Status Update

Lada's neck last night:

He's not worse, but I still don't know if he's any better. I'm happy as long as he doesn't go bald in the neck area again. :-)

Neck fur picture

I just took this photo of Lada's neck. Look closely and you can see a circle covering his neck where his fur is a little different.

I can't tell whether it's the same, a little worse or a little better than before his last vet appointment. Will be keeping a close eye on his neck for the next couple of weeks.

Vitamin deficiency update

So, we got back from Italy yesterday. It's now 1.5 weeks since Lada had his vitamin injection.

He's not gotten any worse. He's also not ok. His neck fur is still thinner than the rest of it, in the same circular area. But at at least he's not bald. ;-)

I decided to go with the vet's idea about a vitamin deficiency and change his feed. He already gets fresh greens of various kinds almost every night, and dog biscuits as a protein supplement. Other than that, his staple food has been "beapher Care+" hamster feed, same as Tanita got. I have now bought "Oxbow Essentials Hamster & Gerbil food", which is the only other brand of hamster food pellets in my pet store. His Care+ will be gradually replaced with the Essentials.

I also bought the beapher Hamster Vitamin Solution to add to his drinking water. Syrian hamsters technically do not need vitamin supplements, but this is at the vet's suggestion, so should do no harm.

If he keeps losing neck fur over the next couple of weeks, it'll be back to the vet again. But I hope not. Fingers crossed that this feed change is enough. I really don't want to take him to the vet for the 4th time in 3 months!

Vitamin deficiency?

New vet, new theory.

Lada went to the same clinic as before, but got to see a new vet. Third appointment, third vet. And this one agreed that his fur is thinner in the neck area. However, she couldn't see any indication of mites. Last time he got a mix of vitamins and medication, so she wants to see if maybe it's just a vitamin deficiency. So this time he got a shot of vitamins, no medication.

If it's a vitamin deficiency it means I need to change his diet around, maybe try another brand of hamster food or something. I told her what he eats and she said it's fine, but this particular hamster might need something else.

We're off to Italy tonight, so will check on Lada again when we're back next Thursday. If he keeps losing fur, it wasn't the vitamins and he will need to go back to the vet again. If he's better then, I'm going to have to track down some place that sells a different brand of hamster food.

Relapse

Last night I realized that Lada's neck fur is getting thin again. I called the vet this morning and got an appointment for 9am tomorrow. So Lada will be off to the vet again. Looks like the mites are back. It's not very obvious yet, but definitely the case, I think.

This is Lada tonight. His fur is definitely getting thinner in the same area as before.

Damn it. He looked so good. I had really hoped he didn't have chronic bad immune system, but it's starting to look like he does.

Lada and his hamster ball

Whenever Lada actually gets up at night before I go to bed, he always gets to run around in his little hamster ball, usually for 20-60 minutes depending on how late it is. He also gets 15 minutes of free range time in the guest bathroom, which is the only room in the house with no cables, no big furniture to hide under, etc.

When running around free like that, he always starts by scent marking the same corner of the room. Always. The same corner. And then he runs around for a bit until he gets tired of it and climbs back into his hamster ball.

I have been trying for ages to get this on film! He normally runs around for 5-15 minutes and then climbs into his ball. For some reason it has been hard to get on video! But last night, finally, finally…!

Take 1:

No, wanted to run around some more.

Take 2:

Nope, not done yet.

Take 3:

Having a little climb on two-legs, not ready for ball yet!

Take 4:

Enough of this, let me out into the rest of the flat again! :-)

Lightweight!

I finally weighed Lada today. He weighs 104 grams. He came to live here 4 months ago today, more or less, and was 5 weeks old at the time, which makes him…  just shy of 5,5 months old today. Apparently they are usually fully grown at around 6 months old.

He seems so small compared to Tanita!! Tiny little big-ears. :-)