Hi My hamster is starving...

Question
Hi
My hamster is starving himself and isn't drinking. he's so skinny i can see his bones. I am feeding him baby food through a little tube like the vet said to do to pepper, my other hamster and im also giving him water through a tube. Do you think he'll live if I continue giving him water and food?

     thx
        -Alexa

Answer
Dear Alexa,
thank you for your question.
This doesn't sound good, there is something seriously wrong with your hamster and it won't get better by feeding him baby food. I strongly suspect that your vet isn't knowledgeable about hamsters. Did he check the hamster's teeth for being too long or broken? Did he make a X-ray to rule out tumors? There are many possibilities, but I think the most likely one are injuries in the mouth and throat. I don't have any medical training, though, so I can only guess!

I really recommend that you look for another vet. Call other vets in your area and ask them for a vet knowledgeable about rodents, then choose the one most of them recommend. Or you do a search with the category rodents on this website:
http://www.vin.com/vetquest/index0.html

In the meantime, your hamster will continue to live on water and baby food but eventuall you have to find out what's wrong with him. His teeth will grow too long, too (if they are not too long already and this is the reason for this).

I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer