Making sure that our little furry friends are nice and healthy is a very important thing. The health checking process is pretty much the same with all small animals.
First of all, you'll need to pick up your small animal. The best way to do this is to be confident. If they can sense that your nervous and scared, they will mirror this, and be more frantic or aggressive to protect themselves.
The health check is done in 7 steps.
Check their body and coat, there's no bald patches or lumps.
Check their ears. Making sure they are nice and clean and not full of diet, wood shavings or hay.
Check their eyes, make sure they are nice and bright, not showing any cloudiness or discharge.
Check their nose, making sure there's no discharge.
Check their mouth and teeth. Making sure their teeth are looking in line, the correct colour, not chipped, and no gaps.
Check their little feet. Make sure they are clean, the nails aren't too long, and they don't look sore.
And finally, check their bottom. Make sure it is nice and dry and clean. This is also a great time to double check the gender
Health checking is in these 7 simple steps.
Depending on your hamster, they may allow you to check their underneath by putting them on their back, this should only be done for a couple seconds to check everything is ok (please note your hamster may not like health checking time - mine does not). Whenever I am doing this with my hamster I always place him on my leg or a flat surface, so he in not mid air being held this way (see photo)
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