Allergic hamster

Question
Hi Sheila, I'm pretty sure my hamster has a food allergy, the sneezing started about 2 months ago and has progressed to some scratching and fur loss. I have removed all the bedding from his cage and the sneezing continued. I put some cotton in the bottom of his bed for something to snuggle into. He has very crooked teeth and has them clipped every two weeks. I gave him dog biscuits for a couple of days instead of his food and he seemed a little better. I just returned him to his original food (a complete diet pellet) and today he is a mess. Runny nose, sneezing a lot and sticky eyes. He is on antibiotics to help with any secondary infection that is going on, and eye drops. There has been no change, that's why I'm convinced it's his food. He does not present himself as ill when he is up in the evening, other than the sneezing. The food he has been on for the past year (he is a little over a year old) is corn based. I also think he sneezes when I offer oatmeal. I don't know what to do next. I was going to make him a mix of sunflower, pumpkin, and dry lentils (smashed up), and ground flax seed (linseed), and offer some fresh veg each nite. Do you happen to have a recipe for a mix. I have your book, so forgive me if I missed it. Should I introduce one food at a time?? I don't want to throw his system off too much. I do add vitamins to the water. Help..the poor little guy is breaking my heart. Thanks

Answer
Hi

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you - been caught up trying to get my bosses back from the US, without any success!  The volcano in Iceland is still spewing out loads of smoke so our airspace is closed.

Anyway, sorry to hear your hamster is sneezing. With this type of symptom you are looking at colds which this certainly isn't.  Aspergillosis can cause respiratory problems and is caused by inhaling fungal spores, but they tend to struggle with breathing rather than just sneezing.  Allergies are the most likely and these can be caused either by something outside the cage - i.e. perfumes etc. or it must be something inside the cage.  The most obvious things are bedding as they tend to add oils to this to make it smell nice.  It could be food related - if you think of humans with food allergies they can make them very ill, lethargic, sick, etc.  The only way really to test for this would be to allow one food at a time and see what reaction you get - also opt for natural foods if possible.  I don't know what this mix is that you mention - the one I use is sunflower, linseed, pumpkin and sesame seed as this gives essential fatty acids.

something else that I'm wondering about is his teeth.  I had a hamster whose front teeth overgrew - when she arrived at the rescue they had completely curled around.  I had to clip them repeatedly.  She always had a snuffle and watery eye.  One of my rabbits who has no front teeth also suffers from these conditions and I wonder if when their front teeth overgrow the roots somehow damage or affect the tear ducts or nasal passage.  Whilst  you aren't supposed to put perfumes etc near a hamster cage, you could put a little olbas oil (not sure if you can get this)on a cloth and leave it beside the cage.  This is an anticongestant and might help clear the nasal passages.

I'm sorry this isn't a definitive answer - it is hard to know what is causing this but I think you need to do a bit of detective work.  if you feel this is food related, then I suggest you follow your instinct and remove all food from the cage, then put in one type at a time and the next day another type just for a week and see if there is any obvious change one way or another.  

I hope this helps you.  Good luck working this one out!

Regards
Sheila