I just got a long haired female hamster about 5 days ago from Petsmart. I think she is about one month old. Ever since I got her she has been sleeping all day and almost all night. Last night was the first time that I saw her awake for a little while, but then she went back to sleep. Her bottom is wet, but it looks like pee, not diahrea. I read about wet tail in hamsters, but it said that the hamsters usually die within 2 or 3 days, so I'm thinking that that isn't it. Although I don't see any pee or feces in her cage either. The only time that she is awake is when I wake her up and take her out of her cage. But she also kind of smells when I take her out, like she lets off a smell. Then when I put her back in her cage she seems to eat a little bit, but her food never really seems to go down much, takes a small drink of water, runs for about 20 seconds on her wheel and then goes back to sleep. If you know of anything that could be causing this let me know.
Thanks,
Laura

If she has wet tail, she may not die right away. She could have an infection. Hamsters should be active for a good few hours during the night, hyperactive in fact. When I had hamsters, they seemed to always be eating. My vet sees hamsters and gives a discount due to how "cheap" they are. I hope you can find a vet to see her. Antibiotics may fix her up. At a month old, she's just a weanling and may not have a digestive system that's properly switched from milk to solid foods. Usually the mother slowly teaches the baby to eat but if something went wrong, or she was taken from her mother too soon, her gut may be messed up. Giving her good bacteria may help. I'm not sure how safe it is to try yogurt.

I called the pet store where I got my hamster and described the symptoms she was having. They said that it was wet tail. I got some medicine for her to try and we'll see if it will clear it up. Do you have any suggestions on what to feed her while I am giving her her meds? Would fruit and vegetables make it worse? Do you know if Pedialyte would work good for her diahrea? I read somewhere that dehrdration kills hamsters with wet tail more than the illness itself. I guess we'll see what happens but let me know if you know of anything I could feed her or any other tricks that would help her get better faster.
Thanks!

wet-tail can be deadly if not treated right away. they have the over the counter medicine called "dri-tail" that plus lots of water, because wet-tail can lead to extreme dehydration (as you said). an extreme comparison would be a human with cholera, you must keep them hydrated as much as possible if you can get her to a vet you should.

hamsters naturally have bacteria that lives in their stomach, but do to stress and maybe an illness, the balance can "get out of whack" so to speak and that can lead to "wet-tail."

what are you feeding her? is she eating the same foods and mixtures as she did at the Petsmart? I actually work as a pet care associate at Petsmart (dont hate me, i take great pride in my job and take really good care of the animals, and the petsmart i work at takes the care of their animals very seriously, just trying to clarify, sometimes Petsmart and other places have bad reputations), and I always make sure the customers get the right foods. if someone changes foods overnight, can lead to diarrhea and upset stomachs.

How big is she, could it be she may have been the runt of the litter and didnt recieve as much care from the mother? wet-tail on a long-hair hamster would be very obvious with lots of matted up hair at the rear end.

i havent heard if pedialyte will work for hamsters or not.

as far as fruits and vegetables, she should have greens and carrots, but right now, it could be tricky, if its an upset stomach, the moisture in the veggies could make the diarrhea worse, but if its wet-tail, then the added water would help with the dehydration.

you are probably already attached to the hamster, but petsmart will take the animal back and replace it if you need to go that route.

Thanks for all the great advice Jarrod! I don't know what food they fed her at Petsmart because they didn't say. I should have asked, but I forgot to. Maybe you know what they eat? I am feeding her natures gold hamser food now. I don't know how good that is.

I know for sure that it is wet tail now, because I can see the diahrea matted in her fur. I know I have the option of bringing her back, but I am pretty attatched to her already.

I'd say that she is about 3 to 4 inches long, so I don't think that she is the runt of the litter. Maybe since you work at a Petsmart you can help me out with the way they treat wet tail in hamsters. I got pedialyte for her and just started giving it to her. Any suggestions on what to do if she won't hardly eat?

I'm going back to Petsmart on Monday and I don't know if I should trade her in or keep her. They also said that they would treat her for free, but she would need to stay there about a week and so we would have to make a special trip back to get her, and we live 40 miles away from the store.

Any suggestions on how to treat her successfully would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

the hamsters at our store get a mixture of hamster food, which is some pellets, corn and seeds, plus pet blocks, which are the hard blocks of food, which is all the eat from the breeders, so we give them a mixture of the two foods.

hamsters are treated twice daily with dri-tail and you can add a little dri-tail to their water dish too.

and wet-tail isnt necessarily a death sentence, we have hamsters that get wet-tail and it does clear up, now it can lead to death, but its not a set in stone type of thing.

