Cause of death in hamster

Question
My pet hamster just died yesterday. It was given to me by a relative so I don't know how old he was or if he was male or female (but I'll use male here), though I was told he was a winter gold dwarf hamster. I put it in the running ball while cleaning the cage in the morning, and he was still fine. A few hours after I put him back into the clean cage, he ran around, bathed, drank water and sniffed at the fresh food I put in his bowl, though he did not eat. Soon after, he slept in a corner of the cage, not his usual sleeping place. When I tried to wake him up, I was surprised to find that his eyes were open. He did not respond when I called him though, which was strange. When I prodded him, his body was stiff, but since I used gloves, I couldn't tell if he was cold. He stayed that way all day.

I would like to know what killed my hamster, but my mom refused to get an autopsy for it. I'm living in Singapore, where the temperature never gets lower than 30 degrees Celsius, even at night, so I don't think he was hibernating. More information:

- He tends to bite since the day I got him.
- I used pine bedding and he likes to bury in it.
- He did not have a wet tail, did not make coughing noises, had normal small dark oval poop.
- But a few months ago, it shed quite a bit of fur, though it stopped in a week.

Any suggestions? Thanks.


Answer
Hi

I'm sorry to hear about your hamster.  Sometimes it is difficult to know why a hamster dies as they can deteriorate rapidly, often with no obvious symptoms.

Hamsters' life expectancy is relatively short - around 2 years (although some will live to 3).  They are very prone to getting tumors at this age, especially abdominal ones and you often find there are no indications of this until it is too late.  Even if this were diagnosed earlier then there is nothing really that can be done as major surgery is out of the question on such a small animal.  It could be that he was elderly when you got him and he just died of natural causes.

Hamsters can also suffer from heart conditions and again, this might have been the reason why he suddenly died. Hamsters can collapse suddenly with this type of condition.  They can also suffer from heat exhaustion and tend to collapse, but in these cases you can often revive them.

When hamsters are getting ready to die they often leave their nest so it isn't uncommon to see one out in the open.  This is natural for them.

Regarding the bedding you used, pine is not recommended.  Neither is Cypress or cedar.  These three woods contain a volatile oil call thujone and this can cause respiratory problems and also skin irritation.  It could be that this caused his fur loss, although fur loss can also be down to old age too. If you get another hamster I would strongly advise that you look for a different type of bedding for them, just to be on the safeside.

I'm sorry I can't shed much light on why he died.  Sadly, sometimes there is no logical explanation and as these are such tiny creatures and it is so expensive post mortems are out of the question.

I hope this helps you.

Regards