Fur Loss in my hamsters??

Question
QUESTION: Hello, I had a similar problem with my two Russian Dwarf Campbells, The first hamster after over a year developed a fur loss problem starting from his rear legs to his belly and in his last stages of his life his face started to be effected too! The vet had no idea of what was wrong and suggested I stop using the woodshavings and change to cat litter!! The hamster did not like the litter and did not improve. I was intstructed to give him medicated bath and adding medication to his water daily.After all this and an expence 15 times his cost he did not make it!! The same happened to with the second dwarf Campbell and they had no contact and did not share the cage or anything. I do not want to have the same problem with my third Syrian hamster, (as now I do not want anything to do with Dwarf Campbells anymore),to happen the same thing to him!!

Sorry for writing a long question and I gave you a good description of the Campbells problem.

Thanks a lot for your time

David

ANSWER: hi david,

Please excuse my late reply, i have been working a lot this weekend.

Did you hamster actually die from this? because it can happen as they get older, usually starting at one year old, or older.it's actually quite common. you should go to the chemist and buy some yeast vitamin tablets, human ones are fine, but make sure they are yeast tablets only. crush one very finely into his food every 3 or 4 days. This should help the regrowth of his fur and stop any more from falling out, lessen the ammount you give him as the hair starts to regrow. if you can't find any yeats tablets, go to the pet store and buy vitamin drops, they are not expensive, cheaper than your hamster infact :) add a few drops to his water bottle when you change it daily.

Best of luck and thank you for your question.

Joanne x

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Many thanks but yes one of them died and the other I had to put to sleep cause of the kids.
Now I bought them a long haired Syrian Hamster and this time I did not use any woodshavings but Tissue paper instead.
But I noticed that he sorts of sneezes quite often. To be more precise it is as if he is doing the noise of a small horn. No fluid is coming from his nose. Hope he is in no danger of anything and that he'll live for some time!!

Thanks again for your help

David

Answer
Hi david,

keep and eye on him as sneezing can be a sign of a cold or allergy to something in his cage. for the time being, give him extra bedding, and put in in a warm room, not near direct heat. make sure he has easy access to lots of fluids. it should clear up in a couple of days. if not, and he gets a runny nose, he'll need to go to the vets for antibiotics. In the event of it being an allergy, you'll need to find out what it is and use the process of elimination by removing a  different object from his cage everyday, and putting it back the next if its wrong object.

best of luck, and thank you for your question. I'm sorry I couldn't help your other hamsters :(

Joanne xx