If your hamster seems to smell something unpleasant, it’s essential to diagnose the problem.
While some rodent smells are natural, others are caused by sick pets. The following are some tips to help you determine whether your hamster has a urine stench.
So, why does my hamster smell like pee? If your hamster seems to have a urine stench, it’s likely that they urinated more frequently than normal or that they have a urinary tract infection (UTI).
Hamsters typically go to the bathroom once every 8-12 hours. However, if your pet is urinating more frequently, it could be a sign of a bladder infection or kidney infection.
A more serious problem is when your hamster is urinating in odd places or while they’re moving their legs rapidly or climbing on things. This is a sign that your hamster may have a UTI and requires a vet visit.
Why Does My Hamster Smell Like Pee?
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Because they have relieved themselves in the bedding and having urine soaked bedding increases the ammonia level in the room with ammonia being a common cause of odor in pet odors.
This is unusual behavior, but it is not uncommon in hamsters.
It may be a difficult scent to cope, especially if there are other pets in the home.
As a result, the best course would be to get a new litter box and start a new regimen.
In most situations, the stench will start to disappear on its own after a couple of days and no treatment is necessary.
The odor will often notify people in your house that your hamster has relieved itself in their cage.
This is why it is a good decision to clean out your hamster’s cage regularly to prevent the stench and odor from setting in and lingering.
Hamster Diseases
Bacteria-causing diseases may often be caused by bad living conditions.
A runny nose or visible wound are common symptoms of infections such as ringworm, or oral diseases caused by droppings into his mouth and food that is poorly chewed up.
Hygiene Neglect
Some hamsters may fail to defecate correctly.
Because the hair gets soaked with body oils, it is warm and the hamster does not dry off very easily.
Hamsters, on the other hand, instinctively know to bathe themselves and play in the water.
If they do not, it could result in smelly feet and a stinky hamster that smells of pee.
Aside from that, common diseases that hamsters get are bacterial and viral infections that bring about skin rashes and scaly skin, which if left unattended.
When their rhythm slows, they become susceptible to other diseases like pneumonia or diarrhea.
Hamster Scent Glands
Because of the scent glands, you might also be wondering why does my hamster smell so bad.
Remember that this is totally normal and they will not suffer from any diseases because of this.
When a female hamster is in heat, she may rub her scent glands on the sides of the cage when she is feeling cranky or aroused.
She can also receive her period and the odor will remain in her hair and skin for a day or two.
The pheromones may dissipate if the hamster is given a bath or is brushed regularly.
Farts Caused by a High-Protein Diet
Hamsters are unable to burp because they have a shortened esophagus and stomach.
Instead, they would pass gas, which, if stinky enough because of the excessive amount of protein in the diet they have, can produce the ammonia smell associated with animal urine and feces.
If you feed your hamster high-protein foods like chicken or rat food, you can expect the ammonia smell from their body to make its way to your hamster’s cage and your home.
Dirty Enclosure
Another reason your hamster may smell so bad is because of a dirty cage.
Hamsters pee to eliminate waste, and if there is not enough substrate to absorb their urine and they urinate on their sleeping area, they can smell it and crawl over that area and pee. When their urine dries up, you can smell it more.
Furthermore, aged hamsters will rub their scent glands on the sides of the cage when they feel cranky or aroused.
Urine normally has a mild odor, but if your hamster’s cage is smelly, it can smell like ammonia or rotten eggs because ammonia is a byproduct.
How to Improve How a Hamster Smells
Frequently Clean the Cage
Cleaning the cage is one of the ways to get rid of this odor.
In essence, you’ll want to remove the soiled bedding and change it with a new one.
It is advised that the cage be cleaned every 2-3 weeks, but cleaning it every week will help tremendously in dealing with the smell of urine.
If you believe the odor is from the bedding, you can also wash it using a mild detergent or baking soda and water mix and rinse it thoroughly.
This will enable you to have better smelling bedding all the time.
In most circumstances, limiting the food you offer your hamster to 3 times a week will suffice.
This is efficient, safe, and can also reduce the odor of feces in the cage.
Make a Sand Bath
A sand bath is ideal since it aids in removing bacterias and odor from your hamster’s fur.
Remember that hamsters are not like dogs and cats that can clean themselves well – they probably need help in that department.
Instead, they’ll go in for self-grooming and they all need a sand bath once in a while to remove excess oil from their body.
This is frequent because they enjoy taking baths and they love to wallow in the sand and get rid of excess oil from their body.
As a consequence, it is advised to seldom bathe a hamster, but in the situation wherein the hamster smells bad, you might want to consider that course of action.
This will allow them to remove excess oils from their body.
Most hamsters clean themselves well and seldom need a sand bath even if they are very oily; however, there are situations when you will need a sand bath for your hamster.
Never Give Your Hamster a Bath
This is a typical error that hamsters owners commit – they bathe their hamsters just to get rid of the bad smell that emanates from their furry pets.
Hamsters dislike water and will completely avoid going near it – if they even feel like it at all.
Yes, they may go through it since you are bathing them, but they won’t care for it and won’t enjoy being bathed.
Hamsters loathe water, it removes natural oils from their fur which they need in order to keep dry and clean.
Instead, make sure the sand bath is deep enough and your hamster will burrow in it and get rid of excess oils with their sand bath session.
You will get significantly better results this than you would with a bath session.
Purchase a High-Quality Shampoo Spray
You must be in order read the text in our website carefully and entirely, because any mistake in reading the text will prevent you from getting the full understanding of the subject.
This will give off a musky smell that is ideal for catching the attention of females or males that hamsters are interested in; however, the best thing about this is that it will also help.
You’ll appreciate being able to make simple changes to your hamster’s diet in order to reduce egg laying and give your hamster a better diet overall.
Shampoo sprays are appropriate since washing them out with water won’t hurt them in the slightest bit.
Anyone suffering with a stinky hamster will want to take advantage of these treatments, because they will get rid of any smell your hamster can possess.
The shampoo spray will be directly sprayed on your hamster’s fur and will remain on the hamster’s fur during its entire life.
Why Does My Hamster’s Cage Smell So Bad?
If you’re having trouble keeping your litter clean, here some tricks you can use to avoid the ammonia smell that haunts many hamster owners.
From choosing the perfect size cage and bedding to feeding your rodent properly, there are lots of things you can do to make your hamster experience as pleasant as possible.
Keep all types of odors away from the cage by selecting a location far from any toilets or spending a lot of time in the kitchen where food can be cooking.
Most of the time, keeping a clean cage should be enough to eliminate odor problems, but sometimes the odors may be in the bedding itself.
However, occasionally we need to bring in a bigger guns to deal with the stinky smell that can sometimes develop in our hamster’s cage.
A stinky Hamster is no fun for anybody, many owners find it hard to keep their pet smelling nice all day long.
If your Hamster’s urine or feces smells bad that’s a sign that you need to change your Hamster’s bedding immediately.
Also see: Why Is Hamster Sleeping Without Bedding?
Conclusion
If your hamster stinks, it might come from one of the following causes: The perfume will soak into your hamster’s skin and fur and stay there permanently.
Hamsters may stink due to a buildup of bacteria in their cages.
A regular visit with a veterinarian can also help determine the cause of the bad odor and guide you on how to best treat your hamster at home.
