Cushings / hyper adrenal

[pixibubbles]

Ok, back to the balding butt hamster...

Vet now believes could be hyper adrenal.... she haas been losing fur gradually for about 4-5 months accross butt and flacnks.... however the skin is fine... asides from a little (10 grms... still weighs 155) weight loss that has evened out... a lot of thirst and larger than usual appetite....

the skin is fine, not thinning or thickening or discolouring...

she is 15 months old lilac female... recently she has gone a little hyper... wshich may well explain the weight loss... she is drinking and eating a little more than usual... vet said basically her body isnt as effeicient as it was but isnt anything to worry about... it just seems her metablism is speeding up a bit

My vet THINKS it may be this hyper adrenalism and has gone away to research it having nver seen anything like it before... he doubts it is cancer as this has been going on noticably for about 6 months (fur loss) and as her metablisms is speeding up he would have expected tumours by now and thankfully has found nothing and no symptons...

any comments... suggested diet changes or just info would me msot appreciated,,,, he's so curious now he has ceased charging and bioth my excellent vet and i are off seeing what we can find as a next step / current expectations / outlooks.

just so you know how affected she is lol right now she has manbaged to scale 12 inchesover her wheel to the top ofn her cage and is bouncing up and down off the bars tryin to escape.

at the moment wepre just watching her and keeping her save... she's happy and so am i....


sorry if this is a bit of a rmble...any clarification please just ask pictures shoudl up tommorow one way or another... i think i figured it out

Love
pixie and rocky x

[Moosley]

I think it was you who i have spoken to before about Cushings, i went through the nastiness of Cushings with my Hamlet.

Because of the type of disease Cushings is, it causes cancer and tumours so she might not have it yet but strong chances on her getting it/them if she does have cushings.

My hamlet was put to sleep when she was 15 months old but she was diagnosed at 7 months old, no one was going to tell me if she would live long or die quickly, it depends on cancer/tumour/other symptoms.

There is, currently, no cure at all for anything smaller than a good sized westie dog or a large terrier. Although vets *can* give the medication used in dogs, it isn't worth it as it hasnt been proved to work yet, all that its been proved to do is kill the hamster by overdose as it's near on impossible to get the right dose. (this is what i was told by 4 vets)

Up till the day she was put to sleep, my Hamlet ran a marathon a night in her wheel and loved scrambling about. The decision for me was the balding and i occasionally hear her squeak uncomfortably in her sleep, she just wasn't herself any more and it was exhausing her, i didnt want her to run herself into the ground being 'ok' so i let her go before it got too bad.

I would weigh your hamster daily, keep a chart of her weight and keep an eye on her and how she is. Cushings isn't a fast killing disease by any means...

Removing fat from her diet is also a good idea, sunflower seeds and peanuts are a big no. But it depends how long you think she is going to have and is it worth taking away what she enjoys?

I think its more of a case of enjoy what you have and believe in yourself and her to know when it is time.

I'm just really sorry to hear about your poor hammy :(


Good luck with her...

PS- it does sound to me like she has Cushings though, i will dig up some photos of Hamlet, although i never took any of her when she was *too* bad...

[TiaMaria]

I don't really have anything to add after Moo's post, she said it all. Good luck with your hammie hun, I hope everything goes well.

[Moosley]

Here are the said photos (i didn't take any of her later on but this is how it was for a bit)

Hard to tell but she has no hair on her belly at all:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a60/hammyratlet/Petshub3.jpg

Started low above her tail and over her legs, later on she lost all the brown:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a60/hammyratlet/Petshub4.jpg

Just a normal photo but you can see how her tail looks really odd and long as there's no hair near it:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a60/hammyratlet/Petshub5.jpg

The only good thing to come of the disease is that Hamlet became a complete snugglebug!
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a60/hammyratlet/Petshub2.jpg

Hamlet will always be my baby and i will miss her forever, we went through a lot together :( she had wet tail as a baby and then again as an adult, she also fractured a leg and trapped a nerve in her hip making her lose use of one leg, my bro accidentally dropped her and a miracle! she used her leg again! and she looked after me when i didnt feel so great..

