Cold/covid and hamsters

Lovelyness

Lovelyness

Hamster Custodian
Member
Messages
2,630
Reaction score
4,436
Points
1,410
As of yesterday evening, I have a sore throat and mild symptoms. Don't know if it's covid or something else. I know hamsters can pick up human colds. What precautions would you recommend? Blossom's enclosure is in our living room which is our main living space. I'm the one who feeds and takes care of her.
 
With something like a cold it’s just norman hygiene really, making sure you wash your hands before handling your ham or anything in the cage (which I’m sure you do anyway!) if you’re sneezing & coughing it’s best to stay away from the cage as much as possible, or maybe get someone else to do food etc until you’re better, or you can wear a mask if need be.
Not a lot more you can do with the hamster in the main living area but as long as you just take basic precautions they’re usually fine & it’s not too much of a problem.
 
Some people (including me) wear a mask as well, when feeding the hamster. This was the case even before Covid. Or you could ask someone else to do the feeding for a while if there are others in the house. And hand washing as Elusive says. But other than that, no there isn’t much you can do.

If it’s any consolation, when I had our first hamster, I didn’t know they could catch things from us and had a streaming cold and he didn’t catch anything. But they can catch things from us.

As long as she is behaving normally, don’t worry - but if she starts wheezing or rattling you would need to take her to a vet for antibiotics. Antibiotics don’t work on viruses but they can work if it develops into a bacterial infection.

Fingers crossed all will be fine.
 
Is it possible to do a covid test as then you’d know which it is? I believe hamsters react differently to that as opposed to a cold, assuming she is affected in some way.

Also ventilation helps. It’s not practical to have windows open on cold nights but opening them once a day for a ventilation refresh could help.
 
Maz said:
Is it possible to do a covid test as then you’d know which it is? I believe hamsters react differently to that as opposed to a cold, assuming she is affected in some way.

Also ventilation helps. It’s not practical to have windows open on cold nights but opening them once a day for a ventilation refresh could help.
Click to expand...
Yes, I’m going to do a test in a bit. We have an air purifier so that’s on anyway which will hopefully help too 🤞 I actually had a covid booster 2 weeks ago as I’m vulnerable.
 
Lovelyness said:
Yes, I’m going to do a test in a bit. We have an air purifier so that’s on anyway which will hopefully help too 🤞 I actually had a covid booster 2 weeks ago as I’m vulnerable.
Click to expand...
Sounds like it's more likely to be a cold then :-) A lot going round.
 
Just done a covid test to be sure…it was negative. So, it is just an annoying cold 🤧 Fairly mild symptoms but enough to make me feel yucky 🤢 Hopefully Blossom will stay well 🌸
 
The opening windows thing/ventilation that was recommended during Covid slightly amused me, as if it was a new thing. It reminded me that my Grandma used to open all the windows every day for an hour every morning - because it was healthy and cleared the air. I used to do it myself for a long time but the men in the family started complaining!
 
Maz said:
The opening windows thing/ventilation that was recommended during Covid slightly amused me, as if it was a new thing. It reminded me that my Grandma used to open all the windows every day for an hour every morning - because it was healthy and cleared the air.
Click to expand...
Indeed!
 
Sorry - I edited my post above and added a bit more :)
 
Ah the heatwave - the one we didn't get up north. (And it's still freezing cold and frost forecast!)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top