Sick hamster, possibly dying?

Question
I am assuming that my hamster is sick and probably dying, although I guess I could be wrong.  she is a syrian and a little over a year old. A few weeks ago I noticed that she was losing some hair and did not look too well. Since then, she has lost almost all of her hair... her skin is dry, wrinkled, and scabby in places... her eyes look sunken and the skin around them is severely wrinkled.  Her lips look swollen and large and her ears and legs look big compared to the rest of her, without any hair. I assume that she may have a disease and as sad as this makes me, I am moving away in a week and was going to have to give away all 3 of my hamsters anyway so I figured, it's a good time for her to go. She is still alive though and now I am getting concerned... I don't really know what's wrong with her or what to do for her, but there is no way i'll be able to find someone to take in a hairless and sickly hamster and so now i'm getting worried! I fear that she's suffering, she squeaks sometimes (although she's always been a squeaker)... and I don't know what i'm supposed to do with her! I assume that you can't very well take a hamster to be put down at the vet... Any idea on what could be afflicting her?
Thank you in advance,
Erica

Answer
hi erica,
she sounds very sick...poor thing! i'd take her to the vets as soon as you can.
first of all, is she drinking properly? the wrinkly skin maybe due to dehydration. if she isn't managing to drink much you can help her by squeezing the bottle gently into her mouth as you hold her, or if you ccan get hold of a pipette (you can buy them for about 60p at chemists) then you can dribble water into her mouth.if you can get her to open her mouth for you then see if she's got a wobbly tooth as this can be a problem when trying to drink from a bottle.
secondly hairloss generally is due to mites which is a common problem in hamsters. they are so tiny you can't see them. they irritate the skin and cause redness that sometimes scabs.mites are easily treated at the vets with a solution that kills the mites.

generally hamsters are silent creatures and only really squeak when they are in pain.if you say shes always been a squeaker then maybe it is just the way she is but i'd be very concerned if she was mine.i would take her to the vets as hamsters are easily treated with a course of antibiotics for most illnesses they get. they can also do a urine sample to check if there is any blood in her urine and then treat the problem accordingly.

you can have hamsters put to sleep, i've had to do it once. its not a nice decision to have to make but if she is suffering that then it might be the best thing for her. if she isn't registered with a vet, they will usually register her on the same day they see her so you don't have to wait.you can usually get an appointment straight away and take her the same day.

good luck with treating her and if you do decide to have her put to sleep, don't feel guilty. i'm sure she'd rather be free from pain than uncomfortable.
hope this helps and thanks for your question, jewel