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a60/hammyratlet/Petshub1.jpg

[pixibubbles]

Thanks for the piccies of hamlet... a real cutie... i'm still trying to get rocky to hold still loing enough to be photographed lol... i finally find the camera and do you think she'll let me near her? course not lol... as soon as she hears the lense click she vanishes... i;ve tried all sorts of bribery lol

Rocky's never had much fur on her stomach... and it's always been a really pale blonde anyway... the fur loss doesnt seem to bother her at all and at the moment her weight has stabelised now i;ve chanegd her diet... i'm sure she eats better than me lol she gets a lot more protein and fresh veg and fruit... the dry harry food is now the extra rather than the staple... little begger slammed her ball into the door so hard she broke it yesterday and spent 5 minutes cryign at me to fix it lol..,. this is the 3rd one recently lol little begger.

my vet had some herbal supplement he'd used with a dog.. he's looking into it for hamsters... but at the moment is so intrigued he's stopped charging... always good lol

Rocky's already at the 15 month mark... so she's already had a fairly good run as hamster life spans go... it's started off slowly... the fur loss has been really gradual over months and doesnt bother her at all... i'll take it as a good sign :)

the other hing my vet has said is he cant find any signs of cancer which is really good... it could be whatever's causing it is benign... fingers crossed anyway.

Oh... did hamlet get smellier with it? I;ve started using carefresh instead of soft wood shavings and i'm cleaning twice as often... i guess it could be the heat...but i dont remember it being this bad last summer...

When madam decides to hold still i'll picture her lol

[Sparky2006]

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww she was so cute!!!!!!

im sorry for your loss!

R.I.P Hamlet

[TiaMaria]

I swear you just bring up posts to spam and increase your posts number! :|

[Moosley]

Hush Tia :p chill.

Carefresh is the worst bedding for smelling bad when it is only slightly wet. I changed to carefresh for Hamlet but did find myself cleaning it far more often than decent shavings.

[Sparky2006]

"I swear you just bring up posts to spam and increase your posts number! :|"

who me??? i neva bought it up agen! lol but the pic is soo cute!

[TiaMaria]

lol yes you and it was a joke :p

[Sparky2006]

ohh okay! lol

[hamstermoo]

Here are the said photos (i didn't take any of her later on but this is how it was for a bit)

Hard to tell but she has no hair on her belly at all:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a60/hammyratlet/Petshub3.jpg

Started low above her tail and over her legs, later on she lost all the brown:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a60/hammyratlet/Petshub4.jpg

Just a normal photo but you can see how her tail looks really odd and long as there's no hair near it:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a60/hammyratlet/Petshub5.jpg

The only good thing to come of the disease is that Hamlet became a complete snugglebug!
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a60/hammyratlet/Petshub2.jpg

Hamlet will always be my baby and i will miss her forever, we went through a lot together :( she had wet tail as a baby and then again as an adult, she also fractured a leg and trapped a nerve in her hip making her lose use of one leg, my bro accidentally dropped her and a miracle! she used her leg again! and she looked after me when i didnt feel so great..

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a60/hammyratlet/Petshub1.jpg



does anyone know what the black little dots on the skin are on the 2nd photo around the tail area? my hamster has those all over his skin. before he was diagnosed with demodex aurati mites which are microscopic, so i was wondering if the little dots are a different type of mite, however after viewing pictures of hamsters with cushings, i am noticing they all have these dots. are they simply skin miscolorations having to do with the disease?

[Moosley]

Could be skin discolouration, it could be a different type of mites, not all are invisible to the naked eye, could be flea dirt...

With my Hamlet, one symptom of Cushings Disease is cancer. The little black dots on Hamlet is actually where she had Skin cancer.

