A wet hamster's tail is a dangerous disease!

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23.03.2018

Before you go to the store to buy a hamster, you need to know about the health of the animal. This will help you avoid buying a sick animal and help you be on guard. After all, if you buy a sick pet and don’t know about it, it can die within a month after purchase. Serious diseases include a wet tail in a hamster. When choosing a pet, pay attention to its backside. Sputum may indicate illness.

General description of the disease

Wet hamster tail is a disease that every self-respecting hamster breeder should know about. Syrian hamsters are susceptible to this disease, so to speak, this is their specific disease. You need to understand that “Wet tail” is a very dangerous disease that threatens the life of your pet. This is due to the severe course of the disease, high contagiousness (infectious disease) and a high mortality rate even with proper treatment by a veterinarian, let alone self-medication.

How to treat correctly

The main therapy that veterinarians prescribe for hamsters with wet tail disease is taking antibiotics. Most often, doctors prescribe the drug Baytril. According to the instructions, the medicine is injected under the skin. The dose of the drug is determined at the rate of 0.4 ml per 1 kg of body weight. Injections are given 1-2 times a day for 1-2 weeks. The veterinarian prescribes the exact treatment regimen.

The range of medications includes the following medications.

"Dolphos." Give the animal 0.5–1 scoop per day, adding the drug to food.
"Olin." Divide the solution in the bottle into 7 doses. Give one part of the drug from a pipette every day for a week.
"Lactoferon". Dissolve 1 tablet in water or mix with food. The course of treatment is 5–10 days, once a day.

The owner can independently choose one of the remedies, but it is better to ask a doctor’s opinion.

Symptoms

The most important symptom of “wet tail” is contained in the very name of the disease. This wet rear part of the hamster (tail and fur around) is caused by severe diarrhea, due to disruption of the digestive system. It can be confused with ordinary diarrhea, but this disease is also characterized by a very unpleasant odor, which does not occur with ordinary diarrhea, the hamster behaves more aggressively, irritable, may begin to bite, run around the cage, and the fur is disheveled. This general appearance suggests a “wet tail.” Also, a sick hamster refuses food and water, which aggravates the situation, because as a result of diarrhea, his body becomes severely dehydrated.

If nothing is done, this disease leads in 90% of cases to a sad outcome for the hamster.

The causative agents of the disease can be different bacteria. The onset of the disease does not occur immediately after the pathogen enters the body - it takes up to two weeks (incubation period).

Why does infection occur?

The causative agent is an intestinal bacterium that spreads from a sick animal to healthy individuals, therefore, if the disease is suspected, quarantine is necessary. Poor-quality food stored without the necessary conditions, dirty water, wet and dirty bedding - this is a favorable environment for the development of infection.

Did you know? North American hamsters, like magpies, drag everything that glitters into their burrows, often stealing various objects from people.

What to do if you suspect a “wet tail”?

If you observe the above symptoms in your hamster, you need to immediately show him to a veterinarian; self-medication is extremely dangerous in any case.

Since we are dealing with an infectious and extremely contagious disease, you need to isolate the sick hamster, especially if you have more than one. Place your pets separately, for example, in 3-liter jars. Throw away everything that was in the cages (food, bedding). The cage should be treated with some kind of disinfectant (including the drum, feeder and drinking bowl).

Features of care

At the first suspicion of infection, a sick hamster must be separated from other individuals. They should also be temporarily moved to a separate cage, and the previous one should be disinfected. Any chlorine-containing solution is suitable for this purpose.

After treatment, the rodents' house should be thoroughly rinsed with clean water. All installed equipment – toys, feeders, drinking bowls – also require disinfection.

The cage of a sick individual should always be dry and warm. The temperature in the room is 21-26°C without drafts. Carry out daily cleaning with changing bedding.

All hygiene measures must be carried out with gloves, since bacteria can pass through the owner’s hands to healthy animals. During the period of treatment and recovery, vegetables and fruits should be excluded from the hamster’s diet. It is better to offer your pet grain food - wheat, oats, rye.

Treatment

The most correct option for your action in case of a “wet tail”, in terms of treatment, is to take it to the veterinarian as soon as possible. He, in turn, prescribes antibiotics, hydration therapy (restoring water balance), probiotics (to restore normal intestinal microflora, disturbed by infection and the influence of antibiotics). All these actions must be dosed and balanced, which is practically impossible to do at home on your own.

Unfortunately, even if you take your pet to the veterinarian in time for help, there is a very high mortality rate. Very often, hamsters do not survive the “wet tail”, and if they do survive, complications from the digestive system are possible in the form of various inflammatory processes. But, there is a third outcome - the hamster recovers and gains lifelong immunity to such a dangerous disease and no longer gets sick (with proper care and hygiene).

Which breeds are most susceptible to this disease?

The phenomenon is typical for all breeds of rodents due to the special structure of the gastrointestinal tract. But according to statistics, Syrian hamsters have a slightly higher percentage of infection due to their long hair, which is more difficult to clean from contamination.

In this case, individuals under the age of 12 weeks most often become ill. They have not yet sufficiently acquired the skill of cleaning their own wool and do not do it very carefully. This is also typical for older hamsters; in their case, the daily washing ritual takes a lot of energy.

Prevention

Prevention of this disease comes down to proper nutrition (which you can read about here), hamster hygiene and proper conditions of solitary confinement. After all manipulations with infected hamsters and their cage, be sure to treat your hands well!

Now you will know what a “wet tail” is in a hamster and in case of illness, contact your veterinarian for help in time.

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