I cant go into anything petsmart considers confidential, but they treat the sick animals with dri-tail for the wet-tail, if it gets really bad then they go the vet.

and yes, we have treated customers purchases for free a few times, its really up to you.... you can buy a bottle of dri-tail and medicate her yourself, or you can exchange her or let them do it..

by the way, i am not used to calling hamsters "her" since we are a male only store.

Thanks Jarrod. You have given me a lot of geat info. She seems to be doing about the same, but I'm glad shes not doing worse!

The Petsmart that I went to sells only females. Why do all Petsmarts only sell one gender or the other? I guess I was just kind of wondering!!

The only other thing that I am concerned about with her is that she is not really eating. I have given her a few carrots and she eats some of them, but are there any other vegetables that I can give her right now that won't upset her stomach or make things worse?

Thanks again,
Laura

because petsmart keeps very accurate records of their animals, like how many come in, how many go out, how many, if any die, etc etc... they only get animals from certain breeders that supply petsmarts.

another reason is if they keep males and females in the same store, you may go home with a female and end up with a litter of babies.

you can give her some parsley or greenleaf or romaine lettuce.

I hope she continues to improve. The wet tail medication should help a lot. Kale is a good all around food. Sometimes fruits and veggies make diarrhea worse though; it depends on the causes and such. But, they do increase hydration. I wonder if it would be safe to give a hamster an ice cube? That would be for chewing, cooling, and hydration. I wonder if they'd choke on a piece.

Stores may keep all of one sex because may people can't properly sex small animals. Plus, people would sometimes make a poor choice to bring home a pair even if they know the sexes, and we all know where that would lead.

Would anything be able to help her diarrhea other than the medicine? I feel really sorry for her!!

She is still doing about the same though. I give her water with a dropper thing, but she doesn't have much of an appetite. Do you think I should try mashing up some of her food, putting it in water, and feeding her through a dropper? Or do you think it would just be best to just keep giving her her medicine and the water and skip the food for the time being? I have given her some carrot but she only takes a few nibbles. I will give the kale a shot and see if she will eat that.

Thanks for all of your help everyone!!

They sell liquid vitamins for small animals (vita something) that might help. My animals have indicated the drops taste yucky but the Vitamin B's in particular may perk her up. You can make a gruel for her from warm water and something like oatmeal and some veggies. The seeds don't really lend themselves to dropper feeding. As long as you can get water and medication into her, I wouldn't try to force her to eat too much. Since you haven't taken her to the vet, you can't really give her injections of water (subcutaneous lactated ringers which I've given to cats, a dog, rabbits, and a hedgehog) under the skin which are an option for very sick animals. The lactated ringers also has salts in it to restore the electrolyte balance that's off from diarrhea. I hope she turns around.

Hey Everyone!!
My hamster (Kylie) seems to be doing a lot better. Her bottom is not nearly as wet, she is eating and drinking, and last night she was awake and actually running on her wheel! I went to the pet store today and they said that hamsters with wet tail get better really fast once they start to get better. So that is my good news. I just wanted to thank everyone again for all of your helpful advice.
Thanks,
Laura

My hamster was doing a lot better, but yesterday when I got home from work she was extremely limp and she was dying. She passed away last night at about ten o'clock. The vet said that there are toxins that can be released from the bacteria sometimes when they have wet tail and kill them, so that is what happened to her. I just thought I would let everyone know.
Laura

I am so so sorry, Laura
Ellen

Laura,
sorry to hear about you little baby!! we used to raise hamsters and i know how attached you can become to them!! i hope if you decide to get another you will have a better experience!!

I was so happy to read she was doing better and was upset to then read that she didn't make it. You have my condolences.

Sorry to hear about your hamster, I thought she was going to pull through especially after that previous post about her progression for the better.

I have seen hamsters regress, but not that quickly, within the same day... normally if there is a regression, its not that sudden that they would die the same day.

i know it is hard to lose a pet, but i hope this doesnt discourage you from getting another.

I want to thank everyone for all your support. I am not going to give up on owning small animals, though. I think that I am going to get a mouse for my next pet. I have never had one before, but they don't get wet tail, so I want to try it. If anyone has any tips on owning pet mice, they would be much appreciated. Thanks again for all your support through this hard time!
~Laura~