My hamster is dangerously overweight. How can I help that?

Question

I came home from a month-long vacation, and my parents had spoiled her sick!

Answer 1

get her a different kind of food. ask the person at the pet store for a mix for overwieght hamsters. do not give her any treats, and let her run around in her ball for half an hour a day.

Answer 2

This is a common problem among tamed hamsters when they are fed too much fattening foods like sunflower seeds.Here are some tips to make your hamster reduce her weight -

1. Remove all sunflower seeds from her food completely.

2. Feed her only the commercial hamster food mix with the sunflower seeds removed

3. Give her treats only twice a week that too high protein low fat treats like hard boiled egg.

4. Get her out of her cage and make her active since overweight hamsters tend to get lethargic in the cage and stop using their exercise wheels.

Some simple tricks to make her exercise (apart from putting her in the hamster ball for 20 minutes each day) are -

Spread her food and hide treats in her bedding instead of putting food in a food dish. This would make her burrow and search for food instead of eating mechanically from her food dish.

Give her a variety of toys to play with. By toys, I do not mean the expensive ones you get in pet shops. Your hammy would be equally or more happy with inane things like empty toilet toll tubes, toothpaste cartons with flaps cut off or even hollowed out plastic balls (non toxic plastic should be used).

Make a hamster proof room area where she can roam around freely with no danger of escaping. I use the bath tub in my house - dry it out completely, plug the drain hole and make her roam in the tub. To make it even more interesting, put some toys and maybe a stand alone exercise wheel there and leave her there for 20 minutes.

I am sure your hamster would be back in shape in the next one month. All the best!

Answer 3

buy a new one

Answer 4

I know this is alot of reading but its very imformational

Food:

Pet stores can provide basic food for hamsters that provides their nutritional needs, but they also enjoy fresh vegetables and fruits, bird seed, and even living w:insects, which make up an important part of their natural diet. However, not any nutrition is suitable for hamsters and some food, such as sweets made for humans or poisonous plants like the leaves of the w:tomato, may be most dangerous for the hamster's health. Like with most other animals (and humans), it is not true that hamsters can decide which food is good for them and they will usually eat anything that is offered.

Hamsters should also always have fresh water available. Appropriate drinking devices can be found in stores. Being small animals that are adapted to the life in arid environments, hamsters can also ingest all necessary liquid via sufficient amounts of watery vegetables, such as cucumber, without any negative effects. However, providing water is usually more convenient and can be an easy way to add medication or w:vitamins to the hamsters diet. Both water and vegetables must be fresh and have to be exchanged frequently, usually once a day. Water must not be given in open jars, since it is likely to be polluted and because wetness is generally very unhealthy for hamsters (that clean themselves very carefully without the need of additional water).

In detail, the solid food components can be divided into three categories: dry, fresh, and animal food. Dry food makes up the bulk of a hamster's diet. Besides the standard rodent food sold in pet stores, most other kinds of w:seeds, kernels, and nuts can be given. Care should be taken to limit the amount of fat contained within the diet. Especially w:sunflower seeds, nuts, w:almonds, and w:sesame are most nutritive and are to be considered as a treat rather than as basic food. All kinds of grain, w:rice, w:noodles (dry), dry w:peas and w:lentils on the other hand can be provided less restrictively: about 120 g for a medium hamster and, depending on size, about half the amount for a dwarf hamster is sufficient. w:Bread and similar bakery products contain many ingredients (e.g. w:yeast) that can trouble the hamster's digestion system. They should be given in small amounts for gnawing or be replaced by special wafers as found in pet stores. All dry food should be appropriate in size. Especially small hamsters often cannot cope well with large seeds, even if they are sold under the label "hamster food". Bird food like w:millet is a noteworthy alternative for small hamsters.

w:Hay, although also belonging to the dry food category, can be provided in large amounts at any time. It does not contain notable amounts of fat, still is liked by most hamsters, supports the hamster's digestion system, serves as a hiding place, and is often used for nest building. In addition it is cheap and can even be produced in your own garden easily.

