Saffron

Sorry to hear the hairloss is worse, did you manage to see if her scent gland is ok or is that worse too?
I also hope the vet can help, it doesn’t sound like a surgical issue really but it is a bit of a mystery.
I have had Russian hams with some hair loss in that area before but not usually too severe & only when they are getting older really so it’s hard to guess what might be going on.
 
Her scent gland seemed fine this time, I'm really hoping it isn't going to need a surgical resolution. I've lost enough animals to various cancers this year, I'd rather not deal with more, bless her. I'm sure she would rather not as well 😅 I guess we will find out Thursday, fingers crossed he can't feel any masses. Its just odd how it's not spreading anywhere else, all the fur from above is lovely and thick, healthy looking and no scratching. If she never stretched upward you'd never be able to even tell.
 
Not that I can find.. unless it's the cork log? It's Pashas old one, I did sterilise it after she passed although I'm not sure if that would have been enough to totally remove the smell? Hm. Might buy a new one and see if that helps regardless, you never know. Everything else is smooth wood, ceramic or her plastic wheel 🤔
 
It does sound like it's maybe hormonal then perhaps.
 
So, Saffrons appointment went well in the sense no one was bitten.. however he agrees her hair is much thinner than last time, it has spread all the way up her chest and front legs by the looks of her. He also said her skin seems much thinner as well, and it was thin last time. Her scent gland looked absolutely fine at least, and he still can't feel any tumours or obvious lumps internally.

I am to continue with the weekly treatments of panomec for now, for the sake of doing something productive however he was going to speak again to the specialist once I had gone who was out the back doing surgeries. I am seeing her tomorrow with an injured axolotl so she can let me know what they discussed etc then and go from there, hopefully.

She still seems fine in herself at least, apart from the attitude problem 😅
 
I’m sorry to hear Saffron’s problem is worse but it is good that there doesn’t seem to be anything other than the skin issue & no tumours or anything.
Did the vet do a skin scrape at all before you started with the meds? It doesn’t really sound like a mite issue but it is hard to know what it might be, I hope the specialist has some ideas that may help when you speak to them.
 
No, with how she is, she would have to be anaesthetised. He did say today that the option was there to knock her out and take samples, so scrapes, plucked hair etc to be sent away to the lab but at the moment given how expensive that would be for the liklihood of it not providing answers, he didn't feel it was worth trying just yet. Basically if we're going to be aneasthetising her just to do a skin scape, it's only worth it, for her, to test everything at the same time, but the things it'd come back positive for like mites or ringworm we can treat her for as a precaution anyway, whereas lymphoma or hormonal issues it's basically for academic purposes, there wouldn't be a treatment anyway.

But that's his current opinion, the exotics specialist may feel differently and want to take samples, I won't know until tomorrow. I dont want to put her through all that if it's purely to answer the question of what is wrong with her without the answer providing any more options for treatment, if that makes sense. Obviously if it means we can actually find out what's going on, we will go for it.
In an ideal world she will say she is capable of taking bloodwork from such a little animal, which would at least rule out cushings and imo would make it a little more worthwhile to stress her with a day trip to the vet for diagnostics etc.
 
So much is guesswork with these little things because as you say - how much do you want to put them through? If it was Cushings, there is some treatment (depending which type of Cushings - but it doesn't really seem like it from the symptoms. I'd suspect either hormonal or some kind of internal tumour. I suppose it's possible she could have pyometra, but she'd had signs of infection then.

So do you think she has pain?
 
I'm relieved she has no tumours and I may be wrong in my opinion, but I tend to think if there is no pain and the animal is of a certain age I wouldn't cause extra stress on investigations involving sedation if the cause is obvious and treatable then yes but not multiple stress inducing visits. Broad spectrum antibiotics, pain relief ect I agree with. Personal opinion not expert.
 
We don't believe she's in pain, if her personality was a sudden change I'd be inclined to think it was possible, and im sure my vet certainly wouldn't be against a trial time period of pain relief to see if she reacts positively to it but as she's otherwise fine I'm not convinced. I personally think it has to be some sort of hormonal issue too.

He thinks ultimately she will just be a bald, otherwise happy hamster and we'll have to just live with it for as long as she seems OK, but im holding out hope the exotics specialist has an idea tomorrow.

If it were Orsa or Pasha I may have opted for the investigations, they were happy to be handled and coped well with the multiple vet visits they had in their 3 years, but with Saffy being so scared and fractious, forcing a diagnosis would be lowering her quality of life in my opinion. Like last time, I probably won't see her for weeks now she's back home. It really seems to upset her going just for an hour, I'd feel awful leaving her there all day, to be monitored in a bright, noisy environment.

It's frustrating because I'm the kind of person who likes to throw the kitchen sink at things to figure out what's going on, I often wonder where to draw the line for their benefit then feel like I'm not doing enough to help. Which is why I am grateful that my vet said he would make the decision for me that we weren't going for tests yet.
 
I think you know Saffron best and as she gets so stressed and upset with handling, I can understand why tests may not be the best option for her. If she is not in any pain then I think that is the main thing. You have so much experience with poorly animals and you always do what is best by them and go by their individual needs.

I hope your axolotl is okay and gets on well at their appointment.
 
RainbowBrite said:
I think you know Saffron best and as she gets so stressed and upset with handling, I can understand why tests may not be the best option for her. If she is not in any pain then I think that is the main thing. You have so much experience with poorly animals and you always do what is best by them and go by their individual needs.

I hope your axolotl is okay and gets on well at their appointment.
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Thankyou, I do try.

And thanks! I am fairly certain the poor axolotl is going to end up having his leg amputated, but he's already attempting to regrow a new one so hopefully it won't cause him too much of an issue!
 
Eriathwen said:
Thankyou, I do try.

And thanks! I am fairly certain the poor axolotl is going to end up having his leg amputated, but he's already attempting to regrow a new one so hopefully it won't cause him too much of an issue!
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Aw, poor little baby. It is very positive he is trying to grow a new one.
 
Oh dear, poor axolotol, hope the appointment goes well. I didn’t realise they could regrow legs 🙂

I’m sorry to read Saffron’s hair loss is still progressing, your vet and exotic specialist sound a great team. You are such a caring owner and know her so well, only wanting the best for her, whatever action you take will always be the right one for sweet little Saffron.
 
So..I dont want to jinx it but I may have inadvertently discovered the cause of the hairloss.

I had her out a few weeks back and noticed her nails were long again, so I figured I would attempt to trim them. When I tried, her nails wouldn't cut, they just bent, the clippers were sharp and new so there was no reason they shouldn't have cut them.

Way down in the depths of things I knew but had forgotten, I remembered that weak, soft nails in hamsters was a protein deficiency.. so I looked online to see if hairloss was also a symptom and wouldn't you know 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Her diet is the same that I fed to Orsa and Pasha, so I assume that it must be an individual higher need than most, I've upped the protein in her diet and bam, she's a little hairier than she was.

(Excuse the gloves, she would not let me check her belly whatsoever any other way so I had to scruff her 😔)

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That’s really good to hear, nutrition can be a very individual thing so it’s great that you thought to check that out, it certainly isn’t the first thing you think of with hair loss! So pleased she seems to be improving now.
 
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