How do you treat a hamsters cold.

Question
I had a cold the other day and wanted to play with my long haired hamster Sprinkles. So I did all though I new I wasn't supposed to.
Now she might have a cold because I saw her sneese and she had a small runny nose. I wiped it up very gently with a tissue but I want to know what to do to treat it **WITHOUT GOING TO THE VET**

Answer
Hi Hannah

It is possible to give a hamster your cold, however, if you have then the symptoms will be pretty much the same as humans - shivering, sneezing, runny eyes/nose.  In these cases it is important to make sure she is warm and is eating.  If she stops eating you can tempt her with a little lukewarm milk with a a tiny amount of honey added - this can be given to encourage drinking.  If she suffers from what appears to be a blocked nose you can use mentholated ointments - if you apply them to a cloth and place up against the cage so that she sniffs them but doesn't come into direct contact with them. Don't apply too much as their noses are very sensitive to any smells.   If this turns into more of an upper respiratory infection then antibiotics will need to be prescribed by a vet.

However, having said all this, hamsters can sneeze or snuffle for other reasons too.  They can develop allergies.  Has anything changed near her cage?  Has anyone sprayed any perfume/air freshners etc near the cage?  Has her bedding/wood chip changed?  If she is fine apart from this odd sneeze then it would just be worth keeping a close watch on her and if you have changed anything in her environment you might need to do a bit of detective work to see if that is what is causing the sneezing.

If you feel this is a cold and it starts to get worse and she starts to look ill/dull with it then a vet would need to treat as they would need to give her antibiotics.  

Hopefully it won't come to this.

I hope she is OK.

Regards
Sheila