Worried for our pet hampster.....:-(

Question
My daughter's pet hampster (Penny) is a Winter White hampster. Over the past few days, we began to notice that Penny's eyes were matted over so we used a warm rag and wiped her eyes to re-open them. We also noticed that her little nose looked dry and reddened. I researched eye infections in hampsters and it suggested using human eye lubricant to help the eyes. The next day, we began to notice Penny's behavior change from very friendly and observant to scarey, detached, and unable to handle. Her eyes continue to mat up and we have continued with the eye drops because we are unable to handle her to wipe them out. I understand that with age, hampsters have quite a few problems but this came on so sudden so we are worried for her. Can someone please give some advice to help our poor lil' Penny.....Thanks

Answer
Hi Dixie

Thanks for your question.  I'm sorry to hear about Penny.

How old is she?  Is she 2 or more?  Hamsters have glands at the backs of their eyes that secrete a fluid that acts as a lubricant.  If a hamster is unwell or elderly then they tend to produce more of this than usual and suffer from a condition called 'sticky eyes'.  This is quite common.  It is important that a hamster opens their eyes on a daily basis otherwise they can get infections.  If they have sticky eyes it is hard for them to open their eyes as they tend to crust up.  

I would suggest you try wiping her eye area.  If you get a clean cloth and soak it in warm water and try to do this.  As she can't be handled at the moment you might want to wear a thick glove to do this, or get someone to hold her in a towel so you don't get bitten.  You could gently 'scruff' her but don't pull on the skin too hard as you can injure her eyes if you do this.  Gently wipe her eyelids and see if she will open her eyes.  If you can do this, see what her eyes are like - are they inflamed, itchy, sore looking?

I have never used human eye ointment on a hamster - I usually use one that is suitable for dogs! The problem with treating dwarf hamsters is that the dosage they need for any medication needs to be tiny - #the dosage for a dwarf is a fraction of the dosage for a Syrian hamster#, therefore there is a possibility that whilst you had the right idea to treat her, the eye lubricant is too strong for her and is irritating her rather than calming her down.

If there is any way you can get close to her to check her eyes, then you could try using cooled salt water for a few days to see if this improves the situation as salt is a great antiseptic. This would be preferable to putting eye ointment on as you don't know for sure that there is an infection at this stage.  The more natural the treatment the better for a dwarf.

Dwarf hamsters are known to sometimes have a change in personality, but this is usually when they go from childhood to adulthood.  In later life, a change of personality like this often indicates that they are in pain.  One of my Syrian hamsters went like this - from a friendly tame hamster one day to hanging off my finger the next.  Eye infections can be incredible painful for a hamster, therefore it could be the illness causing her change in personality, or as mentioned above, the medication itself.

It is definitely worth trying to see if you can get near her to wipe the area with salt water and see if this helps.  If not, then it would worth seeing if your local pet shop has any medication safe for small animals that you could use.  If not, you might need to get veterinary help.

I hope you get on OK.

Regards
Sheila