Hamster diohorrea

Question
Hi there,
        I have a male syrian hamster who is about a year old.Tonight I took him out his cage and dsicovered his bum had some dried poo on it. Not much but it was a bit smelly. He doesn't have a messy bum and its not wet or anything. His behaviour is normal and he still has his appetite but the poo isn't normal because I looked in his cage and it was light brown, very soft and was sticking to the sawdust. I know i might be over reacting but I don't want to just do nothing if it could be serious.In the past week he has only eaten hamster mix and no veg or treats.Could it just be an upset? I think it must have only happened today. I hope you can help, thanks.

    All the best

Answer
Hi Anna

Diarrhoea in hamsters can be very serious and therefore it is always worth keeping an eye open for this.  I suggest you get hold of a packet of oral rehydration powders.  You can buy these in the chemist.  The biggest problem with diarrhoea is dehydration and therefore if you notice that your hamster does have diarrhoea, mix up one of the sachets according to the instructions.  You can keep the made up solution in a fridge for a day or two.  Put this in his water bottle, and in extreme cases you can give this via a dropper.  It is worth doing this until his poo looks normal.  Also, it is important to give a hamster a probiotic if their stomach is upset.  This helps replace friendly bowel floral which helps stabilise the gut.  You can buy a special pet one called Avipro (from petshops/vet/internet).  Mix some of this up and, again, put it in his water, or give via a dropper.  If you can't get this, in an emergency you can use acidophillus - this is sold in health shops in capsule form.  You can open a capsule and pour the contents into the water bottle.

I suggest you give his cage a good clean out and replace any bedding and food, just in case there is a germ in the cage.  Use a small pet disinfectant and make sure the cage is totally dry before putting more wood chippings/bedding back in.  Only give him his dry mix (don't change brands) for a few days - no treats/dried fruit etc - just bland food and see if this helps.  If his poos definitely are very soft or runny, then get him straight onto the oral rehydration and probiotic.  This won't do him any harm.  If in a few days time he seems OK, slowly reintroduce vegetables to him but avoid lettuce as this can cause diarrhoea - opt for the fibrous types - cabbage, broccoli etc.

Do you have any other pets?  If so, be careful with handling them if you have been handling your hamster, in case it is something that can be transferred.  

Another danger with diarrhoea is that if a hamster keeps straining to go to the toilet this can cause a prolapse of the intestine.  Therefore, if you notice any blood, or anything odd coming out of his rear end, get him to a vet immediately.  It is unlikely this will happen - I just want to warn you in case it does so you know what to do.

If he does develop chronic diarrhoea, then it would be worth speaking to a vet - they may opt to rehydrate via an injection.  I nursed an entire litter with wet tail once - and just by changing their food, constant cleaning out and giving them all rehydration fluids and probiotic, after 5 days they were all fine.

You might find that this was a one off and he's back to normal in a day, in which case, just hold onto the rehydration powders etc. for any emergency in the future.

If he starts to look ill with this, looks dull, hunched up, clearly in pain, then get him straight to a vet in case the soft poo is a result of something else going on inside that we aren't aware of.

I do hope you get on OK.

Regards