I NEED HELP!! MY HAMSTER IS SICK I GUESS :((

Hello. I had a look at the video. He looks fairly well and is squeaking. Has something happened to upset him? My Syrian hamster only made chirruping squeaking noises like that after some loud talking at night scared him (it was a bit of an emergency situation).

Has something happened to scare or upset him? How old is he? Is it a he or she?
 
Maz said:
Hello. I had a look at the video. He looks fairly well and is squeaking. Has something happened to upset him? My Syrian hamster only made chirruping squeaking noises like that after some loud talking at night scared him (it was a bit of an emergency situation).

Has something happened to scare or upset him? How old is he? Is it a he or she?
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Hello, normally we would play with him for 2-3 hours every day in the evening. We had work to do last night and couldn't go out. Last night he gnawed on the ventilation hole at the top of his house for the first time. He was making sounds like this all night long when he woke up today. He is almost 5 months old. I am very afraid that something will happen to him. You are sure that he is not sick, right? (I'm sorry if there are wrong sentences, I used translation)
 
My next door neighbor is doing renovations. There is a lot of noise. Could he be afraid of it? He hasn't been able to sleep since last night because of the noise.I am uploading the photo of him gnawing on his house for the first time, I don't know how he gnawed on this plastic, it is very hard.
 

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It could well be that. He just sounds upset about something to me. Some hamsters are quite vocal generally, but if he's not usually vocal it's probably a sign he's upset or stressed about something and loud noises could be it. How long are the neighbour's renovations going on for and is there a quieter room you could put his cage in? Their hearing is so much more acute and sensitive than ours.
 
It could be that he's upset by something and being more vocal because of that, but I think it's also possible he has some upper respiratory irritation or inflammation.

Hamsters vocalise quite a lot but most of it is too high-pitched for us to hear. It's possible that respiratory issues might affect the vocal pitch so that normal snuffling and vocalisations become audible to us.

Upper respiratory issues are not necessarily anything serious, especially if the hamster is still active and looks healthy as yours does (it's when things spread to the lungs that you really need to worry). If your neighbour is doing renovations, could there be dust in the air?

If it ever seems really bad you can try running a very hot shower with the door and windows closed and extractor fan off until the bathroom is very steamy. Then bring your hamster in for a few minutes. The steam might soothe and relax his airways. But I would only try this if he starts to seem uncomfortable as they don't really like humidity.

Some hamsters may have sensitive upper respiratory tracts and can react to things like dust and even coarse sand. I had a gerbil once who was sensitive to sand. If I poured it into her sand bath when she was around she used to make noises like your hamsters and sometimes if it was bad I had to do the hot shower trick.

If he ever seems to be actually struggling for breath he needs to see a vet urgently. Signs he is struggling to breathe would include: being lethargic/tired, gasping or breathing through his mouth, very deep or laboured movements of his sides when he breathes. If you hear noises that seem to come from his chest or deeper in his body, he also needs to see a vet. At the moment it does sound very nasal though which is reassuring.
 
ArtemisS said:
My next door neighbor is doing renovations. There is a lot of noise. Could he be afraid of it? He hasn't been able to sleep since last night because of the noise.I am uploading the photo of him gnawing on his house for the first time, I don't know how he gnawed on this plastic, it is very hard.
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I just saw the photo where he chewed through the roof. Just wondering if there is enough ventilation in the bin cage as usually the roof needs to be meshed for enough ventilation. Do you have a photo of his cage/bin as we might be able to suggest some things to make him enjoy his environment more.
 
Sounds like he's got some nasal congestion to me. Do you have an air purifier? It may help remove dust and other allergens in the room making the air quality better.

Regarding the chewing. Can we have a photo of the entire bin as well as the length and width. We can give some advice and tips on trying to prevent that from happening more.
 
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How is your hamster now @ArtemisS ? It does look like he was making his own ventilation holes in the lid, and to try and escape. He might need a different type of cage or the lid of that bin meshing. Hamsters need a lot of ventilation in cages as they have very sensitive respiratory tracts.
 
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