Demography, disorders and mortality of pet hamsters under primary veterinary care in the United Kingdom in 2016

Abstract

Background: Hamsters are popular pets worldwide but there is limited evidence on the overall health issues of pet hamsters. This study aimed to characterise the demography, disorder prevalence and mortality of pet hamsters in the United Kingdom.Method: The VetCompass study included anonymised clinical records of 16,605 hamsters. results:The most common hamster species were Syrian (golden) (Mesocricetus auratus) (n=12,197, 73.45%), Djungarian (winter white dwarf) (Phodopus sungorus) (2286, 13.77%) and Roborovski hamsters (Phodopus roborovskii) (1054, 6.35%). The most prevalent precise-level disorders recorded across all hamsters were a presentation categorised as 'wet tail' (n=293, 7.33%), disorder undiagnosed (292, 7.30%), bite injuries from other hamsters (235, 5.88%), overgrown nail(s) (165, 4.13%), overgrown incisor(s) (159, 3.98%) and traumatic injury (152, 3.80%). The most prevalent disorders groups across all species of hamster were traumatic injury (n=616, 15.41%), enteropathy (450, 11.26%), ophthalmological disorder (445, 11.13%), skin disorder (362, 9.05%) and mass (361, 9.03%). The median age at death across all hamsters was 1.75 years (interquartile range: 0.83 to 2.20, range: 0.01 to 3.65). The most common causes of death at a precise level were wet tail (7.88%,

Demography, commonly diagnosed disorders and mortality of guinea pigs under primary veterinary care in the UK in 2019—A VetCompass study

“…Overall, only 13.13% of guinea pigs under veterinary care had zero disorders recorded, indicating low levels of presentation of healthy pets for routine health checks. This result is similar to that for hamsters presenting to primary-care practice, where 11.93% had no disorder reported [ 19 ] and suggests a wide divide in how owners perceive the role of veterinary care for these small exotic species in contrast to more mainstream domestic pet species. For example, similar analyses reported 24.2% of dogs [ 21 ], 34.0% of cats [ 39 ] and 42.8% of rabbits under primary veterinary care had no disorder recorded [ 20 ], likely reflecting their higher level of routine and preventative healthcare (for example neutering, vaccination, microchipping and parasite control).…”

“…All available clinical records from a randomly selected subset of guinea pigs were manually reviewed and all disorder events at any date in the cohort data were followed over time within all available clinical records to determine the most definitive diagnosis term recorded, as previously described [ 19 ]. Randomisation used the RAND (transact-SQL) function within SQL Server.…”

Preliminary investigation into the housing of dwarf hamsters

“…This may be an underestimate of true co‐housing failure as some owners may not observe or recognise agonistic behaviour of concern. In a recent study reviewing clinical records from 16,605 pet hamsters, bite injuries were the third most common disorder recorded for hamsters presenting to veterinarians in primary care practice, so interhamster aggression is obviously a widespread problem 13 . Despite information provided to the public that dwarf hamsters can be housed in pairs or groups, 3 the results obtained from this questionnaire suggest that a higher number of owners decide to house their dwarf hamsters individually.…”

Use of chemotherapy in Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) with epitheliotropic T‐cell lymphoma: Two cases (2021–2022)

“…Neoplastic disorders are one of the most common causes of mortality in pet Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). 1 In pet Syrian hamsters with tumours, the integument is the most commonly affected system, accounting for 52% of all tumours submitted for histopathological evaluation in four facilities. 2 However, only sporadic cases of cutaneous lymphoma have been reported in Syrian hamsters, [3][4][5][6][7] with a total of seven cases documented to be epitheliotropic T-cell lymphoma (ETCL).…”

“…Neoplastic disorders are one of the most common causes of mortality in pet Syrian hamsters ( Mesocricetus auratus ) 1 . In pet Syrian hamsters with tumours, the integument is the most commonly affected system, accounting for 52% of all tumours submitted for histopathological evaluation in four facilities 2 .…”