Diabetic dwarf food?

[Cinnamon Bear]

I have a diabetic hamster, found out last night. Which is the best hamster food?

I'm deciding between Oxbow Essentials, Supreme science selective food (expensive tho) or Vita Nature which has wheat in it which makes it high on sugar, Pet Smart says.

I can get 4 bags of Oxbow for the price of one bag of Supreme science Selective.

I have flax seed, walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds & veggies

Also, do fenugreek seeds help?

Heard just now that diet doesn't affect type 1 diabetes. The pancreas isn't producing enough insulin so he needs shots or oral medication?

[Cinnamon Bear]

Update: talked with exotic vet, he said no insulin cause the hamsters are too small. He said high protein. High fiber, low fat diet. Said all the commercial foods are about the same. He didn't seem to think the little bit of sugar/ molasses would hurt the hamster

I have to stop giving them seeds altogether, Cinnamon & Koala & Chloe.

Think it's ok to give robos seeds & papaya treats, although I didn't ask him about the robos or Izzy.

I'll give the robos & Chloe & Izzy maybe one seed per day vs 8 seeds per day

[Penguin]

I had my hybrid diagnosed with diabetes last Monday, to avoid worrying all the time i have made this list that I can look at whenever I'm in doubt. Thought you might like me to share it.

1. Feed food high in protein

• cooked chicken
• cooked turkey
• Cooked egg whites
• tofu (plain)
• tuna in water (drained)
  

2. Feed food high in fibre

• cucumber
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• celery
• alfalfa (not many hamsters like this)
• timothy hay
• whole-wheat pasta (cooked)
• rolled oats (raw or make a porrige out of it)
• cooked brown rice
• various nuts

3. Make sure it's low in fat (all of the above listed items are)
4. Millet is GOOD for diabetic hamsters (I have seen people debate on this so I asked my vet)
5. Other COMPLEX CARBS like whole grains can be good too, therefore do not remove carbs (removing things from their mix is inaccurate so I would just pick a good mix to begin with)
6. There are no commercial mix for diabetic hamsters
However, some options without added sugar are:

• Supreme Science Selective
• Burgess Dwarf Supahamster
• Harry Hamster
• Oxbow (though it's a bit low in protein)

My vet thought it would be smarter to feed a pellet mix to make sure there were no added sugars, but after quite some research i figured all of these fit the 'safe for diabetic hamsters'-label.
7. If in doubt, DO NOT feed it to them

I would say that diet would help regardless of the type of diabetes, as long as the hamster dont have a high level of ketones, which can be tested with keto-diastix. But if your vet didnt seem concerned I would expect your hamster only had glucose in his or her urine on testing?

I know this didnt answer all of your questions, but it's what i came up with so far with my research, if any of my points are off, please tell me so I can change them. It would be very helpful for me too

[Cinnamon Bear]

Thank you Penquin! Very helpful! I told him I've been using Mazuri & he said all the mixes are about the same

Mazuri has high protein but some molasses in it. He didn't think it made a difference if the food had sugar or not? I didn't directly ask him about Science Selective with no sugar. Or Oxbow with protein supplements. The Science Selective is $20 per bag.
Oxbow is $5/bag
Mazuri is what he's used to & vet said ok to use it?

I have another vet calling hopefully will see what she says about the no sugar in Science Selective or Oxbow with added protein.

I don't want this to drive me crazy either

[Penguin]

I wouldn't feed anything with sugar or molasses to them. I found that Browney had a treat stick with nuts that should be completely sugarfree, until i realized it might be held together with honey. After removing it he lit up a bit. He still sleeps a lot more than he usually does, but 2 days after removing the source of sugar and i see him out waddle around asking for attention instead of only spotting him at his water bottle.

I wont go against your vet's word, as I don't have the knowledge to do so, but my impressions as I tried to explain with my rambling is that if the whole thing about them being unable to break down sugar makes them tired and feel ill, then removing the sugar can only do them good?

[Cinnamon Bear]

I decided to go with Supreme science selective food, bought 2 bags from ebay. 1/2 the price of Amazon

Is it a myth that a hamster should have some sugar in its diet?

[Penguin]

My guess would be yes, but you would have to ask someone else about the proportions, because i honestly have no clue. My vet once told me that mealworms mostly were fat with very little nutritional value and therefore almost no protein.

I don't know if she said this because my hamster was a bit chubby (75g i think) because she is opinionated or because it's true. I know there are healthier alternatives than mealworms but again ask someone else because I'm not sure myself.

I would like to know if mealworms are bad for diabetic hamsters due to the supposedly high fat content, maybe someone else on here can tell us?

I know that non diabetic hamsters need a bit of sugar to avoid hypoglycaemic shocks. But I don't know about diabetic hamsters? My guess would be yes but in smaller amounts? Does anyone know?

[Penguin]

I just realised that I replied only to ask the exact same questions you did Cinnamon :/ woops

[Cinnamon Bear]

Meal worms are 50% protein & 50 % fat. Didn't seem that vet knew himself?

Dried crickets are all protein & no fat, so I might use Crickets for Cinnamon Bear.

Found out that wheat contains sugar. The wheat in Vita Smart Vita nature raises blood sugar levels so not good for diabetic hamsters

I know someone who feed 1 tsp of fruit 1x per week to get a little sugar in their system but Vita Nature itself contains sugar but she didn't know that.

Still wondering, along with Penquin, can hamsters live off from no sugar in their diets?

[cypher]

I haven't been on for a couple of days but I just wanted to pop in & add a little to this, not sure where you get your nutritional data from CB? There's no exact GA for mealworms, it can vary a fair bit an average might be something like 50% protein & 28% fat, some sources say as much as 60% protein but fat around the 25% mark, crickets are more likely to be about 60% protein but again it varies but lower in fat around 12% on average, freshwater shrimps probably have the lowest fat with good amounts of protein.
It's always best to look for a GA on mealworms as some of the cheap ones sold for birds are actually deep fried & very high in fat!

We discussed this before but no animal needs sugar, most foods have small amounts of natural sugars anyway but the body makes what sugars it needs from the other nutrients like carbs, proteins & fat, no healthy animal is going to go into hypoglycaemic shock from not having sugar, with diabetic animals you need to monitor glucose levels & only give sugar if they drop below a normal level. Managing sugar levels isn't easy or simple in diabetic animals so you do need to monitor levels carefully.

Wheat does have a tiny amount of natural sugar but mostly it is complex carbs & fibre which is actually what you need, not my first choice of grain but still a healthy balance of the right nutrients.