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Originally Posted by Ria P
Do you know why she only weighed 83g when you got her from the rescue? Do you know anything about their history? I wished i'd know something about Percy's history but adoption centres and rescues don't always have this info especially when animals get left by the back door.
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The rescue was told that they were getting rid of their hamster because they were moving abroad. Res he didn't think this added up.
When they initially got her (the rescue this is), she was literally skin and bones. She'd hardly eat anything, everything was almost in tiny portions. They kept her in for a couple of months to try and get her back to normal. In this time she ate more and gained weight and was healthy enough to be rehomed. Obviously who ever adopted her would have to keep working with her at home.
I have rescued a couple of dogs and they'd only eat 5 bits of kibble a day. They too were skin and bone. The stomach had shrunk so you need to carefully stretch it out again so they can get their daily rations of food and put on weight. In dogs it takes a bit longer and is recommended to do it slowly. Took 7 months to get them into normal range.
Hamsters metabolism is fast so you need to be a bit quicker with weight gain. But in all honesty I put 5g of food in the cage and see how long it's last. At first it was 2 days now she's clearing 15g in 2 days. I am limiting the amount I put in and letting her do the portions that she eats in a single sitting herself.