My 2-year-old hamster is scratching and losing fur. What's wrong?

Question

Our 2year old hamster has what looks like she is scratching an area on the side and has lost fur! any advice to help her would be wonderful!! Pet's info: Small Animal | Unknown - Small Animal | Female | unspayed | 1 year and 10 months old | 0.5 lbs

Penelope Graben, DVM · Accepted Answer

Hello! I'm sorry to hear about Pepper being so itchy! There are two main things I think about when I see itchy hamsters- skin mites and ringworm. It would be helpful to know if this started happening after contact with a new hamster, as it is often a contagious problem. I would recommend taking her in to see a vet that is experienced with hamsters. They can perform a skin scraping to check for mites and take a sample of hair to check for ringworm. Mites are treated with an anti-parasitic medication, while ringworm is treated with an anti-fungal medication. Once the cause is treated, her skin will be much more comfortable and she will stop scratching so much. As a note, ringworm can spread from animals to humans, but is generally easily treated in people. If you have any skin rashes, check with your MD! I hope you find this helpful! Best of luck to you and Pepper! :)

My 2-year-old hamster is scratching and losing fur. What's wrong?

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