My hamster :( is it just old age?

Hi guys, my hamster is 2 years and 2 months, he's a Syrian. Yesterday I noticed he's got sticky eyes, like they are stuck shut, I have bathed them with boiled (and cooled) water and saline solution, which he seemed to hate me doing is this gonna help them get better?
Also, he's really wobbly on his feet now, and seems frail and sort of unstable when he walks about, doesn't help that he can't see right now either! Eating slightly less, and he has lost a bit of weight I guess...
It seems to have all come on quite suddenly, like in the past week. a couple of weeks ago he was running around perfectly well!

Are these just all symptoms of old age? How much longer do you reckon he's got?

Thanks for the replies everyone. Appreciate it. I just went to clean him out and spend a bit of time with him, his eyes are still stuck closed. I bathed them again and he managed to open them almost fully. His balance is still terrible tho, he fell down a little step bit in his cage and rolled onto his back. Its not nice seeing him so unstable.

I'm just gonna keep his cage as clean as I can without disrupting him too often, give him lots of extra bedding and some food he may handle better than the hard stuff.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Appreciate it. I just went to clean him out and spend a bit of time with him, his eyes are still stuck closed. I bathed them again and he managed to open them almost fully. His balance is still terrible tho, he fell down a little step bit in his cage and rolled onto his back. Its not nice seeing him so unstable.

I'm just gonna keep his cage as clean as I can without disrupting him too often, give him lots of extra bedding and some food he may handle better than the hard stuff.

should you not be taking him to the vet??

surely obviously sick animal = vet.

or is this just not done with hamsters as its cheaper to just replace them

Make sure he can get to water easily, I think that was part of the problem with mine when she got a bit wobbly.

Try filling a bottle lid with water if he cant get around, and leave it near his sleeping area.

I wouldn't recommend regularly cleaning out the cage as has been mentioned above. It doesn't matter that he can not see, blind hamsters live normal lives because their sight is quite poor anyway - they rely more heavily on their senses of smell and sound. Their enviroment is very important to them, more specifically the way it smells. Frequent and thorough cleaning is very stressful for a hamster, as is being moved around too much. Instead you should only remove small areas of obviously soiled bedding and nesting material and leave most of the bedding for as long as it doesn't smell. Then when you do clean the cage, put back some of the old bedding anyway.

It does just sound like old age and there is nothing you can do but make them comfortable, give them treats and softer foods and watch them. If they do suddenly go downhill and develope symptoms that suggest they might have something such as a respiratory infection - then they should really see a vet. Things like clicking when breathing and mucus around the nose. If they survive the infection for several days before they die, then it is likely that they suffered needlessly. Hamsters usually die within 24 hours if they were too weak to survive the illness even with antibiotics (usually, but not always). Painkillers and antibiotics can be given to help them if they are ill (rather than just generally de-generating with old age), it's a myth that there is nothing you can do so should just leave them for days on end.
Vets in the UK are pretty cheap (compared to the US), if you go within working hours it should only be between £5-20. This is only if they become clearly sick, on top of their old age.

Thanks for the tips on cleaning him out, I always put some of his old bedding back in after I clean him anyway, and he always pees in one place so I can just clean out that part when needed. And change the rest of his cage less often. I'll check him over later, I'm trying to disturb him as little as poss apart from bathing his eyes. He doesn't seem to have any other problems that you mentioned, no noises when breathing, or runny nose.

I have a day off Thursday so maybe I could take him to the vet then if it doesn't cost too much.

Hope the trip to the vet went well. My hamster fell really ill suddenly a few months ago, she lost all her balance and unable to walk, the vet suggested putting her down after diagnosing it as a stroke I welled up at the thought so he said he'd try giving her a shot of something (cant remember what now) and then see if it helps... literally within a few days she was running around and completely normal again and still going strong

Since then, I have to say if I notice her low on energy I give her bits of my meat and other foods and it really has a massively positive improvement on her general wellbeing and activity level. Oh and you can buy vitamin drops to add to their food which may help.

Hope he's feeling better now