My Syrian hamster, Teddy Bear, has a black bump on each side of it's body. Should I take him to the vet?
Answers:
Yes you should take him to the vet.
Yes, but make sure its not his food. My hamster looked like it had tumors but it was actually the food in his cheeks...his cheek pouch thingies reached pretty far back (i had a teddy bear as well) if its not you better take your little buddy to get better :)
probably...how long have you had this hamster? If you've never owned a hamster before, and you haven't had him very long then you might not be sure if this is normal or not (I'm sorry if you are an experienced hamster parent and you know all this already, you didn't say if you were experienced or not in the question so I'm just going to answer as if you were new to this):
normal "lumps" would include two things for a male syrian:
1- if the lumps were on the side of his cheeks or close to his shoulders they could just mean that he packed ALOT of food in his mouth (remember that hamsters have large pockets on either sides of their mouths which they carry food in so usually if the sides of his face or head look swelled then that just means his cheeks are stuffed with food; some hamsters barely put any food in their cheek pockets whereas other hamsters can make their head look three times it's normal size!)
2-when a male syrian becomes 4 to 6 months old he hits maturity and after maturity you may notice his ENORMOUS pink scrotum hanging out from near his back-side (as large and disproportionate as this pink growth may seem it's not a tumor, it's just his reproductive organs hanging out of his body-they tend to hang out whenever he gets over heated so that he may cool off)
now since you said he is a teddy bear hamster, I'm going to assume the color of your hamster is closer to a brown or a cream color; because he's not a black bear hamster the color black is not a normal color to see on him and could be a sign of serious illness
also since you said that there are two bumps on either side of his body I'm going to say that (since the bumps are on his body and not his head/face) that the bumps are not cheeks filled with food nor (since you said on his body and not under his butt) nor are they his scrotum
since we've ruled out all the normal bumps and lumps that it could have been, we need to take a look at what it could be:
it could be a growth of some sort, but really we have no way of knowing...
most importantly it's not normal and when something isn't normal our best bet is to make a vet appointment
in the mean time take extra notes on his behavior until he goes to the vet, be prepared to answer and keep in mind the following during the visit:
how old is he? (hamsters live 3 to 5 years, normally)
has he been eating?
more or less or the same amount of food as usual?
has he been exercising?
more or less or the same amount of exercise as usual?
does he seem to be in pain?
has his temperment changed?
(meaning does he bite/hiss/scratch and is that normal for him,
if he normally runs from you when open the cage and now he's coming to you that might be a sign of illness -for that same token- if he normally comes to you when you open the cage and now he's running from you that could be a sign of illness as well...take note of any change in behavior and be prepared to answer questions about what is normal for him)
write down the name of the food and treats you feed him, the type of bedding you use, the amount of time he has outside of the cage in a day/week, if he has access to any other pets in the house, if he's gotten out of the cage recently, and give this list to the vet when you walk in
having a written list can make them pay more attention to you so that they don't overlook any possibilities (common for vets to do when caring for small animals)-so I suggest you write down anything important that you want them to know and then not only hand them the written list but say it out loud again in the exam room if you feel the need
good luck, I hope everything turns out alright!
oh. my hamsters have that too, and i think its a birth mark,not to worry :)
Good Luck :)
Sabby
no all my syruan hamsters have them black spots they look like lil moles dont they lol :)
xx luffage xx
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