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I just noticed a bald spot on my hamsters back that wasn't there yesterday?
My hamster is around 2 years old, is he starting to lose hair because he's getting old? It's not a very big spot, and I know it wasn't there yesterday because I hold him every day. I gave him a piece of a dog treat today (a chicken flavoured milk bone, I checked the ingredients and there's no garlic or onion). It's the first time he's had one. Other than that his diet and bedding are the same as they've always been. I did recently make him a coconut swing/loft bed, and I had to move his water, could the change in environment be stressing him out? The skin looks completely normal where the bald spot is, and he doesn't seem irritated or upset at all.
He doesn't seem to be scratching excessively. And he isn't losing weight (he's fat so it would be obvious if he lost weight) so I don't think it is kidney failure either.
I just used the coconut, some regular, not oil treated twine, and Elmer's glue. He doesn't chew the twine. He's also been awake more during the day I (he's still very active at night though). Our furnace did break a couple days ago though, and it got pretty cold in here until he came to fix it later that day. While it was broken, I had a heater running in my room and it was fairly warm. Then my uncle took the heater and it got cold in my room again, until a couple hours later when our furnace was fixed. Could all these temperature changes be causing his hair loss?
The coconut was in his cage for a while as a little hut thing but after I got him a new wheel there wasn't a whole lot of room for it so I took it out. There's also another little bald spot that I noticed, on his side. It's probably about the size of a pencil eraser. He likes to stretch out and lay in his bedding (it's sawdust style bedding, but he's never had problems with it before) could that be rubbing his hair off? I personally don't think so because he's always liked to stretch out and lay in the bedding. Could it be affecting him more now that he's old? Should I try getting a softer bedding?
By sawdust I mean the wood chip bedding that is commonly used for hamsters
Even if he isn't allergic to the bedding, I'm still going to get something comfier. Everyone I've asked seems to think he's just getting old. He is over 2 years old, so even if the hair loss is unrelated to age (which it probably is) he's still nearing the end of his life, so I'm going to start spoiling him a lot more than I already do.
Do you think he could be allergic to the coconut? If it was allergies, wouldn't his skin be irritated? It looks fine.
I'll try taking the coconut out for a bit. If he's allergic to it, will his hair start growing back?
Also how long would it take to grow back?
1 Answer
- lovemiceLv 77 years agoFavorite Answer
Is he scratching excessively? If so, I would suspect parasites. Other reasons for hair loss include fungal/bacterial infection/dermatitis , food/bedding allergy, barbering and as you said, old age. There are a couple of sites you might look at for more details on these. Although the one is a rat site, you can use much of the information for hamsters:
http://www.hammysworld.com/index.php?p=sitemap
http://ratguide.com/health/integumentary_skin/
As far as your hamster being stressed by a changed environment, only when they are new does it bother them. I mix it up for my girls all of the time to make it interesting for them and they adore exploring new accessories. My daughters' hamsters used to, too, so not just my mice. I would keep an eye out, though, in case he developed an allergy to the coconut/swing materials, but if he does not and he is not scratching excessively, I am leaning towards you being correct that it is old age.
ADDENDUM: I would just keep an eye on it, then, because it does indeed sound like old age. Too much protein could cause it, but you only gave him the dog biscuit the once so seems a bit too soon to do anything. Personally I would just monitor it for now and I take my mice in at the drop of a hat. Also, obviously if it gets bigger and/or there are other symptoms take him in to the exotic vet, but if it is not bothering him and he has no other symptoms, it is likely just old age as you said. (Some of my daughters' hamsters had age related hair loss for whatever that is worth.) Do be sure to get an appointment if it gets worse, though, because my poor Noname had a skin infection that spread like wildlife when the idiot doctor told me to just put Neorporin on it. Thankfully my regular exotic vet returned from a day off and gave her the proper medication which in her case was Animax ointment and an oral antibiotic, but point is to best treat it as soon as it gets bigger and/or shows other symptoms.
A2: I might take the coconut out for a few days to see if that irritated his skin although it would likely occur in more than just one spot if he had an allergy to it or it contained parasites plus he is not scratching. Still, he could have rubbed against it and the texture is prickly so it would not hurt to remove it for a while. As for the furnace, he would not have hair loss from cold temperatures; especially just from half a day. (I can sympathize with you about the furnace because here in Ohio where we have has many negative degrees F this Winter, more than a few people I know had furnaces break. We merely had a flooded basement from a burst pipe, but better than no heat.)
A3: Allergies can happen at any point in time so might be worth a try switching to something different. One of my mice was allergic to Aspen after a year of use and another to the PetCo brand paper. I switched to CareFresh Ultra ever since and have not had any issues over the last 10+ years. Word of caution, it is very expensive in the store so if you find out it works well and solves the problem, order on-line when they have sales plus free shipping. PetCo and PetFoodDirect are two places I use.
A4:It would not necessarily be irritated, especially since you took it out already so he could be allergic to it. It is possible if the coconut had remained in there longer that his skin would have become inflamed.
I agree, spoil him like crazy. Take him out as much as possible as it will be comforting to you both. Although the Syrians and Dwarfs were my daughters', I took all of them out for free range so know what lovely animals hamster are.
A5: If it was from the coconut, it would grow back soon. Could take a couple of weeks or even up to a month for it at least partially. It was years ago that my mouse had the bedding allergy so I really cannot say for sure-sorry.
