[Lilafernim]

I think to be honest as much as there is sometimes neglect, I also think people can love and care for their hamsters and be honestly mislead with information from places such as pet stores. My previous hamster I got what at the time I thought was a ‘massive’ cage she had sawdust and I used to use kapok bedding because I thought it was safe.

This forum taught me a lot when she did pass away but I don’t think I ever look back and think she had a bad life. I think she could’ve had a more luxurious home and I deprived her from that pleasure but I absolutely adored her. She’d spend hours running outside of the cage and was spoilt rotten in other ways.

I don’t think everyone who ‘neglects’ their hamster is doing it in a spiteful way and for a lot of people redirecting them to this forum or informative videos would actually make them happy to learn.

If someone you know is also bored of their hamster and genuinely has no interest, suggesting to give the hamster to a rehoming service like happy hamsters uk isn’t offensive. A lot of the time people do become busy and the responsibility of a pet as well may be too much for them so suggesting rehoming can be a good solution for them as the hamster then gets a chance of having a good life and the person doesn’t have to feel guilty.

Or could make posters or leaflets and inform people but to be honest I think people either have a genuine interest for their hamster and are just misinformed but happy to learn, or they don’t care and won’t research so the best thing you can do is suggest rehoming.

There’s so much misinformation out there your best bet is to correct videos or posts that you see as wrong and write informative information to educate others, and also address the main stem of the issue and write to pet stores the correct information and why it’s important proper information should be given to customers. Or better yet stop mass breeding them at all!