[Mighty Hamster]

I don't mean to keep old posts alive but.... can dwarfs suffer from cushings? I know that Moosley's ham (RIP Hamlet) was a syrian but I didn't hear mention of the other hamster. Reason I ask is that last night we noticed our just over 1 year old blue campbell's is losing fur in two patches (one above each back leg) and a tad on her belly and we're trying to see wht this could be.

Thanks!

[Moosley]

i think posts like this should be brought up at points because it's not a common problem.

*technically* i guess dwarves *could* get cushings... *but* the chances are slim, as you say... he is a year old, if he hasn't come from pure and healthy stock from an experianced breeder, it could be that he is either showing signs of old age and his fur is thinning... or he has some kind of mites.

If the hairloss is spreading... i would go to the vets.

[Mighty Hamster]

Thanks! Obviuosly I'd rather it not be cushings but the hairloss descriptions match. The hairloss is so even above both side of her back legs and I can see dark pink skin that looks a bit dry. We just noticed it last night but I think it might have been going on for a bit (her fur is sort of fluffy so with her colour good camo!).

I didn't notice mites but I'll triple check as her sister is in a cage close by and I don't want 2 cases. Both hams are from a breeder. I've only ever noticed thinning fur on our older dwarves vs. this "missing clumps" type. Thanks for the advice!

[Moosley]

It could definately still be mites, especially if the skin is flakey! Mites are invisible to the naked eye so would easily go unnoticed until the hamster had a reaction to them (ie fur loss).

This is going to sound absolutely ridiculous!!! But can you get Nivea Lipbalm in Canada?

This one:

http://i5.ebayimg.com/05/i/06/ea/dd/d7_2.JPG


It's a random thing, but i work on an alpaca farm and one of my lil bubbies has a bald patch on his nose with dry skin, he was treated for mites and all sorts and nothing worked, it looked a little sore so i broke off some of my lipbalm and rubbed in into his baldy patch and 4 days later he had a new growth of hair (for the first time in months)

[Mighty Hamster]

Thanks. Sounds like a trip to see our vet is in order! And the tip about lipbalm....interesting! I'll have to look for it.

Question for you --- If it is mites, how would a ham going about getting mites based on the following: her and her sister have been living with us for over a year, they have always been on carefresh bedding, no changes to diet, water, location, treats etc., no other pets in the house and no visting pets. What am I missing? If it is mites, I just want to do my best to not get them again! :)

[pixibubbles]

You could have brought mites in on your clothing... flowers... anything. even a new toy they had. you could have petted an animal. mites are just a fact of life sometimes.

Good news is they are very easily treated. course of injections usually does the trick. you can also buy mite spray for the cage, and one for hamster. it can be hard to apply to hammie tho as most you need to brush fur back and spray then rub dry before hammie cleans. not too hard with a syrian but they are easier to hold onto than dwarves!

bob martins or johnsons are the best sprays although they are more of a preventative measure than a cure.

if you can't get the lip balm there's a great cream availble by bob martins called skineze... antiseptic moisturiser... usually use it on scratches. suitable for all rodents and larger animals. costs me about £2 for a 50ml pot which lasts for aggggggggges

[tvrodents]

Skineze is pretty good, another option is Sudocrem... its available from all pharmacies and supermarkets and is great stuff. Its thick and keeps out infection too.
Hope you get it sorted!

Kat

[Mighty Hamster]

Thought I'd drop a quick update on Niblet -- good news, it's not mites. The vet says everything looks good excpet the fur loss problem (which continues to spread). She's on meds to treat something I can't say or spell but translates to inflamation of the hair follicle causing fur loss as there seems to be some slight irritation present. So hopefully this will clear it up.

Vet said if it doesn't, the next thing will be a blood test, which on a dwarf would be an adventure - that hopefully we won't have to have! :) Thanks for all the advice!