Accidentally gave my hamster too much ringworm medicine. Is he okay?

I am sorry to hear about Rex! I would be concerned about possible skin mites causing these changes, or a vasculitis of the ears. I would recommend bringing him in to a vet who sees pocket pets for an examination. They may try to do a skin scrape or treat him prophylactically for mites.

Thanks for the question. Sounds like you guys are on the right track with the Revolution and the Care Fresh bedding. That is what I would have tried first if I didn't have a skin scraping. At this time, since they haven't improved, I would say a skin scraping would be in order and maybe a test for ringworm to see if we are missing something. If they have demodex mites they may need oral Ivermectin daily to get rid of those specific mites. I know you are using the Care Fresh bedding but has everything else in their environment been clean/sterilized? The toys/housing/dishes, etc? I would use a 10:1 dilution of water to bleach and let those items soak in that for 30 minutes and then rinse thoroughly and dry them before placing that back in the cage. Also the cage should be cleaned with a 10:1 bleach solution in the same manner. I hope this helps. Make sure the vet does a skin scraping this next time and see if they think a ringworm test is warranted. Definitely clean the cage, dishes and other items with dilute bleach water as described above and continue with the Care Fresh bedding. I think you guys are on the right track. Thanks for caring about these little guys. I'm sure you'll get them well soon! Best wishes! Dr. Amber

Thanks for reaching out about Remy. The question your ask is dependent on which medications you are referring to. Some are safe, some not. There are no specific medications approved for use of rats, so be careful. Good luck.

These medication may take up to 24-36 hours before reaching a stable concentration in the blood stream. i would suggest to wait a bit longer before considering a re-check unless you think the signs are actually deteriorating.

Thanks for your question about Ali, and I am sorry that you two are going through this. Unfortunately, it can take quite a while for you to be able to see improvement of the skin in cases of ringworm. Frequently the courses of medication are long, as the skin takes a long time to repair itself as the ringworm is killed by the medications. Hopefully you will see improvement in Ali's clinical signs within about a week or so - I am not sure if she had a great deal of itching or not, but that is a common sign that is exhibited. As far as your question about how fast it takes effect - this starts to happen quickly, which is why the animal begins to feel better within the week or so. But, it takes a long time to be fully effective, which is why the length of time that Ali will likely be on this medication is so long. Your veterinarian will likely want to check Ali at least a couple of more times for evidence of ringworm growth before saying that the ketoconazole can be stopped. I hope that helps to answer your question, and I hope that Ali has a speedy recovery!

They can definitely look worse right before they get better. This happens when the body pushes out the old/diseased skin and hair while the new/healthy skin and hair grows in. Oral medication is very effective for ringworm and not prone to resistance like some bacterial infections, so I doubt it's getting worse. It's also a good sign if it's just the existing lesions that look worse; rather than there being new lesions. If new lesions are seen, then this would indicate that the treatment is not working and would require a recheck by your veterinarian. I hope that helps and Buttercup gets better soon.

It could possibly be mange (mites in the hair follicles), ringworm (a fungal infection), or a bacterial skin infection. As ringworm is contagious to people and can spread rapidly, I recommend bringing your hamster to a vet for an examination and diagnostics based on the appearance of the lesions. In the meantime I would recommend handling your hamster with gloves and bathing with an antibacterial/antifungal shampoo such as Malaseb shampoo if you have access to this without a prescription where you live.