Help! My Hamster is Losing Fur

[GVla]

Hello guys!!
For the past two months, I’ve had a hamster (I think a Roborovski). It was returned to the pet shop where I work—actually, a lady brought it back after 8 months because she got it for her daughter to play with, but they got bored of it. Since she was going to abandon it, I took it in so it can spend the last 1–1.5 years of its life in good conditions.
Over the last 10 days, I’ve noticed that it has lost fur on half of its body. Not completely bald, but at least half of the hair length is gone. Especially on the underside of its body, the fur loss is very noticeable. I don’t know what’s happening, and it’s scratching a lot!!
Can you tell me what this could be?

 

[Maz]

Hi there. I’m glad you got the hammy and gave him a home . Do you have a photo and we can tell which species and what the fur loss looks like. There are quite a few. Causes for fur loss. Including stress (which is possible), lack of protein in the diet and mites. If he hasn’t scratched himself raw in places then it’s less likely to be mites. Considering his background so far it could well be dietary related and stress (stress lowers the immune system).

What hanster mix is he on? I would suggest getting his diet right and then seeing if it improves over the next couple of weeks. We can recommend hamster mixes and supplements

 

[Socks' Mum]

Welcome to the forum, you are very kind adopting the little Robo. The best thing is to see a vet with your hammy who can medicate if necessary and do a hands on exam. I hope she will be OK ❤

 

[Socks' Mum]

Maz's advice is excellent too ❤

 

[Maz]

I’d try the diet for a couple of weeks and if no improvement then see a vet as Socks Mum says . Give him chance to settle and adjust a bit maybe.

 

[GVla]

 

[GVla]

Today I threw away all the bedding and replaced it with plain paper

 

[GVla]

Hi there. I’m glad you got the hammy and gave him a home . Do you have a photo and we can tell which species and what the fur loss looks like. There are quite a few. Causes for fur loss. Including stress (which is possible), lack of protein in the diet and mites. If he hasn’t scratched himself raw in places then it’s less likely to be mites. Considering his background so far it could well be dietary related and stress (stress lowers the immune system).

What hanster mix is he on? I would suggest getting his diet right and then seeing if it improves over the next couple of weeks. We can recommend hamster mixes and supplements

Can you recommend me hamster mixes and supplements??

 

[Maz]

Aw he's incredibly cute I'm sure paper bedding will be an improvement. But it might stress him a bit for a couple of days if all his scent is gone from the bedding I'm sure he'll be fine in a couple of days. What country are you in by the way? (For food recommendations).

Also it's possible his cage might be a bit small. They tend to really thrive with a lot of entrichment - eg deep bedding (robos love digging tunnels and sleeping under the bedding). Recommended sizes are approximately 100cm x 50cm of floorspace - like a tank or large cage. Although with robos a cage needs to have suitable bar spacing and not be too tall.

 

[GVla]

Aw he's incredibly cute I'm sure paper bedding will be an improvement. But it might stress him a bit for a couple of days if all his scent is gone from the bedding I'm sure he'll be fine in a couple of days. What country are you in by the way? (For food recommendations).

Also it's possible his cage might be a bit small. They tend to really thrive with a lot of entrichment - eg deep bedding (robos love digging tunnels and sleeping under the bedding). Recommended sizes are approximately 100cm x 50cm of floorspace - like a tank or large cage. Although with robos a cage needs to have suitable bar spacing and not be too tal

Aw he's incredibly cute I'm sure paper bedding will be an improvement. But it might stress him a bit for a couple of days if all his scent is gone from the bedding I'm sure he'll be fine in a couple of days. What country are you in by the way? (For food recommendations).

Also it's possible his cage might be a bit small. They tend to really thrive with a lot of entrichment - eg deep bedding (robos love digging tunnels and sleeping under the bedding). Recommended sizes are approximately 100cm x 50cm of floorspace - like a tank or large cage. Although with robos a cage needs to have suitable bar spacing and not be too tall.

Yes, the cage I have now is 40x30 each level. Also, I live in Greece and I just got this food and a calcium stone

 

[GVla]

 

[Maz]

I think the Versele Laga Nature food is not too bad actually. Does it have the list of ingredients and guaranteed analysis on the packet (ie percentage of protein)?

Reading back, it sounds like the fur losses only started since he came to you so it could be a combination of stress and change of diet perhaps, which could also lead to mites. How is he in himself ? Is he eating and drinking and active and using his wheel ? And as you said he's scratching a lot as well, it's looking likely he's got mites if he seems well enough otherwise . For that you'd need to take him to the vet but be careful . The external medication used for mites can be quite toxic to hamsters So it's really important that the dose is correct and the hamster isn't overdosed . Sometimes an owner misunderstands the dosage, or sometimes the vet doesn't get it quite right For a tiny hamster. They are drops you drop on the back of the neck. And the dosage is probably very tiny for a robo. You can always double check with us on here if the pescribed dosage sounds about right!

If he has mites they tend to be demodex mites - not something he has picked up somewhere - they naturally live on hamsters and are microscopic so you can't see them. If a hamster gets run down or has a low immune system, they can start to proliferate and that's when they become an issue and you see fur loss and excessive scratching. Having said that, robos do scratch and groom a lot! Does he have a sand bath? They also really need their sand baths to groom in and roll in and keep their fur in tact.

I would give him a pinch of hemp seeds and a pinch of linseeds each day, in addition to his hamster mix - I put those on a separate dish. They just lick them up. The hemp seeds are good for immunity and contain all the vitamins and minerals needed. The linseeds (aka flax seeds), do wonders for fur health and growth and show a noticeable difference within a couple of weeks I find (depending on the cause of the fur loss!).

