentioned do give him a good pinch of that each day, he does have some in the mix but it may not be enough.
I would recommend giving him a drop of evening primrose oil every day if you can, this can really help & works well with the linseeds, they work better in combination that separately.
He may be lacking some vitamins & his diet may not provide all the micronutrients he needs but I’m not sure what supplements would be available in the US.
You could add some buckwheat to his diet, this is also easy to get hold of, just plain unroasted groats or grain is really good for them & has lots of useful nutrients that could give him a boost.

Exotic nutrition do sell a supplement that might help if you were able to get it.

exoticnutrition.com

VitaGlow Supplement

Exotic Nutrition’s VitaGlow is an all-natural liquid feed supplement for all animals, that gives pets more than just a healthy, shiny coat from the inside out. VitaGlow contains naturally occurring vitamin E, B12, lecithin, biotin, and flaxseed oil, all in their rawest form to increase the...
exoticnutrition.com exoticnutrition.com
 
Science selective is good and you can launder in a bit with his regular food. My hammy won't touch dried mealworms unfortunately. I worry that lentils are possibly not easily digested. A bag of science selective is about £8 on Ebay, but if you order click and collect from a pet supplier it could be cheaper. Could you take him to a Blue Cross or PDSA clinic? https://www.pdsa.org.uk/pet-help-and-advice/eligibility
 
Ah, sorry, I see you are in the US, scratch what I said about vet clinics. There might be subsidised vet charities near you though, it's could be worth Googling.
 
Lentils aren’t good for dwarf hamsters but Syrians should be able to digest them & they are often found in Syrian mixes so I don’t think that would be a problem.
 
Socks Mum said:
Lentils are high in lectins and I think it could be difficult to establish the safety of using them daily.
Click to expand...
I never take any notice of those kind of sites myself. They tend to copy and paste information from similar sites.

The person who wrote that is meant to be an expert in dogs anyway which are very different to hamsters. 😊
 
We have got a researched safe food list on here on the home page :) But lentils aren't mentioned as being good or bad and maybe they should be mentioned on there. There are varying views on it I think and no clear evidence really - but I know some people are wary of feeding raw lentils because of the lectins - which can cause malabsorption of other nutrients and for some people at least, they can have an autoimmune response (eg a kind of allergy). Hamsters will vary just as humans do, but personally I wouldn't want to feed a mix that relied heavily on lentils for the protein (when contents are listed, the largest amounts appear first and the smallest amounts appear last). Maybe they would give enough protein but if they are the main source of protein (which they seem to be - mealworms alone aren't enough) but it is possible it could be causing malabsorption of other nutrients, or some kind of reaction. It's possible for a hamster to have a food allergy as well.

So personally I wouldn't give a mix containing lentils as a source of protein, and would use a commercial mix without them. Adding the linseeds and evening primrose will be of benefit as well.

If the hamster didn't have a skin condition then the mix would probably be fine to continue but I think it would be sensible to try a different one. I know it's popular to have mixes with a lot of variety as being good for the hamster's foraging, but the nutritional balance is the most important thing. Nuggets/pellet food aren't ideal but a hamster can still live a long and healthy life only having those. I'm not suggesting only giving nuggets or pellet food. But a different muesli mix and supplementing with 2 or 3 science selective pellets - plus the other beneficial skin things like the linseeds and evening primrose maybe.

Of course then you won't know what fixed it but as long as it's fixed :) And you could always try reintroducing the current mix again later if the skin has improved and see if it's ok.
 
Yes, sorry, I didn't mean to alarm. Maz's advice is very sensible, practical and well thought through!
 
It’s hard to tell from the ingredient list how much the mix relies on lentils for protein, it has peppers as the second ingredient so it seems a bit unlikely that the list is greatest first but it’s always a bit of an unknown with these home made type mixes.
Don’t dismiss other protein ingredients those, it does have some buckwheat & quinoa which will provide protein too as will some of the other ingredients so it won’t be relying on lentils & mealworms & overall protein is probably high enough.

I don’t think lentils are an ideal ingredient, especially if the mix does rely heavily on them but also think it unlikely that the lentils would be a cause of the skin & fur condition.
 
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