Hamster Health
Keeping your pet healthy is an important part of being a responsible owner, whether you have a dog, cat, or a hamster. Many people believe that you cannot take a hamster to the hammy-eatinvet, but this is not true. However, even if veterinary assistance may only be needed once in your hammy’s life, it’s still important to be aware of a vet near you, in case anything goes wrong!
It’s unlikely that you’ll need to take your hamster to the vet very often, and you can even change that to “hardly ever”! If you follow these few simple steps to checking your hamster for lumps and bumps, you’ll be able to tell if anything has changed in your hamster’s body, and potentially save your hammy’s life.
A “check-up” should be done every 2 weeks. A “check-up” is where you pick up your hamster, and feel along his back, stomach and bottom with your thumb and index finger. This may be difficult at first if you haven’t tamed your hamster, or if your hamster doesn’t like to be touched. Be careful not to “dig” into your hamster as this can hurt them and make them frightened.
As you run fingers along their back/bottom/stomach, feel for lumps or areas that don’t feel normal. Think of it like stroking your hamster except adding more pressure. If anything on our bodies change, we notice immediately and are able to go to the doctor to get it sorted out. But a hamster can’t do this, so it’s up to us to make sure our little furry friends are okay! As your hamster gets older, you should think about increasing the amount of check-ups.syrian hammy
If you do find any lumps, bumps, wet patches, irritation or find that your hamster doesn’t look too good, visit my “Hamster Illness” page to find out what it could mean. Or, you can visit my “Warning Signs” page so you can tell when your hammy may be coming down with something.Hamon again!
Remember: Every animal gets sick at some point in their lives, including hamsters. Don’t panic if something does go wrong, as there will always be a vet out there to help you!