Fresh food is also an important part of the hamster's diet. As mentioned above, cucumber is a good supplement of water. Fresh w:grass, w:carrot, all kinds of w:lettuce, leaves and even branches' of (non-poisonous) plants are also no problem in general. However, no w:conifer wood must be fed since w:resin is poisonous for hamsters. In smaller amounts, grown hamsters also appreciate w:apple, w:pear, sweet w:paprika, tomato (only red parts), w:banana, w:mango, w:strawberry, and even small pieces of orange. Too much sweet fruits on the other hand are not healthy. All kinds of w:cabbage should be avoided, since they may cause w:flatulence, which is quite dangerous for the hamster's sensitive digestion system.

Very young hamsters (6-8 Weeks) should eat only carrots and small grains. Even water can damage their digestion system and be a deadly danger. Ill hamsters are also preferably provided with a more conservative diet. If accepted, w:herbs can also help to strengthen the hamster's health, though they cannot replace a w:veterinarian in case of a disease. Daisies (the flowers, not the stems or leaves) and w:dandelions are likewise appreciated. Plants used for hamster foods should never be placed near open windows because hamsters are more sensitive to chemical pollutions, due to their small body weight.

Finally animal food is a major component of some hamsters' natural food. As pets, a large part of this can be replaced by dry food. Still, hamsters need some animal proteins for their health. While some people like to provide living insects from pet stores to their hamsters, others will prefer to give them dry dog biscuits. Some hamsters are known to accept w:yoghurt (natural, without sweet ingredients) or soft w:cheese (low fat, not too salty), and in any case egg noodles are usually taken gratefully. If (dry or soft) dog or cat food is given, then the fat content has to be checked carefully. Furthermore, it must not contain w:molasses, which would harm the hamster.

In addition, a special salt stone (available in pet stores) belongs in every hamster cage. Although this huge amount of mineral salt is hardly used up by generations of hamsters, it is necessary for their life. Vitamin additives for rodents are not required and usually fresh vegetables are to be preferred. If the hamster is diseased or ill-nourished, vitamins or medications may be needed.

It might be noted that many hamsters tend to carry away food from their food source (by carrying it in their cheek pouches) and hoard it away in a cache hidden somewhere inside their container. These caches, when combined with hamster urine or a leaky water source and poor airflow, can grow mold or start to rot, creating a hazardous environment for the hamster. To keep this from happening, clean hamster cages frequently. It is because of this behavior that hamsters got their name. The German word for hoard is "hamstern."

There are also many foods that a hamster should never eat. This includes all kinds of human sweets, such as chocolate or candy, which are unhealthy and even dangerous. Furthermore, poisonous plants (also check indoor plants if the hamster is taken outside its housing) constitute a considerable danger. Other than this, mainly the various unhealthy and chemically treated products usually consumed by humans can cause problems.

Campbells dwarf hamsters are especially sensitive to w:Diabetes mellitus, and other dwarf hamster species may be somewhat sensitive too. Diabetes mellitus in hamsters is often caused by intake of simple w:sugar. Therefore it is essential to avoid hamster food and snacks containing w:molasses, w:honey, sugar, w:fruit sugar or other sweet stuff. Intake of sweet fruit should be limited to small snacks. Even with golden hamsters it may be useful to follow these guideline in order to avoid overweight and digestion disturbances.

Answer 5

spend a good amount of time with her at night when she should be up and running. If not, wake her up and play with her and get her moving by giving her activities like walking from one palm to the next or placing her in an enclosed space where it has room to roam about and not hide away. You can take her outside and place her on grass to get some fresh air but would require all of your supervision b/c she should not find that as an opportunity to escape.

Find anything safe that you could do to play with her and get her moving. Reduce the food a little if she is taking in too much. Even possibly, maybe she's not overweight but is pregnant if you have a male hamster there.

Answer 6

put her in her ball for about an hour each day, and have set meal times with her food dish filled only about 1/3 full. make sure she is running on her wheel, and give her fruits and veggies. look online for the full list of fruits and veggies you can give her. dont give her any more treats.

good luck!!

Answer 7

dont give it treats, let it run around in its ball or around the house

and dont give her to much food just give her enough to keep her well feed

Answer 8

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