Do hamsters carry salmonella or other harmful bacteria like mice do?

Salmonella is more of a concern with reptiles like iguanas and turtles. Hamsters are both rodents, so they should be very similar. Your main concern with them, as with any warm-blooded animal is e. Coli. Just wash your hands after playing with them and you'll be fine.





Most hamsters aren't biters, but be warned, they can bite a lot harder than mice. If you do get bitten, and it breaks the skin, wash it out good and use an antibiotic. Rabies is NOT a concern with rodents - especially a caged rodent (How could it get rabies to start with?)

Do hamsters carry salmonella or other harmful bacteria like mice do?
Please note: Salmonella IS a concern in small animals. Below is a PETA article that states Petsmart sent out a memo in December saying that they were having a salmonella outbreak in several stores. Please make sure to maintain proper hygeine with any animal!


http://www.peta.org/feat-petsm... Report It

Reply:not pet mice
Reply:That's what vaccines exist for.
Reply:yes they do always make sure you wash hands properly and especially children
Reply:I rasie mice and the average cat or dog contains more dieases than7 mice
Reply:I've had hamsters for years and years and read loads of stuff about keeping them, and as far as I'm aware they're really quite clean. They'll carry their own bacteria, like we all do, so wash your hands after you touch them and after cleaning the cage but I've never had any problem whatsoever with anything like that.
Reply:Pet mice do not carry salmonella. untamed rats and mice can but not mice that have been quarantined and sold in a store and neither do pet hamsters or any animal sold from a store. It is possible that they could eventually get some type of decease later on but as long as you keep a healthy and keep his area clean he will be fine.
Reply:My job this summer was to breed rodents(hamsters, rats, mice and gerbils). Most breeders give the animals this medicine typed stuff to cure them of anything like that before they sale them to pet stores. Hamsters get sick but they don't have anything major.
Reply:Diseases that pass from animals to people are called 'zoonoses'. I googled 'zoonoses + hamsters' and got this;


http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en%26amp;q=z...


I don't think you have much to worry about. Hamsters have been sold as childrens pets for generations, they don't carry many diseases and its rare for them to pass them to people.


Just take the usual precaustions, wash your hands after handling the animal or cleaning its cage.
Reply:No, its only wild mice that carry diseases anyway, not domesticated ones.
Reply:no but school s do
Reply:Hamster can carry some zoonotic diseases (illnesses that can be transmitted to other species, including humans). The one in recent headlines was the hamster that was infected with LCMV (Lymphocytic Choriomengingitis Virus) or Viral Meningitis. A woman had gotten a hamster infected with LCMV and died from an unrelated circumstance. Her organs were donated and four people received organ transplants. It seems the woman that died had caught LCMV from the hamster. In the average person, LCMV just gives the symptoms of a common cold. For a person with a weakened immune system, the virus is dangerous. Three of the people that received transplants died due to LCMV. The doctors were able to figure out what was happening and were able to save the fourth transplant patient. Health officials were able to trace it back to the hamster and then trace it back to the distributor. All the animals in the facility had to be destroyed. You may remember this a year and a half ago when most, if any, of the Petsmarts had small animals at all for several weeks.





There are a few other zoonotic dieases such as ringworm, Tyzzer's disease, salmonella, etc.. It is called Salmonellosis when a hamster is infected with salmonella. There are two types of salmonella that can infect hamsters. Once infected, the hamster will shed the virus in its feces. Hamsters can get over a salmonella infection on their own though once they recover, they are likely to become carriers of the disease and shed it in it's bedding for the rest of its life.





It is very important that you are always aware of hygiene when handling the hamster and cleaning its cage.





-Janice


http://www.holmdenhillhaven.com
Reply:no
Reply:well they are rodents so i would say yes