2985. Follow up: The hamster keeps shrinking in size and has a scent gland abscess.

Sep 5, 2015

I followed up the case seen on Aug 30, 2015. The lady from Ponggol kept several dwarf hamsters, each in a separate housing.

She said that her mother had given baytril antibiotic for the past 6 days but the hamster keeps losing weight. So, she consulted me.

If only dwarf hamsters can talk. The weight was now 46 g. (Video).

Compared toa white dwarf hamster with excellent appetite like the one with 6 areas of skin warts (Video) weighs 69 g. This hamster can be considered chubby.


The hamster was very active and scacthes her left ear occasionally. A hyperactive dwarf hamster. So I needed to give her a bit of the isoflurane gas to immobilise her to do a proper examination of the skin.  I noticed that the scent gland at the belly area was full of brownish yellow secretion.

Surprisingly, after clearing the scent gland, there was a big yellow abscess around 8 mm across under the skin, in front of the gland. Lots of thick yellow pus. I drained it. Then, I checked the front teeth. The lower front teeth were longer than normal and I clipped it.

Today, Saturday 11. 30 am, I phoned the lady. She did not answer her mobile. I phoned the house. A man answered and happily announced that the hamster was eating more but would take time to recover her weight. He thanked me for calling.    

Scent gland abscess is not common and if the vet does not clear the scent gland, he would have missed this abscess as it was hidden by the scent gland waxy excretions.

There is never a dull moment with dwarf hamsters' medical and surgical conditions.