hamster eye closed

Question

-------------------------

Followup To

Question -
My daughter's hamster has been home for 2 days and this evening we noticed one of his eyes is closed.

The first night home he ran on the wheel most of the night.  Last night I noticed he slept more and ran less.  This afternoon, we put him in a hamster ball for the first time and he didn't seem very interested.  And now his eye is closed.

The pet store said his age is about 3 months.

What should we do?  This is my daughters first pet.

Answer -
hi linda

im not exactly sure what is wrong with your hamster, tho i can tell you he is getting sick from this as he is becoming more and more lethargic by the sounds of it.

as he is new, its unlikely he will let u pick him up to clean his eye, if this is still continuing or has gotten worse (if he stops eating or drinking) in the next couple of days, take him to the vet.

however if you are brave enough to try and do this yourself you will need, luke warm, pre boiled water and a piece of cotton wool. now gently grab him by the scruff, he will make a sort of 'smiling' face, very very gently wash the closed eye with the cotton wool and warm water, it may open again itself after this in a couple of days time. if not, see the vet!

bearing in mind your hamster is new and should be left completely alone for the first 2-3 days, as he has just moved house after all and will be confused, this may also be contributing to his lethargicness, he is probably rather overwhelmed by whats happening to him. he will start to settle down after the first week.

tho im still going to suggest vetinary attention.

good luck with this and thank you very much for question, i hope ive been of some help and feel free to ask again.

joanne :)

Answer
sorry linda, did u ask another question? as its not appearing on this page......hmmmmm

anyway, if you have asked another, just send it as a single question rather than a follow up, it could be an error with the site.

hope to hear from you soon

joanne :)