Hi! We bought a dwarf hamster about a month ago. At the time he had a small bald spot on his back just a bit smaller than a dime. We kept this hamster for about 2 1/2 weeks and during that time he lost quite a bit more hair. The hair loss was kind of in stripes across his back and he was scratching some. The skin was dry and a little bumpy too. There was a few spots that looked scabby like he bled from the scratching. We took him back to the pet store and they inspected him for mites, but did not see any and had never seen hair loss like his. They thought it may be allergies to the bedding, but he lived with non-allergic paper bedding before we got him and had already started losing hair. A few days later we decided to exchange him for another hamster because we were afraid he had mange or something and we have a dog which we did not want to catch it. About a day after we exchanged the hamster my daughter got a light pink spot on her face. It has gradually gotten redder and larger. It is about the size of a nickel or quarter and is dry and a little bumpy. It is in a circular shape, so we originally thought it was ringworm. We took her to the doctor and he thought it may be ringworm too and we began to treat her for that. It has been about 5 days since we started treating her and the spot has gotten worse. I don't think it looks much like ringworm anymore because the middle is now pink instead of white. I am wondering if there is something else you could think of that she could have caught from this hamster that may have caused this. I know it could be anything, but the timing makes me feel like the hamster could be responsible because she held him alot and has never had a skin problem. She is 9 years old. Thanks for any help! Holly M.
hair loss in hamster
Posted on 2008/09/16 by User
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tinkerbellSymptoms: itching & scratching -
Veteran Advisor David says:
Hi there, sorry to hear about this. The top candidates are ringworm and skin mites. Both can be tested for by a dermatologist which i would recommend in this case.
hope that helps, david
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