Losing his hair!

[palmbreeze]

Poor little hamster! His name is Peanut and he is almost seven months old. He is a diabetic and on special food. He male part is out all of the time and I don't know what to do to fix it. Now the fur on his belly is gone! You can plainly see his scent gland! I see his pink little body with no hair! He lost it fast too! The top of him is ok, it is just the bottom of him that is missing the fur. What is going on???

[pinkpink33]

i read of someone else's ham's male parts being out, it may be due to an infection. i dont know why he's losing his fur, im sorry. sounds like you need to go to the vet. what special food is he on? never had a diabetic ham. i cant imagine what could be causing both of these, hopefully someone else does!
good luck, hope you get some answers and can take him to the vet :)

[jackie158]

Poor little hamster! His name is Peanut and he is almost seven months old. He is a diabetic and on special food. He male part is out all of the time and I don't know what to do to fix it. Now the fur on his belly is gone! You can plainly see his scent gland! I see his pink little body with no hair! He lost it fast too! The top of him is ok, it is just the bottom of him that is missing the fur. What is going on???

I know with guinea pigs, there man parts can get stuck out as well. What happens with them is, the boar glue/sperm is sticky and causes there penis to get stuck. What you can try to do before going to the vets if you hammy lets you, is take a warm rag/compress and put it on his man part, see if that helps. You can also try minerial oil, which seems to help as well. Good luck....keep us posted. Please, take your hammy to the vets though if it does not get better.

[CookieDough24]

If you don't know what it is, take him to the vet as everyone else suggested. Fortunately, I've never had a Dietetic Campbell's, so I don't know if that could be a symptom or something, but it doesn't really sound right to me. I'd say your best bet it to take him to the vet or atleast call a vet and see what they say.

Best of luck.

[pixibubbles]

mites can always cause hair loss and i suppose the swelling and irritation they can cause could effect his boy bits. i think the idea of a cool gentle compress cant hurt tho and might help.

i dont know enough about diabetes to even guerss if its related but weould suggest vets... even if its only a phone consultation to say.... this is happening... anything i can do?

[CookieDough24]

mites can always cause hair loss and i suppose the swelling and irritation they can cause could effect his boy bits. i think the idea of a cool gentle compress cant hurt tho and might help.


I feel kind of stupid, because I didn't even think of mites. Luckily Pixi did. :)

How is he doing? Did you talk to a vet yet?

[pinkpink33]

i didnt think it would be mites if it's just the underneath of him, i thought mites would be more spread out? like around the ears and back? but it could be and i could see how the irritation would cause swelling and problems in that area.

[CookieDough24]

I wouldn't know, as I thankfully have never had a hamster with mites (or any pet for that matter), but good point, pinkpink. The only way to find out is to go to the vets, or atleast call one.

How is he doing? Did you call a vet?

[palmbreeze]

Problem around here is finding a vet who knows anything about hamsters. I am going to call around tomorrow and find out where to take him. Not very many are open on the weekend. He acts ok and is always excited to see me. I'll take him to the vet asap. Thank you for all your help.

[jackie158]

Here are some exotic vets:

http://www.g u i n e a l y n x.info/vetlist.html#OH

Take the spaces out of guinea .

It is a guinea pig exotics, but both are rodents and if they see piggies, they see hamsters. Guinea pigs and hamsters are very simular. For example, both cant have the smae certain AB's like pencillin. Let me find more exotics for you...ok.

Here are some vets that see rabbits.....again, see if they can see hammys too....most of the time, if they see rabbits...they see hammies
http://www.ohare.org/vets.htm

http://www.columbusrabbit.org/vet.html

[pinkpink33]

have never had a hamster with mites either, was trying to use common sense but, let's face it, i really dont have much! so it's often flawed!
have you been to the vets yet? i hope he's not too uncomfy like that.
would like to hear what happens, learning about illnesses and symptoms is important!

[CookieDough24]

Problem around here is finding a vet who knows anything about hamsters. I am going to call around tomorrow and find out where to take him. Not very many are open on the weekend. He acts ok and is always excited to see me. I'll take him to the vet asap. Thank you for all your help.

That's the problem in a small town where I live too, but that's why I had a vet already in line before I got my hamsters, just in case.

We are always happy to help! Keep us updated! :o

[palmbreeze]

So Peanut and I went to the vet today. I called around to find a vet that saw hamsters. The vet took time with me and seemed to know what he was talking about. He was able to put the penis back in and then he shaved his hair off his belly so he could see what was going on and he thought maybe some hair could have got stuck and caused some problems. He had this big electric razor and I was so scared for Peanut I had to go sit down. He nipped him once, but it isn't bad. Peanut has something in the middle of his tummy which I thought was his scent gland. The vet said they should have two one on each side? He thought the "something" might be a belly button or something. He felt Peanuts stomach thinking maybe he had some kind of stones or something, but everything felt ok. He took a stool sample to see if he had any infections or anything. I am to put Neosporin on his "scent gland thing", penis, and small cut. So I checked on Peanut about an hour after I got home and his penis is out again! The vet said if what he did doesn't work that maybe he needs a girlfriend. As for the hair falling out he is not sure why, but I think I read somewhere that hairloss has something to do with diabetes. So I still feel stuck. The vet also said that small dogs sometimes have the male problem and that they can have surgery, but as for a dwarf it isn't such a good idea. I'll call tomorrow and she what I need to do now.

[pinkpink33]

o im sorry it hasnt been fixed.
a girlfriend? for, um relief? sorry of that's rude to say! i dont think baby hams are a good idea if he's diabetic, this is often hereditory (soz for spelling).
i hope you manage to find something that works :)

[palmbreeze]

Peanut is not doing very well! He has acted fine until yesterday after our vet experience. He has been curled up in a ball (not on his side) and breathing deeper than usual. He didn't even eat last night and wasn't even interested in a Peanut! I took him out of his cage to apply Neosporin and he didn't even fight me. He curled up in my hand and didn't want to leave it to go back to his cage. I feel horrible!!!!! I don't know what is wrong with him now. I'm afraid maybe the vet did something to him. :cry: :cry: :cry: