Hamster Central - View Single Post - Chronic Kidney Disease / Chronic Renal Failure: diagnosis, "treatment" options

**Hamtastic** · 04-03-2012, 06:03 PM

Sample Diet

“Hamster Soup”

This soup is an easily prepared and inexpensive basis of the CKD hamster diet (also works for diabetic hamsters, though without the CKD ingredient restrictions). It provides nutrition and hydration in one dish. Ingredients may be varied to keep a hamster interested.

Sample ingredients:

Pasta (whole wheat, quinoa, spinach, spirals, elbows, or any other available varieties)
Diced fresh potato (making sure no skin or dark spots remaining on the surface after peeling)--this ingredient is optional
Grains: pearled barley, rice, millet, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth, etc.
Finely diced vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, zucchini, squash, carrot, etc.
NOTE: when adding boiled veggies to a soup, it goes bad quite a bit faster than going with pure grains. You may choose to add fresh veggies on the side instead.

Preparation:

Boil grains, potato, and pasta together until they are almost soft enough to eat. Discard the broth and add some freshly boiled water. Add sliced vegetables. Mix and steam together for a few minutes. This soup is good for a few days and does not take long to prepare. Less broth and more of the solid ingredients is preferable. Once a week, a small amount of hard-boiled egg white can be mixed in with the soup. Make a new soup every few days, serve fresh daily.

When the soup is ready for serving and placed into a hamster food bowl, add a couple drops of flax oil and mix with the broth. Kelp flakes are good as well, and a small pinch of debittered nutritional yeast. (Photos show sample dry grain selection for a soup and a fully prepared soup):

Kelp flakes are a matter of some debate in the Kidney Disease community, due to their high iodine content, but overall they seem to be helpful with hydration, and RatRations includes and recommends them with their diets for rats with impaired kidney functions (NOTE: pre-made rat diets are not applicable here for hamsters—I have looked into them).

In addition to the soup, offer occasional fresh vegetables, steamed raisins, Hills pellets, puffed rice/millet/corn grains (plain puffed varieties), Timothy hay products (such as Kaytee cubes or Oxbow Botanical Hay in the U.S.)—protect your hamsters’ pouches and pick out harder sharp pieces), and any other treats you deem appropriate based on their nutritional value.

04-03-2012, 06:03 PM
Hamtastic Retired Moderators Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 6,330	Re: Chronic Kidney Disease / Chronic Renal Failure: diagnosis, "treatment" options Sample Diet “Hamster Soup” This soup is an easily prepared and inexpensive basis of the CKD hamster diet (also works for diabetic hamsters, though without the CKD ingredient restrictions). It provides nutrition and hydration in one dish. Ingredients may be varied to keep a hamster interested. Sample ingredients: Pasta (whole wheat, quinoa, spinach, spirals, elbows, or any other available varieties) Diced fresh potato (making sure no skin or dark spots remaining on the surface after peeling)--this ingredient is optional Grains: pearled barley, rice, millet, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth, etc. Finely diced vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, zucchini, squash, carrot, etc. NOTE: when adding boiled veggies to a soup, it goes bad quite a bit faster than going with pure grains. You may choose to add fresh veggies on the side instead. Preparation: Boil grains, potato, and pasta together until they are almost soft enough to eat. Discard the broth and add some freshly boiled water. Add sliced vegetables. Mix and steam together for a few minutes. This soup is good for a few days and does not take long to prepare. Less broth and more of the solid ingredients is preferable. Once a week, a small amount of hard-boiled egg white can be mixed in with the soup. Make a new soup every few days, serve fresh daily. When the soup is ready for serving and placed into a hamster food bowl, add a couple drops of flax oil and mix with the broth. Kelp flakes are good as well, and a small pinch of debittered nutritional yeast. (Photos show sample dry grain selection for a soup and a fully prepared soup): Kelp flakes are a matter of some debate in the Kidney Disease community, due to their high iodine content, but overall they seem to be helpful with hydration, and RatRations includes and recommends them with their diets for rats with impaired kidney functions (NOTE: pre-made rat diets are not applicable here for hamsters—I have looked into them). In addition to the soup, offer occasional fresh vegetables, steamed raisins, Hills pellets, puffed rice/millet/corn grains (plain puffed varieties), Timothy hay products (such as Kaytee cubes or Oxbow Botanical Hay in the U.S.)—protect your hamsters’ pouches and pick out harder sharp pieces), and any other treats you deem appropriate based on their nutritional value. __________________ ~ Maxwell ~ Hamilton ~ Tofu ~ Reward yourself and make a hamster in need happy - Consider Adoption! Last edited by Hamtastic; 03-23-2013 at 11:30 AM.