Cinnamon Bear

[cypher]

Originally Posted by Cinnamon Bear

Cinnamon Bear is drinking soooo much water! Like every 20 minute it seems. I've been through a couple water bottles thinking the bottle wasn't working properly but today I looked & the water level is the lowest in 24 hours that I've ever seen any of my dwarves in the past, even the one with diabetes .

Can feeding too many seeds in the diet cause diabetes in Russian hybrids or is it mostly just sugar to limit as much as possible? I have keto-diastix strips but I've never seen him pee in a taming bin before. I'll have to see if I can keep him out longer to test his urine.

Don't panic over diabetes just yet! Drinking large amounts of water can often be a sign of a UTI, not uncommon in hams, best to test his pee as soon as you can though & get some idea of what's going on.
If they drink that much then they will pee a lot & quite frequently so you can try putting him in an empty plastic bin for a short while to get a fresh clean sample to test.

Feeding seeds in the diet doesn't cause diabetes, some hams will get diabetes regardless of how careful with the diet you are but those seeds do need to be part of a balanced diet as the tend to be high in fats.
If a ham has diabetes then it is important to feed a low fat, high fibre diet with adequate protein & complex carbohydrates, no sugars.

[Cinnamon Bear]

Thanks Cypher, that's what I was thinking is that seeds in themselves aren't bad or diabetes it's just that you want to feed them lower amounts of fat. I'm planning on trying to get a clean pee sample. Hopefully this can be done soon? I cleaned out a plastic bin for him & will also try a coffee mug in his cage as well.

[Cinnamon Bear]

Here's a pic of Cinnamon Bear from last night. He's a little bigger now!

[flowerfairy]

He is a little chunkster. Very lovely with his amazing red eyes.

[cypher]

He looks a good size, plenty to chomp on too

[Cinnamon Bear]

He loves to eat! I hope he's full grown now! lol

[Thin Lizzy]

His face is so pretty! Definitely grown and is growing into a very handsome boy.

[Cinnamon Bear]

Yea, I'm happy he has put on some weight! Took him along time to be fully grown it seems

[Pebbles82]

He's gorgeous And look at those tasty mealworms! What exactly are mealworms anyway? I always wondered. I know they are some kind of worm lol.

[LuluTheDwarfHamster]

Is that cotton bedding? If so that isn't good for hamsters. If they swallow the cotton bedding it can ruin their immune system and get caught up in their organs and die. How do I know? I had so many hamsters before this one and I made a mistake buying cotton bedding.