Diseases, winter white dwarf hamster
Common diseases in winter white dwarf hamsters as well as common in hamsters in general.
To give winterwhite dwarfhamsters the best chance to stay healthy there are a few things you should do and some things to avoid.
- Don't wake the hamster. Studies show that waking up hamsters leads to depression, stress, and among other things cuts the length of life by up to several months. You only need to wake up the hamster for necessary things such as veterinary visits, medication etc. It also affects the metabolism if you wake up hamsters.
- Do not take the hamster outside. Outdoors leads to stress and is full of various viruses, bacteria and parasites that can infect the hamster and make it incredibly sick or dying.
- Provide a well-balanced, species-specific diet suitable for winter white dwarf hamsters. No pellets and deal with giving them what they need, something you can read more about under nutrition.
- Avoid unnecessary stressful situations and long-term stress. Stress = weakened immune system which leads to easier absorption of things the immune system is usually able to handle.
Diabetes
Although diabetes is not as common in winter whites, it can still occur, especially with the wrong diet. It is still important to test winter white at regular intervals as is done at campbells, 2 negative tests before breeding, new homes, and at milestones such as 6 months, 1 year, etc for control. One should also test if symptoms are suspected.
Symptoms / problems
- Falling asleep around the cage. Falling asleep while eating, drinking, during outdoor time, in the open.
- Sweet smell of urine.
- Pees more, drinks more.
- Eat more.
- Sleeps much more than normal.
- Rapid weight loss after being overweight.
- Positive glucose test. Ketostix is not the same as a glucose test. The test to test for diabetes is called glucose.
- Frequent/frequent urinary tract infections
- Diabetes is hereditary!
Treatment
- Specialised diet. Low fat (4%), more fiber and protein and the ingredients need to be appropriate for a winterwhite hamster
- Give food with lower glycemic index
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Warts
Warts are one thing that can appear in winter white dwarf hamsters and they can cause problems depending on their location and how fast they grow.
Symptoms / problems
- A growth in or around the ear, paws or chest are common areas.
- Can be extremely fast growing
Treatment
- Operate away when possible. This can be difficult to decide in some cases as some may have the slow-growing variant and be older and therefore it is not recommended to be put under anesthesia, so it is something you have to look at case by case and talk to your veterinarian about what is best.
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The last hybrid I owned had a lot of fast growing warts. Marble was extremely overweight all her life and was transferred to me in the first week of July 2022 where the warts appeared overnight a few days before collection, me and the previous owner took her to the vet before we went home but it was agreed to watch it in the future when she was not in optimal health for anesthesia.
On 7 August I noticed it seemed to have grown, took pictures and on 15 August it was decided that she had to be put down as they were so fast growing and were affecting the quality of life. It can take an incredibly short time to become a problem.
Cancer
Unfortunately, cancer is incredibly common in rodents, but I see a big connection between diet and cancer. A diet must be ingredient balanced, not just have the right nutritional values, which very few mixes on the market are. Pellets are therefore not suitable for dwarf hamsters as the values are completely wrong, so that pellets in hamsters do not contain all the nutrients and components that hamsters need to stay healthy.
Symptoms / problems
Liver cancer:
- Weight loss of more than 5g over a short time can be a symptom.
- Hard lump in the area around the scent gland.
- Thin in the face.
- Pain (hunched back, squinting eyes).
Scent gland cancer:
- Can occur with frequently inflamed gland or long-term inflamed gland.
- Keep an eye on whether a crust forms on the scent gland. This crust must be removed as it blocks the gland which contributes to cancer/tumor in it.
Treatment
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Parasites
Ecto and endo parasites that can occur in winter white dwarf hamsters.
Mites / Demodex
Winter white can get and struggle with mites. However, there are different types of mites and the treatment and procedure depends on the type of mites the hamster has.
Winter white dwarf hamsters like the other hamster species naturally have Demodex criceti and Demodex aurati in their fur which is passed from mother to offspring. This type of mite is not problematic until stress or other health problems appear, so outbreaks may indicate that the hamster is under a lot of stress or that it is struggling with underlying health problems.
