Elderly hamster

[jojono7]

I took my hamster to the vet and he is looking much better. The vet said he is an elderly hamster. He told me to give him vitamins every day and puree his food. I'm new to having an elderly hamster so any advice?

[Pebbles82]

Did the vet say how to give vitamins? It's not a good idea to put anything in their water as it can put them off drinking.

It's important to keep giving them the normal hamster mix as well as soft food and supplements. I used to put out a bit of normal dry hamster mix (sometimes they still like pouching it even if they don't eat much), some soaked hamster mix (pour a bit of boiled water on it and let it cool before you put the dish out), some baby food in an egg cup (I pushed the egg cup down into the substrate so it didn't fall over).

Hemp seeds are a good supplement as well as they contain every vitamin and mineral there is. I used to put some of those out once or twice a week.

With baby food you need to get the age 4 months ones - these usually don't have anything in unsuitable for hamsters, but you still need to check the ingredients. Avoid anything with tomatoes, onion, garlic or spices really. I found there were 3 or 4 flavours that were hamster safe, and gave a different one every couple of days. It was very popular!

You could also move his food and water nearer to his nest if he has any walking difficulties. But maybe not yet if he is getting about ok.

Make sure there are no levels or anything he could climb and fall from. So you might need to rearrange the cage slightly so everything is at floor level. Try not to do that at the same time as a clean out as even if it is a bit of a change, at least everything will smell familiar.

The other reason you still put some hard food out is, they do still eat a bit sometimes and it helps keep their teeth worn down. One of the problems of old age when they can't eat so well is their teeth can get overgrown, so still put a chew out as well.

[jojono7]

The vitamins are liquid droplets. And thanks for the reply!

[cypher]

You might find this thread helpful.
http://www.hamstercentral.com/community/feeding-nutrition/66078-feeding-hamsters-missing-teeth-who-elderly.html

[Thin Lizzy]

Glad your hamster is feeling better.

[Pebbles82]

SKB's thread is excellent! (The one Cypher linked). I forgot to add that scrambled egg goes down well sometimes as well. Erin's Hamsters also has a video on feeding elderly hamsters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8JLI7ghwLA

I also did a video on our cage set up for an elderly hamster if that helps :-)

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=NIxHqvr9wTY