The cage is way too small unfortunately, despite it having extra levels However, I would get him seen by a vet first and they probably will give mite treatment as they tend to do it as a matter of course. You could ask them to take a skin scraping test (they take a skin scraping and look under the microscope to diagnose mites definitively) but they don't always do that. The "try it and see" approach isn't great when the medication can be toxic and may not be necessary.

Having said all that, it is looking like he may well have mites! I asked about diet because some hamsters have been on a really bad mix and not had sufficient protein and that can make their hair fall out as well.

You will likely need to do a cage clean after the first mite treatment, hence suggesting waiting a little bit before upgrading him. So next port of call is the vets

It can be hard finding good sized cages in some countries. Some people end up making diy cages, bin cages or use glass tanks. But even something about 80cm x 50cm would be better. Robos are so active, maybe more active than other species, despite being tiny. And very fast, so they need plenty of floor space to run and dig and zoom around, all on one level.

 

[Maz]

the biggest cage I can find on Miscota in Greece is the ferplast Duna multy - which is still quite small . It's 71 CM by 46 CM. and costs €71. if there's an Ikea anywhere near you or that delivers, a good cheaper option could be a platsa it's an IKEA wardrobe frame You just tip it on its back and it makes a 120 CM by 60 centimetre enclosure. It's tall enough, even with deep bedding, but ideally you still need to make a lid out of strips of wood and Mesh.

https://www.ikea.gr/en/products/platsa-frame/50330946/

It costs €60. It's difficult to find a DIY option in between those two sizes . it can get a bit expensive in bedding with an enclosure that size, but that's just initially, after that you just spot clean mainly and don't go through much bedding for a long time. So something like the Ikea platsa, with eight to 10 inches of bedding and lots and lots of clutter inside the enclosure to fill up the space, He'd be a very happy robo! it can also get expensive filling up a large cage but you can use cardboard boxes as hides and cardboard tubes as tunnels, but you would need some kind of platform, and if you can get a very large corek log that will help.

I'll see if I can find something around 100CM x 50 CM which is a good size, but not so difficult to fill with bedding and enrichment.

 

[Maz]

here you go, this would be much better. It's the Maxi Duna multy which is 100CM by 50CM and you can get it direct from feplast.com. it needs to be the .com site to ship to Greece

MAXI DUNA MULTY

Maxi Duna Multy is very spacious, has a simple shape and is the ideal home for hamsters, guinea pigs and rabbits. It is very large - almost one metre long - and has a large, transparent plastic roof with a grid on top that can be opened. As for cleaning, nothing could be simpler! The base is...

www.ferplast.com

It's quite expensive though, it's showing as €161, but there does seem to be a 5% discount If you look on the page. the bar spacing on the roof is very narrow and suitable for robos

 

[GVla]

The protein percentage is 16%. Since I got him, he was already missing a bit of fur on the underside of his body, but I hadn’t paid much attention. In general, he eats and drinks, but he hasn’t been using his wheel the last few days. I also always provide him with rodent sand. Thanks for the advice about the linseeds and hemp seeds, and I’ll also look for a bigger cage!!

 

[Maz]

I would do the vet visit first as if they prescribe mite treatment it usually means a repeated dose two weeks later so it would be better to move the hamster after the second dose, to a fresh set up . But yes you could be preparing and looking for something .

The main thing is it needs good floor space at ground level and enough height to fit at least 6” of bedding in (ideally 8” or more) but not so tall there can be fall risks! One shelf is fine but not two or three levels as that adds to fall risks.

Some vets actually do an injection for mite treatment but it doesn’t seem that common these days. That’s assuming it’s mites but as he is so young and 16% protein isn’t that bad it does look likely it might be mites.

To top up the protein level you could give him half a walnut a couple of times a week and maybe a bit of scrambled or chopped boiled egg once or twice a week . They love fresh human food! I used to give a tiny bit of scrambled egg once a teaspoon - you can just scramble one egg in a mug with a bit of water (better than milk) and microwave it for about 10 seconds. It might need a little bit longer. I just used to eat the rest . As they only need a tiny bit on a teaspoon.

 

[Socks' Mum]

Just to add the notes most likely to affect your hammy (does he have a name yet?) only affect hamsters, so it should be OK to handle his bedding etc. Other species of notes are usually visible and it looks like he doesn't have any visible mites. Boosting his immune system by feeding protein rich food such as scrambled egg will help him fight off the mites. But he still needs to visit a vet. If you can find an exotic vet or a vet who sees animals such as rodents, rabbits, reptiles ext that would be good as many vets have little experience of treating rodents.

 

[Tulsi]

What a sweet looking hamster. I hope you can sort out his hair loss issues.

Well done for taking care of him after he had been returned to the shop.

 

[Socks' Mum]

Just to add the notes most likely to affect your hammy (does he have a name yet?) only affect hamsters, so it should be OK to handle his bedding etc. Other species of notes are usually visible and it looks like he doesn't have any visible mites. Boosting his immune system by feeding protein rich food such as scrambled egg will help him fight off the mites. But he still needs to visit a vet. If you can find an exotic vet or a vet who sees animals such as rodents, rabbits, reptiles ext that would be good as many vets have little experience of treating rodents.

Notes should be mites, sorry. I have to check the spell checker

 

[Roborovskis r us]

Hi , what a cute hamster. The fur loss looks quite serious so I would take him to vets asap. My Holly has fur loss on her chest , and took her to vets , they gave mite treatment , which didn't seems to make a difference but was worth trying. I figured the recent change of bedding might be the cause as I put chipsie in with her paper bedding. So I changed it out completely and now only use kaytee paper bedding for her. Her fur has now grown back , tho it did take quite a while to do so.