Confusing Symptoms

Question
Heather,

Sorry this is so long, I just wanted to make sure you knew the whole story. I looked for other questions about hamsters with similar symptoms but couldn't find one. Thank you so much for your time.  We love our hamster and want to see her get better.

She's a Syrian hamster who might have wet tail. We've had her only 2 1/2 months.  She's very active and she loves her ball. We give her greens once in a while, we let her run around on the floor and she always comes when we call her.  We've been letting her do this since we've had her. There are no other pets in the apartment.

Three days ago her bottom looked matted as if she was developing wet tail. The wetness extends about a half inch from her anus. She now walks with a hunch, she stopped using her wheel and she stopped grooming herself. She nips easily now and she sleeps a lot but when I wake her up to give her her antibiotics she'll wander around her tank as usual. We got her some over the counter antibiotics (Wet Tail Plus) and some Pedialyte. The odd thing is that she's still eating and drinking and her feces is the usual oval pellet shape without any trace of diarrhea and the matted hair around her anus hasn't gotten worse but also hasn't gotten any better.

Should we keep doing what we're doing? Feeding her dry hamster food and giving her Pedialyte and antibiotics?  Sometimes I wonder if she's actually constipated instead of infected with wet tail. On top of that, she also decided that she doesn't like the antibiotics anymore and will only drink the non-flavored Pedialyte. Any advice on how to get her to ingest the antibiotics?  Or any advice on any of the above?  Thanks again!

Answer
With wet tail (which I'd bet nearly anything on, she has) you've really got to take the hamster to a vet. OTC drugs aren't anywhere near as effective as vet medication. She'll clear up within a week on vet medication, trust me. When my female had wet tail she didn't have diarrhea or matted fur, just a very wet bottom. She went on vet drugs and cleared up in no time. Don't force the OTC on her, or the pedialyte. I'd suggest you take her in in the morning and let the vet give her what she needs to clear up.