Hamsters foot is swollen

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Indico

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I have a Syrian hamster who’s a little over a year old. Thursday night we had noticed he was walking weird and after looking closer noticed his foot was a little bit swollen. I had originally thought bumblefoot but it’s not red at all and matches the same color as his other feet. The only thing is it’s swollen. He walks on it but slowly and is more comfortable on softer surfaces. He also lets us touch it and doesn’t look like he’s in a lot of pain when we do. To be cautious we started trying to soak his foot in a salt water bath to attempt to avoid infection (if it’s not already). Any advice on what to do?

P.S. I realized I forgot to mention but we are in the process of trying to schedule a vet appointment :)
 
Hello Indico. Welcome to the forum. I am sorry to hear your hamsters foot is swollen. It is good you are going to make him a vet appointment. I do not have any advice but other members will. I just wanted to welcome you.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum ☺️ Taking your hamster to the vet is a good idea. I'm not sure what else you can do, but some of the other members might have some ideas on what you can do in the meantime.
 
Hi & welcome to the forum.
Sorry to hear about your hamsters foot, are there any signs of cuts, abrasions or anything piercing the foot? If not then salt water probably won’t be needed if there is then that will help to keep it clean until you can see the vet.
It sounds to me as though your hamster may have got the foot trapped somewhere so worth checking the cage for anything with small spaces where his foot might get stuck, bendy bridges with gaps between the wood is one thing that could cause a problem, either that or is it possible he had a fall & injured his foot that way?
There isn’t really much you can do until you see the vet other than keep hm comfortable & make sure everything he needs is within easy reach without him having to walk on it too much.
I hope it’s nothing too serious & will heal easily, let us know how you get on at the vet.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum!

I'm glad you are going to take him to the vet.

I'd check his check in case the swollen foot was caused by an accident.
Could he have got his foot stuck somewhere like in a ladder with rungs, a toy hang by a chain etc. Those items are unsafe but you are probably aware of that.

Why did you suspect bumblefoot? Does he have a wheel that doesn't have a solid running surface or does he walk on a mesh type ladder or shelf?
 
Hello and welcome. Glad you posted :-) I think the others have said it all really. Another thing that could cause swelling is a broken bone. The fact he's walking on it more carefully does suggest it's causing some pain when walking, if not when you touch it.

Seeing the vet is the only thing to do really. Sometimes they can have a fall after getting a leg or foot caught in something (eg a hanging toy) and injure a foot or leg that way. Do you have any hanging toys? Things with chains can be in issue in that sense sometimes.'

Hopefully it's just a soft tissue injury and the vet may prescribe some anti inflammatory/pain relief once they know what it is.
 
Maz said:
Hello and welcome. Glad you posted :) I think the others have said it all really. Another thing that could cause swelling is a broken bone. The fact he's walking on it more carefully does suggest it's causing some pain when walking, if not when you touch it.

Seeing the vet is the only thing to do really. Sometimes they can have a fall after getting a leg or foot caught in something (eg a hanging toy) and injure a foot or leg that way. Do you have any hanging toys? Things with chains can be in issue in that sense sometimes.'

Hopefully it's just a soft tissue injury and the vet may prescribe some anti inflammatory/pain relief once they know what it is.
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Beryl said:
Hello and welcome to the forum!

I'm glad you are going to take him to the vet.

I'd check his check in case the swollen foot was caused by an accident.
Could he have got his foot stuck somewhere like in a ladder with rungs, a toy hang by a chain etc. Those items are unsafe but you are probably aware of that.

Why did you suspect bumblefoot? Does he have a wheel that doesn't have a solid running surface or does he walk on a mesh type ladder or shelf?
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Beryl said:
Hello and welcome to the forum!

I'm glad you are going to take him to the vet.

I'd check his check in case the swollen foot was caused by an accident.
Could he have got his foot stuck somewhere like in a ladder with rungs, a toy hang by a chain etc. Those items are unsafe but you are probably aware of that.

