A Hamster Circling

Animals, just like humans can be affected by genetic and neurological disorders. One of the most common seen in the Syrian hamster is a hamster that continuously runs around in circles.This is known as an obsessive compulsive disorder or OCD The animal will spend nearly all his waking hours just running around in circles. Although they will stop to eat and drink, they find it difficult to stop this behavior.

In the Dwarf hamster OCDs can manifest themselves in two or three different forms. This may be circling, or pacing: pacing is where the animal just repeatedly runs up and down the side of his cage. Or back flipping: back flipping is where the hamster repeatedly does a partial or full back flip. This back flipping behaviour is not observed in the Syrian hamster. These disorders usually start to manifest when the hamster is about 2 - 3 months old. Breeding from these animals should be avoided.
This disorder should not be confused with the inner ear disorder Vestibular disease.