3148. A dwarf hamster has a heavy painful ear tumour

The dwarf hamster passed bluish grey powdery stools for many weeks. Why?
The colour looked similar to the pelleted bedding.
"Your hamster eats the pelleted litter too," I said to an incredulous owner. Why eat bedding when the hamster has lots of food provided. She was a voracious eater. She weighed 60 g on admission but had this watery diarrhoea.

I warded her at the clinic and her bedding was paper towels. Her long lower front teeth had curved inwards up the roof of the mouth. These teeth were clipped short. Oral antibiotics given.

The next day, her stools were light brownish watery diarrhoea. By 3rd day, the stools were dark brown and better formed. Lots of stool pellets seen. Hamster active. See video.

Surgery to remove ear tumour scheduled 2 days later.   



Sep 26, 2017
Surgical excision of the whole of right ear on Sep 26.
The hamster is well and passing stools on Sep 27. Going home.
There is a big swelling behind the surgical site and stitches.
Palpation shows a hard swelling which is filled with seeds. It is not a haematoma.
The hamster collapsed when forceps is used to extract the impacted cheek pouch seeds. So the procedure is stopped. I could smell a rotting smell of vegetables. This is very likely an impacted cheek pouch.

Video pre-op