Every Point to Watch in One Place

Her own normal. Know her age, keep one honest line a day in a notebook, and judge every change against her own usual habits rather than against a picture of other hamsters. Watch the speed of a change as well as the change itself: slow drifts often belong to age, sudden ones belong to the vet.

Movement. Watch how she climbs, comes down, turns and walks. Stiffness and slower climbing can come with age; a limp, a held-up or dragged leg, unsteadiness, a fall, or a hamster who stops moving over several days is something to show the vet.

Sleep and warmth. Expect more sleep and drifting waking times. Keep the room at roughly 20 to 24 °C (68 to 75 °F), with a thermometer at the height of her nest, and keep draughts, sun and heaters away. A hamster who has gone cold and still is a reason to warm the room gently and call the vet at once.

Eating and drinking. Read the bowl, the hoard and the weekly weight together. Keep her on the mix she has always eaten and ask the vet before changing anything. Not eating or not drinking, food dropped from her mouth, a wet chin, or a sudden change around food is something to show the vet without waiting.

Weight and water. Weigh her at the same time each week, in grams, on the same scale and in the same bowl, and look at the line over weeks rather than at one dot. Check every day that the water is fresh and flows freely. A sudden loss, a sudden gain with a swollen look, or a change in drinking goes to the vet with the chart.

Teeth and cheeks. Yellow or orange-yellow front teeth are normal. Teeth that look long, uneven or broken, pouches that stay full or look swollen, and a face that stays lopsided go to the vet. Never trim her teeth or open her mouth at home.

Fur, skin, eyes and bottom. Watch for thinning fur, and show the vet patches that grow, red or crusted skin, constant scratching, any new lump, an eye that looks red, wet, sticky or closed, and above all a wet or dirty bottom, which is never washed away first.

Home and cleaning. Keep the cage on one level with a gentle ramp, food and water in fixed places on the ground, and deep, soft bedding. Spot-clean daily, clean deeper in parts, keep some of her bedding back, and keep strong cleaning smells away.

Handling and play. Wake her only when needed and slowly, hold her low and sitting down, keep handling and play short, and let her decide when to stop. Offer only plain, safe things to sniff and chew, and keep every adventure low and close to her nest.

The family. Keep a care rota and a shared notebook, agree each day who will call the clinic if something seems wrong, let the children help in small, safe ways, keep the visit bag ready by the door, and sit with her at dusk for five quiet minutes as often as you can. If you are concerned, see a vet.

Where to Turn

The first place to turn is a vet who knows small animals. Not every clinic sees hamsters often, so it helps to ask, before you need it, whether the clinic is used to them, and to find the clinic's number for nights and weekends. We wrote both numbers inside the back cover of our notebook, and on the night the heating failed I was glad of it.

The people at the clinic are a good source of everyday answers, too. The nurses and staff at Dr. Hale's clinic have often answered a small question on the telephone, such as how warm to keep her travel box or how to bring a weight chart, and they always tell us plainly when she should come in.

For the rules that apply where you live, such as local registration, rules for animals in rented homes, or rules for travelling with a pet, the official information of your local authority is the place to check, and it is worth reading again whenever you move house or bring a new animal home.

To learn more about hamsters, a public library is a calm place to start: books on small animals and their care, read side by side with your own notebook, will deepen what you see each evening. Animal welfare groups and rescue centres that take in small animals often share care sheets and are glad to answer questions from keepers.

Finally, the people who know your hamster best are the people who live with her. Our own notebook, Mira's chart, Otto's jar of pebbles for the good days and the conversations around the kitchen table have taught us more than any single page, and they are always there to turn to.