What to do if a hamster has a watery eye?

Check your ward daily. The four-legged fluffy has a tiny body, any suspicious change in appearance and behavior may in the near future significantly affect his health.

If a hamster has a watery eye, there may be several reasons for this. Often, discharge from the eyes indicates the onset of conjunctivitis. This is an inflammatory disease of the eye, often of an infectious nature. It can easily occur if dust or dirt gets on the mucous membrane. Hamsters are very sensitive to the environment, not cleaning their cage for several days means creating dangerous unsanitary conditions for them. With conjunctivitis, a pet often scratches a sore eye. The recovery of the pet is guaranteed only with immediate treatment.

If the discharge from the hamster’s eyes is whitish or grayish in color, this is a sign of an infection. But colorless transparent discharge indicates an allergy. It is possible that the rodent is sensitive to the litter material in the cage. Or he ate exotic fruits, which often cause an allergic reaction.

If the pet is concerned not only with a watery eye, but also with a bent ear, nasal discharge, sneezing, this may be a signal of a cold. Check if the hamster’s cage is in a draft? Is it cold in the room?

Trauma, mechanical damage, a foreign object in the body can be one of the reasons why a hamster has watery eyes. These fluffy pets are very curious. A resourceful hamster can get out of the cage and inadvertently fall from a height when the owners are not around. This is just one of the options for how a baby can get an eye injury.

But even inside the cage of a four-legged baby, troubles can await. If there are two or more hamsters in a cage, they can quarrel and start a fight, hurt each other’s eyes. Using prickly dry hay or coarse sawdust as bedding for a hamster can result in a splinter in the eye area or behind the cheek. Do not forget that hamsters love to dig their minks everywhere. Even if you see a splinter, it’s best to have it removed by a veterinarian.

Whatever the other symptoms, watery eyes means your hamster needs to be seen by a veterinarian. Discharge from the eyes can be an indirect symptom, a sign of a serious internal disease. We can talk about diseases of the teeth, a violation in the functioning of the glands. Only a doctor can diagnose and prescribe treatment.

• Before you begin to treat the hamster’s eye, create suitable conditions for the small patient. Move your pet to a separate cage so as not to endanger the health of other hamsters. Choose a hypoallergenic filler for the cell floor – corn or cellulose. You can use large wrinkled pieces of paper towels without a pattern as a filler.

• Wash and sanitize the cage and all your pet’s belongings. Clean the cage daily, change the bedding, cleanliness around will help the hamster survive the malaise. Wash your hands before touching your hamster.

• Eliminate anything sweet and exotic from your pet’s diet. Give the baby more carrots, parsley, cereals. Give your hamster a piece of boiled chicken twice a week. This will help fill the lack of protein in the body.

• Keep your pet’s cage out of drafts and out of direct sunlight. Hamsters’ eyes are harmful to bright light. For the same reason, they do not need to be photographed with a flash.

• Make sure your pet has access to fresh drinking water. Note that an ill hamster is often drowsy, inactive, and may refuse food and water.

Self-treatment is completely excluded, out of ignorance, you can harm a fragile creature. But how to wash the eyes of a hamster before seeing a specialist? 

Visible dirt and discharge in the area of ​​​​the hamster’s eyes can be gently washed off with warm saline using a cotton swab or sterile gauze, a separate swab (or napkin) is needed for each eye. If you have to wait to see your doctor, use this time to find more information. Consult about the condition of your ward with experienced hamster owners on thematic forums. If you are interested in some advice, you can ask the relevant question to the veterinarian at the reception.

A veterinary ratologist or rodentologist (which is the more correct name) is a doctor who specializes in helping small pets. The ratologist treats hamsters, rabbits, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits and some more exotic animals. It is to this specialist that you need to rush if the hamster has a watery eye.

Why is it necessary to hurry? For a small organism of a hamster, a delay of two or three days can be fatal. There are a lot of sad messages on thematic resources from the owners of hamsters, who began to treat a sour eye with improvised means. And two days later they sounded the alarm, because their beloved rodent’s sore eye completely stopped opening. In advanced cases, conjunctivitis can lead to an abundant accumulation of pus behind the eyeball; in such situations, urgent surgery is necessary to save the pet’s life.

If there is no ratologist in your city, arrange an online consultation with a specialist for a furry patient. But it is highly desirable that the doctor personally examines the hamster, prescribes tests, and conducts additional examinations. The doctor will prescribe the necessary medicines and teach you how to properly instill drops in the eyes of a hamster, how to apply ointment to irritated eyelids. If necessary, how to give injections to your baby. Remember that the medicine must be instilled into both eyes, because a hamster can transfer bacteria to the mucous membrane of a healthy eye while washing.

Be patient, treating a hamster will not give instant results. Follow all the doctor’s recommendations and monitor the living conditions and diet of your fluffy ward. We wish health to your pets!