Hamsters: 11 causes of sudden death you need to know if you adopt one (or more)

Hamsters: 11 causes of sudden death you need to know if you adopt one (or more)

If you have a hamster or think you want to adopt one, it is good to know in advance some factors that can lead to the death of your little one.


He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

If you have a hamster or think you want to adopt one, it is good to know in advance some factors that can lead to the death of your little one.

When it comes to small pets, the hamster is perhaps one of the first to come to mind. Very funny and with cheeks full of seeds, this little guy is perhaps the rodent par excellence for those who want to own a pet of minute size or are just starting out.




Its management is not particularly complicated like that of a dog or a cat. Although taking care of a hamster is still easy, it must not be forgotten that the task requires responsibility, since it is always a living being, albeit a tiny one.

The hamster can often suffer from diseases, the symptoms of which are not as obvious as in other pets since our cute friend does not manifest them in the same way. Particular attention must be paid to some signals that our rodent is sending us such as excessive cleansing of the skin or its coat or increased sleepiness when not hibernating.

With these silent messages our hamster is communicating to us that something wrong. If caught early they can be cured, but there are also other causes that unfortunately cause the death of the animal. Here are the most common:

Index

Old age

The hamster is not an animal known for its longevity and although we would never want to be separated from our life and playmate, every living being has a more or less long life cycle. Hamsters live on average from 20 months to 3 years, it's best to know right away.

Stress

Just like men, who are super busy with work, commitments and family, hamsters also get stressed. However, this condition, whether acute or chronic, can lead the rodent to death as it is one of the main causes of heart attack in hamsters. In other cases, stress can also lead to a weakening of the animal's immune system.

Heart disease

As we have just said, heart attack is a deadly cause in hamsters and can arise from severe stress, but not only. Other heart diseases can be genetic such as congestive heart failure, which can manifest itself through breathing difficulties and / or the bluish color of the skin, or hereditary such as polymopathy. Extremely common is also atrial thrombosis which causes about 70% of deaths. Again, the slightly blue color of the skin, and specifically of the hamster's feet, can be a warning sign.



Diarrhea

Also known as "wet tail“, Diarrhea frequently affects hamsters at an early age and older. In younger specimens, enteritis is caused by a bacterium called Lawsonia intracellularis with fecal-oral transmission. The wet tail is a serious cause of sudden death particularly for golden hamsters, the breed of the golden hamster. In adult hamsters, diarrhea is associated with the proliferation of multiple bacteria. Among these the most common are Escherichia coli and Clostridium difficile.

It is possible to notice in time if our hamster is suffering from diarrhea since, as the nickname of this disease suggests, it is necessary to check if the tip of the tail and in some cases also the abdomen are wet. Other signs are weight loss or an unusual posture of the animal.

Pneumonia

Hamsters are particularly prone to respiratory tract infections. According to veterinarians, pneumonia is the second most common cause of immediate death in hamsters. This virus is also bacterial in nature. Some of the bacteria capable of causing this infection to develop are those belonging to the Staphylococcaceae family, but also Pasteurella pneumotropica or Mycoplasma pulmonis. 

Cancer

This terrible disease can affect the skin, appendix, gastrointestinal tract and the hematopoietic system in particular in hamsters. Sometimes it is also sex that plays a fundamental role in the contraction of diseases. For example, males are more prone than females to develop melanoma. However, there are breeds more exposed than others such as the Winter white, the Siberian white hamster, although cancer is not as prevalent in hamsters as in other animal species.

Infections

The infections that can cause the death of the hamster can be of various types: viral, bacterial, parasitic and fungal, although the latter are quite rare. Infections should be kept under observation as they can turn into tumors, such as skin cancer, or into nodules that are not as malignant as abscesses. Alas, both are of interest to many hamsters.



Renal dysfunction

If in male hamsters melanoma finds a more fertile environment of diffusion than in females, these are instead much more sensitive to kidney diseases. The diet that the hamster follows would greatly contribute to this. In fact, some studies have shown that hamsters fed more protein than normal would be more easily affected by nephritis. The diet of our little rodent must therefore be well balanced.

Cyst

Polycystic diseases usually affect hamsters over one year of age and can attack multiple organs, primarily the liver, where the formation of numerous fluid-filled sacs - cysts - occurs.

Amyloidosis

Amyloidosis is another deadly cause among hamsters, especially females. It is a disease that occurs very often in elderly hamsters, affecting almost 90% of them. It occurs in the form of a deposit of a substance called amyloid which hinders the normal functioning of organs.

Diabetes

Last but not least, hamsters can rarely suffer from diabetes, but some breeds, such as the Chinese hamster, are more prone than others. Diabetes, as in men, is caused by poor insulin production and manifests itself in our little friends through excessive thirst, weight loss and a very pungent smell of urine.

If you suspect your hamster may be suffering from one of these diseases, see a trusted vet right away to avoid the worst. There are many veterinarians who specialize in exotic animals.

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