Hamster foods are NOT complete

[mouseandstrawberry]

I've read alot of owners stating Harry Hamster and other mixes are complete. How can they be though when they have no meat source?

Hamsters are omnivores. They need the protein source. Insects such as meal worms, dog biscuits, cat biscuits and even fresh meat.

Egg is another protein source they benefit from having.

Fresh foods are vital such as veg, herbs, fruit and wild plants.

Even foods with a protein source in like some hamster mixes having meal worms in are still NOT complete. It's not a complete diet. They need so much more.

These hamster mixes are full of cereals, in the wild hamsters come across grasses, seeds and insects alot more than they come across a field of wheat!

[maebh06]

I have no idea why hamster food companies do that myself, but I completely agree with you!
After looking at the ingredients in the Harry Hamster mix, this just confirms that. All of the ingredients on there are plant-based, which is ridiculous.
Personally I think hamster food companies should do more to promote adding in your own protein and fresh vegetables, and get round to making proper 'complete' mixes that are more of what the hamster would eat in the wild!

[racinghamster]

I personally don`t believe that they are complete either. They provide basic nutrition for a hamster, but some of the ingredients never get eaten, like grass/alfalfa pellets, which are essentially part of the fibre content. Dry Porridge oats added would do a better job!

I currently use Burgess Supahamster (not their dwarf version) for my Russian dwarf male, but I also bought some bags of JR Farm hamster mix from Zooplus, so this adds the smaller seeds and variety. I truly believe buying a good, basic hamster food as a base and adding in things like budgie seed millet, a little sprinkle of dry porridge oats, a snipped off piece of millet spray and a few dry mealworms adds to the texture. Chopped (safe) nuts and some small amounts of fresh raw veggies is fine. Dry grasses (not hay) can sometimes be enjoyed. Although I find many of those Naturals rages have mint and herbs added that hamsters don`t like the smell of.

It`s all about looking at what in the mix you feed, does the hamster actually enjoy it? and can it be bettered by adding two mixes together or adding other nuts and seeds to it. x

[Shannonmcn]

A nutritionally complete food and a complete diet are different. Not having animal protein isn't a problem if you get protein from other sources, human vegetarians manage all the time. I agree about the little black logs though, they're a waste of space and I have just switched to Burgess because they have mealworms but they're not lying when they say it's a complete food, it's "complete" in a very specific way. Rodent lab blocks are a complete food, like dry kibble for cats or dogs, but it's not a complete diet.

[barley]

For a pet food to be labelled as "complete" it LEGALLY needs to contain the correct balanced of essential nutrients the target species needs to stay alive. So, in theory, you could have a hamster food that is sold as "complete" but made entirely of wheat for example, and then supplemented with synthetic vitamins to achieve the correct nutrient balance.

This doesn't mean it is a fantastic diet - but it will keep your hamster alive - as it contains all the essential vitamins they need.

A hamster fed solely on Harry Hamster will survive.

However, of course, most pet owners want their animals to do better than just "survive", they want them to thrive - which is why the vast majority of good owners choose to add to the mix.

I do not agree with feeding JUST hamster mix and I feed a huge variety of foods to my hams, but you're wrong in saying hamster foods labelled as complete are not - because they are. It's a legal requirement for them to meet strict guidelines in order for them to be labelled as such.
x

[cypher]

I do think you're confusing quality & complete to some extent, don't be too disparaging of wheat, I know we get used to seeing it as a crop grown in huge fields or think more of the mass produced end products we know so well but it does actually grow wild & is a kind of grass!
I do think my hams do better with some animal protein but it's not actually essential, humans are omnivores too but we can do fine without animal protein & while eggs in tiny amounts once in a while are quite good for hams it's hardly a natural food!
So I agree with those that say these foods are complete in that they cover all the basic nutritional needs for a hamster but we can all improve their diets with additional foods if we want to & know how.

[RedSky]

Commercial animal feed are designed for pet owners who don't have the time, knowledge, desire, ability to create their own. Some stuff is added or taken away to make production easier and to allow them to get more profit from selling it, or even making the consumer think they are getting more for their money.
As already said, yes, nutritionally they can survive on what is in there, but often some stuff shouldn't be there and other stuff should be available or in a more accessible form.
More research has been done as to the requirements of dogs and cats than it has hamsters and yet their food is still full of carbs they have no hope of digesting. While the argument is still on for whether or not dogs benefit from none-animal products, cats most certainly do not. They are obligate carnivores, they cannot digest anything that isn't part of an animal. If they can't get it right for two of the most common pets why do we expect them to get it right for our hamsters?
I use a few different feeds, swapping around things and adding extra stuff, taking some bits out and trying to balance it myself. It's not easy and it's not ideal, but I figure we manage for us, and wild hamsters won't have 24/7 access to each part of their diet year round.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Er... I suppose it depends on what you mean by complete. I wouldn't personally define complete as "a diet containing everything eaten in the wild" so I think the claims that those mixes are complete are fairly valid - most do seem to contain everything a hamster needs to live a full and healthy life. Hamsters do need protein in their diet but I'm not sure that protein has to come from meat. The only animals who absolutely need meat in their diets are the obligate carnivores - those who cannot produce taurine e.t.c for themselves and who need to eat it. I've never heard of hamsters being unable to produce their own taurine but have heard of hamsters doing fine on diets that seem unlikely to contain it.

Its also worth bearing in mind that the ideal diet in the wild won't match the ideal diet in captivity. In the wild hamsters ideally want to be ready to mate and have pups as often as possible, in captivity we know that a female having too many litters will reduce her lifespan and try to ensure no female breeds as often as their body will let them. That alone means that in captivity hamsters will benefit from a different diet to their wild counterparts. In captivity we need to think of the hamsters long term health, in the wild not only are they less likely to live long term but they're less likely to have that much freedom with their diet. I wouldn't be at all surprised if one of those complete hamster mixes provides a better diet for a hamster than what it'd get in the wild to be honest.

I currently feed my own hamsters a mix of mixes - most of which claim to be complete and all I add to the food is dried veg. My pets also get treats but most of those aren't things they'd see in the wild either, I mean how many hamsters're going to encounter chicken in the wild? It doesn't stop my pets enjoying it as an occasional treat.
I'm happy with the complete mixes, I prefer to mix a few for a few reasons but I see no reason to claim they're not complete just because they don't contain everything a hamster would eat in the wild.

[mouseandstrawberry]

Complete means, 'having all the necessary or appropriate parts'

Which these mixes don't and i don't belive they do survive as long without meat, egg etc in their diet.

It goes for all animals that they should have as close to natural diet as possible for them to have optimum health and longevity.

Lets face it the pet food companies (99% of them) make food to make huge profits. It's not with the pets health in mind.

[kyrilliondaemon]

But they do have all the necessary or appropriate parts for hamsters to live full and healthy lives... Hamsters are relatively short lived at the best of times but if complete mixes weren't good for them they wouldn't have the lifespans they do.

I've never seen any evidence saying that hamsters do/don't survive longer with meat, egg e.t.c in their diets - and you can't tell me they have cooked egg in the wild anyway.

Pet food companies will indeed make the food with profit in mind but some companies do charge enough for their food that they can afford to put more effort into ingredients than other companies. Plus very few animals in captivity will have anything like their wild diet, as an example, how many cats would be eating lamb in the wild? I also doubt that zoos feeds the lions gazelle e.t.c...