Aging & Sick Hamster

Question
My hamster is close to three years old, and she has always been very active and happy. Last week, however, she began to deteriorate rapidly. I didn't think she would make it more than a few days, because she spent a lot of time lying on her side with her eyes half open and breathing rapidly. She seemed to perk up when I would talk to her or hold her, but she was in bad shape for several days. Now she has started to move around more, though she has lost a lot of weight and is still breathing rapidly. She also appears to be unsteady in her walking, and her fur has thinned significantly on most of her back. Sometime in the last 24 hours she somehow acquired a scrape of some sort in the middle of her back. It's red and looks like the skin has freshly peeled away. I'm really worried that she's in pain, but an expensive vet bill just isn't reasonable at this point. Is there anything you know of that I can do for her? Is this just what happpens when hamsters get old?

Answer
Hi Becky

The symptoms you are describing are typical for an old hamster.  The skin scrape is because her skin will be a lot thinner now.

The ideal situation would be to take her to the vet and probably have her put to sleep.  You could try phoning the vets close to you and asking them how much they would charge for an appointment, or for euthanasia.

In the meantime, there are a few things you can do to make her more comfortable.

Firstly, make sure all her food and water are close to hand so she doesn't have to climb anywhere for them.  You can give her human baby food (powdered variety is best as it lasts longer).  Mix some up with water and give her this in a small dish or on a spoon (mine prefer the creamy porridge oat variety!).

Is she drinking much?  She could well be dehydrating.  You can give her human oral rehydration powders. If you mix one of these up with water as per the instruction, then with a dropper give her some of this.  Don't overdo it, but if you try 1ml first and perhaps an hour or two later try to see if she wants to take some more from you.

With regard to pain relief - you can give her aspirin.  You need the 300mg dosage tablet - crush one of these into a powder and divide it into 25.  This is the maximum amount she can have in one go - it is literally a few grains.  Mix with a small amount of water and if necessary you can repeat this dose every 4 hours.

With regard to her skin, you can buy Tea Tree cream in the pet store - this is an antiseptic and you could apply this to the scrape on her back to prevent it infecting.  You can also use Aloe Vera (make sure it is safe if ingested), and evening primrose oil (you can buy this in small bottles - put a drop on her food every night to help her skin).

Whilst the above might help make her remaining days a little easier, I personally feel that if there is no improvement or she deteriorates any more, then she does need to see a vet.  Most vets I've spoken to are very accommodating if you explain your financial situation as they put the animal's health first, and you could agree a figure beforehand so you know there won't be any nasy surprises when you pay the bill.

Good luck with this.
Regards