Why did you suspect bumblefoot? Does he have a wheel that doesn't have a solid running surface or does he walk on a mesh type ladder or shelf?
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elusive said:
Hi & welcome to the forum.
Sorry to hear about your hamsters foot, are there any signs of cuts, abrasions or anything piercing the foot? If not then salt water probably won’t be needed if there is then that will help to keep it clean until you can see the vet.
It sounds to me as though your hamster may have got the foot trapped somewhere so worth checking the cage for anything with small spaces where his foot might get stuck, bendy bridges with gaps between the wood is one thing that could cause a problem, either that or is it possible he had a fall & injured his foot that way?
There isn’t really much you can do until you see the vet other than keep hm comfortable & make sure everything he needs is within easy reach without him having to walk on it too much.
I hope it’s nothing too serious & will heal easily, let us know how you get on at the vet.
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Hi everyone!

Thank you all for responding. I just wanted to answer everyone’s questions in one post.

We had first suspected bumble foot because when we were trying to do research we had gotten a bunch of articles of bumble foot. After further brainstorming of what could have happened we realized a mosquito bite might also be what it is. It would explain why it’s swollen and he doesn’t want to use it (my sister also mentioned she caught him licking it once) and why it’s not red. From what we saw we couldn’t find any sign of a cut and he doesn’t have any rough stuff in his cage. There is also nothing hanging and ESPECIALLY things his foot may get caught in like a wire wheel or hamster ball. Luckily we were able to find a vet willing to take him as an emergency tomorrow.
 
It's good you had already looked into all those things and ruled them out :) . It's the first thing people think of - did he get his foot caught in something, but you've already ruled that out. I do hope the vet comes up with an answer. I guess it could possibly be some kind of growth as well.

Do please let us know how you get on at the vets and hope your hammy gets the treatment needed. He's not that old at a year old, so he should be fairly fit.
 
RainbowBrite said:
I hope the vet visit goes well tomorrow. It would be lovely if you could update us afterwards. :)
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Maz said:
It's good you had already looked into all those things and ruled them out :) . It's the first thing people think of - did he get his foot caught in something, but you've already ruled that out. I do hope the vet comes up with an answer. I guess it could possibly be some kind of growth as well.

Do please let us know how you get on at the vets and hope your hammy gets the treatment needed. He's not that old at a year old, so he should be fairly fit.
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Beryl said:
I hope all goes well at the vet's tomorrow.

Haven't thought of an insect bite and have no idea if a hamster would react to that.
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Frida said:
I hope all goes well at the vets. By the way what's your hamster's name?
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Hi all,

Just got done with the vet visit and they think it's an infection. They went ahead and gave us a topical antibiotic as well as a vitamin to help him fight the infection. They also gave us the option to do x-rays to rule out a fracture but we decided we'd go ahead and give the antibiotics and vitamin a chance first and if we didn't see any improvement/ it gets worse, we'd just go ahead and take him back.

P.S. His name is Peko (pronounced Peek-o but I spelt it differently cause he's quirky like that)
 

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I didn't know vets prescribe a topical antibiotic to a hamster. I would have thought that a hamster would lick it off.
Did they not prescribe pain relief?

Hopefully it clears up soon and the gorgeous Peko is up and running on all four paws soon again.
Thank you for the update.
 
Thank you for the update. He is lovely. If it doesn’t improve within a week I would consider the X-ray. If it is a fracture I’m not sure there’s much they can do but they might want to keep him off it somehow while it heals. In some cases they do actually amputate a leg but they do fine on 3 legs.

Was it an exotic vet you saw?
 
Beryl said:
I didn't know vets prescribe a topical antibiotic to a hamster. I would have thought that a hamster would lick it off.
Did they not prescribe pain relief?

Hopefully it clears up soon and the gorgeous Peko is up and running on all four paws soon again.
Thank you for the update.
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The vet told us we could either very gently rub it in or just keep him occupied and play with him until it dries so he doesn’t lick it off. They actually also gave us something oral as well but I don’t remember what it’s called 😅
 
Maz said:
Thank you for the update. He is lovely. If it doesn’t improve within a week I would consider the X-ray. If it is a fracture I’m not sure there’s much they can do but they might want to keep him off it somehow while it heals. In some cases they do actually amputate a leg but they do fine on 3 legs.

Was it an exotic vet you saw?
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To be honest I’m not exactly sure. I had to call around a LOT and out of about 10 places I called only 3 saw small animals. The two others were scheduling appointments all the way out in August (and there was no way I was gonna wait that long) and the last place was the place I ended up going too that said they could take him as long as I payed the emergency fee but they couldn’t see him till Monday because they were closed Sunday and the vet that sees small animals wasn’t in on Saturday when I called.
 
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