ArticleThe Journal of small animal practice2022
Demography, disorders and mortality of pet hamsters under primary veterinary care in the United Kingdom in 2016.
Article in The Journal of small animal practice, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Adrenocortical Adenocarcinoma in a Syrian Golden Hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) With Suspected Hyperadrenocorticism.Veterinary medicine and science · 2026Article
- Sectional Anatomy with Micro-Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Correlation of the Middle and Caudal Abdominal Regions in the Syrian Hamster (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Perception and utilisation of veterinary services by rodent owners in the United Kingdom.The Veterinary record · 2025Article
- A Novel Approach to Engaging Communities Through the Use of Human Behaviour Change Models to Improve Companion Animal Welfare and Reduce Relinquishment.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Demography, commonly recorded disorders and mortality in chelonia under UK primary veterinary care: A VetCompass study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Small mammal owners' experiences of housing challenges and animal welfare: A COM-B and word frequency analysis.Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2025Article
- Article
- Cytokine response and damages in the lungs of aging Syrian hamsters on a high-fat diet infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHamsters 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.
methodThe VetCompass study included anonymised clinical records of 16,605 hamsters.
resultsThe 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%, 95% confidence interval: 6.35 to 9.66), abdominal mass (6.40%, 95% confidence interval: 5.01 to 8.03), neoplasia (5.38%, 95% confidence interval: 4.11 to 6.90) and dyspnoea (3.99%, 95% confidence interval: 2.9 to 5.34).
conclusionThis study provides veterinary professionals, educators, welfare scientists and owners with an evidence base on pet hamster health. A greater understanding of the common disorders of pet hamsters can support veterinary professionals to communicate more effectively with owners on key issues and outcomes to expect from hamster ownership.
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