dwarf hamsters death

Question
My daughter just discovered her 1 year old hamster dead tonight.  The hamster
was fine last night (running on wheel), never showed any signs of lethargy,
sickness.  My mother in-law is visiting and we had to move the hamster into the
bathroom from my daughter's room because she runs on her wheel.  Could she
have been stressed and died?

Answer
Hi Suzanne

I'm really sorry to hear about your daughter's hamster.  It is always a shock to suddenly find a hamster dead.

It is unlikely that moving the cage had anything to do with her death.  Without a postmortem you will never know why she died, however, as it was so sudden I would imagine it was more than likely to be her heart.  Hamsters can get heart disease and suffer heart attacks - sometimes it is gradual, other times it happens after a sudden burst of activity in that the hamster collapses and can die almost immediately.

There are other illnesses that cause hamsters to die unexpectedly (diabetes, aspergillus ((where a hamster has breathed in fungal spores)), but there are usually other symptoms a few days beforehand (drinking lots of water, difficulty breathing etc.)

Regards