Rescued a hammy and he won't eat dried food?

[Telle1412]

He's very underweight and won't eat dried hamster mixes? Was wondering what an alternative would be? He's on baby food and warm cerial ATM help please!

[racinghamster]

Hiya. Can I ask what mixes you have tried so far? In the meantime, you can feed things like dry porridge oats, dry mealworms (ony a few as they are high in protein) and if he is a dwarf hamster, millet seed mixes sold for caged or wild birds. Canary mix, budgie mix or premium wild bird mix, which includes many varieties of small seeds like hemp, linseed, dari, japanese millet etc.... all good pet shops usually have these in small 1kg pre-mixed bags quite cheap. These can also be added to a regular hamster mix for added variety. I recommend Burgess Supahamster harvest mix (the syrian one) as the dwarf version doesn`t have the same variety.

Supermarkets also sell things like Kallo organic puffed rice and buckwheat. Buckwheat can be soaked in water for an hour o fed dry aswell. Hamsters love it soft though!

Millet spray is also enjoyed. :) Hope this helps a little. If you can give a wee bit more info on your hamster, members can give you more information on what they recommend aswell. x

[souffle]

He may not be eating it because he has a sore mouth or overgrown teeth. I would have him seen by a vet to check that the teeth are meeting correctly and the right length and that his pouches seem OK with no impactions or bad smell to the breath. Also ensure no teeth are broken and that they look healthy with no abcesses or anything.
Baby food and cereal does not provide an adequate diet for a hammy as they need the fibre in seeds and veg to make their tummies work properly. They also need to chew on the seeds to make sure it keeps the teeth in trim.
You can grind his mix up a bit to try and make it easier for him if his mouth is sore or soak the food to soften it. You need to take this out before he stores it though as wet food goes bad if stored.
A healthy hamster will eat most seed mixes so you really need to limit the amount of baby food you feed as he will indeed choose to eat that if you keep giving it. You would probably choose to eat a nice chocolate mousse rather than brussel sprouts and veg if you were given it every day wouldn't you? LOL
If his mouth does have an issue then obviously you need to feed the soft stuff till things are sorted out but after that it is important he eats a balanced diet of a hamster mix with a few extras.

[HollyHamster]

I would do as Souffle said and get him looked at by a vet. Hamsters can have some pretty bad teeth related problems that show in the way that they eat, or rather, how they don't. I would go as soon as possible as a hamster's health can deteriorate rather quickly.

[Telle1412]

I have checked his teeth and if anything they are short, but not to short. He will eat treats, cat biscuits and sunflower seeds but it's just the hamster mix, i've tried Wagg (which he came with) and another one done by wilkinsons not sure on the name. He is a Syrian and weighs about 100g but is bony. He seem to of put a bit of weight on with the seed, baby food etc.

[shiny]

I'm just thinking maybe if he has lots of treats, cat biscuits & sunflower seeds then he's probably not bothering too much with the mix as the other options are more yummy! If he can eat all these things then his teeth must be working at least.

He does sound a bit underweight. Have you tried giving extra protein such as a bit of plain cooked chicken or some boiled egg? We feed our Syrians on Silver's mixes from rat Rations & they love all the bits Hamster Mixtures : ratRations.com (http://www.ratrations.com/hamster-mixtures-c-85.html?zenid=e7d38107763f281aa7f5f0e5bf79b62e) might be worth a look for you.

If he is loosing weight then I would see a vet anyway.

Best wishes,

shiny :)

[Telle1412]

Heya,

The only reason i'm giving him the treats, sunflower seeds etc is because he wasn't eating the mix :( and I have given him chicken baby food which has the protein and I've not given him any egg yet, I'm going to weigh him today to see if he's put any weight on since last week.

[HorseyMandz]

Right, you're going to have to be cruel to be kind. Give him the mix, and he will eat it when he gets hungry. Do not give in unless it's obvious that he absolutely hasn't eaten anything after a day or so (they only eat tiny amounts so it's not always obvious), in which case you should try a different mix. However, you should get him checked out by a vet because rescues can come with all sorts of health problems :)

[CharlieB]

I would get him checked by a vet just to make sure there are no teeth or other health issues.

I have had a couple of very fussy Hammys - Wagg wouldn't be touched and other own brand mixes would be left. I wouldn't just give babyfood as they need goodness from other foods, I only provide babyfood to a sick ham who wont eat anything else or a ham that has bad teeth. At the moment my Duncan has sore teeth so I'm grinding the mix and putting a tiny amount of babyfood with it to make it a bit softer for him - I reduce the babyfood to mix ratio every day to get him off the babyfood. It would be better to use water to make the mix softer as Souffle says. Just keep an eye that he doesn't store it. Any of my well and healthy hams do not get babyfood, I save this for when they become poorly as I know they will eat it.

You can try Harry Hamster food - some shops sell it. My hammys will eat most of that but I would recommend silvers mix on ratrations that was a god send for one of my hammys that refused to eat.

I would get him off the babyfood ASAP - it is alright for a short time but they need more veriety. I would keep an eye on his weight and with his weight being low I would get him checked by a vet to make sure there is nothing else going on. Has he got any other odd hammy behaviour? Unusual weeing or drinking? Only reason I ask that is that Finley my rescue was on Wagg food when he came to me, After a couple days he started to loose weight his wee was very strong in smell and drank a lot. He had developed Diabetes but this is not a common thing in syrians its more Dwarfs but its still possible. If he has any other symptoms it may just be worth testing for this which you can do at home.
I would strongly advise a vet visit though as you never know with a Rescue what there previous health has been like.

[lucyeleanor]

When I rescued my Poppy she was very underweight and wouldn't touch her hamster food. It would be best to have him checked out by the vet, a good precaution anyway as you don't know his medical history. It turned out that my Poppy was just being very fussy, because she was on Guinea Pig food before which is a lot softer. I gave her baby food and scrambled egg in addition to hamster food until her weight was up. I'd advise giving many options until he is a good weight, in a safe zone, and then start giving him no option but hamster food and he will have it when he gets hungry. :)

[shiny]

The baby food is ok short term for ill hammies but it does not give them the fibre etc they need longer term for effective digestive function. A better build up is high protein stuff like bits of egg, chicken or meal worms. It is important you find a mix your hammie likes & get him on to that. You can get a small bag to try from rat rations. All our hammies love silver's mixes.

If you're worried there are other problems, a vet visit is a very good idea.