Symptoms / Issues
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Treatment
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Mites / TRM
TRM (Tropical Rodent / Rat Mite) scientific name Ornithonyssus bacoti.
This mite type is probably one of the worst to combat. It can come with substrate, wild mice or rats, outdoors, pet store. In the UK, you are seeing a wave of this mite type flourishing in rats at the moment.
Symptoms / problems
- You get bite marks and itches when handling the hamster.
- Anemia in the hamster.
- Inflammatory small bites in the hamster.
Treatment
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Tick
Ticks are 8-legged blood-sucking ecto-parasites that live outdoors but can be dragged in via people or animals walking outdoors, as well as possibly plants and twigs from outside.
Symptoms / problems
- The tick is stuck on the hamster and then sucks blood.
- Ticks can be carriers of diseases.
Treatment
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Respiratory problems
There are several causes and diseases that affect the respiratory tract.
Covid
Corona can be transmitted to hamsters. The dwarf species are more sensitive to the virus, but winter whites have a slightly higher tolerance than roborovski dwarf hamsters with the virus, but they should still be avoided from being infected.
Symptoms / issues
Treatment
- Respiratory symptoms such as sneezing, clicking sound, wheezing, heavy breathing
- Ruffled fur
- Weight loss
- Dehydration
- Moribund, which is mentioned in the top linked article, means dying or close to death.
- I can't find any specific treatment for hamsters, so you have to ask your vet if something is available or used for pets.
- Prevent, wash your hands, avoid handling hamsters when you are infected,
As with people, immune compromised hamsters will become sicker and have a higher mortality rate. Most often, the symptoms seem to ease after 14 days/24 hours. In case of infection with corona, there is an increased chance of kidney and heart problems. For more details read the links listed.
Links to read:
Respiratory infection
Respiratory infection can occur for various reasons. Some causes can be from odors from sand or substrate, scented candles, dust etc. and others can be people who catch a cold, corona virus etc.
Symptoms / problems
- Sneezing
- Wheezing / Clicking sounds
Treatment
- Antibiotics, which must be prescribed by a veterinarian.
Streptococcus is a type of cold that humans can infect hamsters with
Breeding related issues
Problems that are directly followed by breeding. Can happen unluckily, so not all cases are directly bad breeding.
There are also a number of hereditary or breeding-based problems with winter whites that must be monitored when breeding, as it is unethical to breed for health problems and defects.
Short nose
Winter white dwarf hamster, similar to Syrian hamsters has one confirmed short nose gene. This is recessively inherited, which means it is inherited from both parents.
This works the same as with pugs and other problematic short-nosed breeds and species.
If you see a breeder who has this among their breeding animals, it is a big red flag as this is not an animal to breed on. One thing is that it unfortunately appears in litters, but no breeding stock should have a short muzzle.
Symptoms / problems
- Eye problems due to poor skull space. The eyes can prolapse (come out of the eye socket) which is extremely painful. Inflammation, red and white fatty eye may be present or appear.
- Dental problems due to poor skull space. The teeth grow incorrectly, become long etc.
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Treatment
- There is no treatment or cure for a short muzzle.
Chronicly overweight males
Due to poor selective breeding, males of the species now struggle with being chronically fat and getting problems related to it.
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Symptoms / problems
- Weight of over 65g
- They will not be able to lose weight or stay below 65g. They tend to have pouches under their arms and may lose fur on their chests.
- Health problems around the age of 1;
- Dental problems.
- Inflamed and unclean scent gland as the hamster cannot reach to wash it. In the worst case, it can end up as a tumor.
- Long claws.
- Problems with joints, especially in the hips and feet.
- Fat eye, white.
- Liver cancer.
Treatment
- Good diet and veterinary help when the symptoms/problems occur.
It can only be solved with selective breeding over several generations, something I am actively working towards.
I feel this is one topic everyone interested in the species should know about as it affects buyers who have/want to have males when the health is as it is in the condition the males of the species currently have.
Fatty eye disease
There are 2 types of fatty eyes, white and red. Red is the one you absolutely do not want, white is better but indicates overweight or the wrong head shape.
Symptoms / problems
White fatty eye disease: white/blue around the eyes.
Red fatty eye:
Treatment
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White fatty eye
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