Weight loss

Mrs Livingston · 01-18-2016, 04:30 PM

Hi all,
I'm trying hard not to be paranoid but I'm a little worried about Madison. She's two years old and slowing down but there's nothing obviously "wrong." She had a massive health scare about 6 months ago during which I was certain that I was going to lose her. She wouldn't come out, had brown feet, eyes were half closed and she had lost a whopping 20grams in a week. I took her straight to the vet and somehow, miraculously, there on the vet's table she decided to open her eyes, clean her face and look completely fine. After a few days on babyfood she slowly started to gain the weight back and she plateaued at 178grams. Fastforward 6months to now and she is is slowly losing weight; over the last two weeks she has gone from around 175g to 168 this evening. She's currently running around the living room (though once again I have had to wake her up this evening), should I be worried? It is a gradual weightloss but it's a weightloss nonetheless.
Thanks in advance x

cypher · 01-18-2016, 10:08 PM

It's not unusual for them to lose weight as they get older, as long as she seems healthy otherwise & it does sound as though she is I would imagine it is just old age.
You could try supplementing her normal mix they don't need so much protein at that age so things like baby food, porridge & mashed potato can all help to try & stop or slow the weight loss.

racinghamster · 01-19-2016, 06:32 AM

Agree with cypher, look at what she`s eating and whether it`s a good time to be adding supplements like the porridge/baby food, raw veggies (if she doesn`t/hasn`t had these) as part of her daily diet? The dry diet is all important obviously, but sometimes it lacks in pure vitamins as time goes on and they need that little bit extra, even if it only boosts their enthusiasm to eat.

Maybe try not to wake her up if it`s not necessary? If she has a routine it`s better to let her body clock determine her timeline rather than being woken up to run around. Cold weather doesn`t help either as they can use energy to keep warm and I`ve noticed even when I have the central heating on during the day, a hamster who is sleeping in one place may still feel cold if the room isn`t warm enough. Although generally, hamsters prefer to be cooler than too warm, but really chilly/frosty weather can make a heated room feel cold.

Is she eating fine? x

Mrs Livingston · 01-19-2016, 12:33 PM

Thank you both for your response. Maddy has been on babyfood for 6 months now, she has an icecube amount a day that I defrost for her.
I completely understand that I shouldn't be waking her up and forcing her out to play but she isn't waking up till gone 10.30 at night. Because of this, I feel as though I have to make sure she is okay and so I haven't found a way of managing to check on her without waking her up. Any suggestions? And thank you again x

cypher · 01-19-2016, 10:50 PM

Sleeping more at that age is normal so it's not surprising you're not seeing her without waking her especially at this time of year when they often prefer to stay in bed, I don't think it hurts to wake her gently for a check & too give her some nice food, she'll probably get used to the routine if she hasn't already & you do need to keep an eye on her somehow.
Baby food does have quite a high water content so not as nutrient dense as something like porridge so maybe try giving that some days & see how she gets on with that or give less baby food plus a little porridge?