87. A biting dwarf hamster

At 2.5 years old, this dwarf hamster bites when touched. His lower body is deep red and he has a bare backside. So, he must be feeling painful. He scratches his ears all the time and sometimes his body. What is the cause of his itchiness?

Contact with rough pellets and water. He prefers to stay inside his feed bowl. Mum gave him tissue paper inside a yellowish bowl. He would drag the tissues out and place them on top of the pellets near the water bottle and sleeps there. The water bottle drips water. He gets wet. Being an aged hamster, his skin is no more as good as when he was young. With friction and dampness, his lower body gets irritated and inflamed. He becomes very itch.

I gave him clean paper litter and treatment for 5 days. He was much happier and his lower body became pink and not so red and itchy. He went home to the little girl who would look after him.

"How about his big lump on his right thigh area?" the mum asked. "It is better not to operate as he may just die under anaesthesia or after surgery," I said. "He is nearing the end of his life span." Hamster lives around 2.5 - 3 years.