There can be a few causes for this:
Hamsters will get eye infections, dwarves are more prone to this than Syrians.
Something in the cage will poke the eye and the eye will "weep".
Older hamsters will not be able to clean their faces as well and will get crusty or sticky eye, so they need assistance to clean themselves.
This method can be used on all of these.
Sometimes if the infection is mild enough and you take care to not reinfect it while cleaning, the eye infection will go away in a week or so. Any eye infection that lasts longer than a week should be seen by a vet. It's a good idea to schedule a vet appointment while doing this because sometimes the waits can be long until a vet is able to see your hamster. You can always cancel if it gets better.
You can use some of these prepackaged sterile saline packets:
https://www.amazon.com/Modudose-Saline- ... B002YRY3HI
or carefully prepare a saline solution to clean the eye.
To prepare a sterile saline solution you need:
- Water
- Iodine free salt
- a pot to boil water
- a clean glass cup or jar
- cotton balls
- a teaspoon
(1) Boil 2 cups of water (one is for sanitizing and one for the water solution)
(2) Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 30 seconds.
(3) Wash your cup/jar, and teaspoon spoon with the 1 cup of the boiling water, set aside on a clean towel.
(4) Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the other cup of water, stir with your clean teaspoon.
(5) Once it cools down to wrist temp, use a clean cotton ball to soak up the water and clean 1 eye. Use a new cotton ball to clean the other. It's best if you can get some drops of water on the eye itself.
If you are using the saline vials, just break the cap and put a few drops in the eye and then take the rest and add to the cotton ball directly to clean the outside of the eye. Do not reuse cotton balls, 1 per eye.
Clean the eye(s) whenever you see goo or crustiness or twice a day if you see redness and suspect infection, do this for one week or until you are able to see a vet.
