Bad hind legs

Question
Hi Karen
This weekend we have noticed our Syrian hamster has started to have difficulty moving around. Specifically the problem is with his back legs. He seems to still be bright energetic and if we go near the cage he is still coming out of his bed to see whether we have food :). He is happy to let us pick him up and stroke him.
He can't push himself up with his back legs and although he can walk on them one leg in particular slightly drags at times and his toes are curled into a "fist". When he goes to the toilet he also now has problems lifting his bum so I am having to regularly clean the urine from his fur. His stools are normal and he does not have diarrhoea.
I have gently felt his spine, with no reaction from him, and can find no lumps or other signs of damage and he will let me flex his leg gently again with no reaction to indicate pain?
Have you come across this sort of problem before? We do not have a wire wheel in his cage although he does have a two level home that he likes to climb around in. He is quite a big hamster so we are assuming he has landed badly while climbing around?
Any advice would be greatly received as we are quite worried  about him.


Answer
Hi Tom,

    Usually when a hamster starts dragging his back legs around it is a sign of Cage Paralysis. But given he is in a two level home, I don't really think it is that, unless it is one of the smaller two level homes. Cage Paralysis has a simple cure, a larger cage.
    The other possibility is that the hamster did hurt its legs from a fall or even broken one (the one he drags at times). For this, the hamster should be moved to an aquarium (no barred cages) and have no wheel. Give the hamster a few weeks recover. Sometimes when a hamster has a hurt or broken limb, it will chew it off. If this would happen or if either or both legs would happen to look inflamed, swollen or drainage is present, then he should be seen by a vet as soon as possible for these are signs of an infection.
    Usually if a hamster has pain they will make a squealing or squeaking sound. Given the way your hamster is acting, I don't feel that he is having any.
    If you have anymore questions, please write again.

Thank you for writing!