Bonio Biscuits?

[GreySyrian]

Went out and brought some Bonio biscuits for the dog but have seen posts that some people also give them to hamsters?

Just wondering what peoples opinion/knowledge is on feeding them to hamsters and secondly how do you break them up without them crumbling ? Didn't realise they were so big !!!

[Bertiebobbins]

I've given mine the bonio milk bones and they enjoy them, but I've stopped recently as they were going soft quite quickly once I've put them in the cage and they don't eat them too fast. Interested to know if all the doggy biscuits go soft like that...

[cypher]

I've given mine both bonio milk & adult biscuits & biscrok dog biscuits & just snap them in half, they generally just have a bit of a nibble now & then so it's more of a chew than a treat really.
Not sure why yours have gone soft Bertie unless someone peed on their biscuits! I haven't had that problem at all.

[Bertiebobbins]

How strange! I might get another pack and see if the same thing happens, I might not have stored them properly or something. No one had pee'd on them lol!

[racinghamster]

Buy a bag of Supreme Science Selective hamster food as these are heart-shaped biscuits made as a complete diet for hamsters so will do the same job only without the doubt.

[GreySyrian]

Originally Posted by racinghamster

Buy a bag of Supreme Science Selective hamster food as these are heart-shaped biscuits made as a complete diet for hamsters so will do the same job only without the doubt.

Made an order for some! Thank you

[cypher]

Do bear in mind that science selective is a main food, it is a complete food although with very limited ingredients but it does have all the vits etc needed so it's used to replace whatever other main food you use, dog biscuits are used more generally as a chew treat, good for teeth & they don't tend to eat much at once so it's not really replacing the main mix, if that makes sense!

[racinghamster]

It`s actually a nice addition to have. I take one biscuit and give it a tap in my pestle & mortar and add it to Chubs other mixes (Burgess Supahamster and JR Farm dwarf mix food). It has, a bit like dog bonios, a gravy-like smell and hamsters seem to like it. You could leave one whole and just place it in the food dish and see if gets nibbled or disappears! If not, they are easy to break just by tapping. But your hammie should enjoy it either way.

The reason I decided to buy a bag of Science Selective food was because it is a complete food, as cypher said, and is great for breaking up, softening in water or using as a soft base to add other things to like crushed nuts. I`d rather have a bag as not due to it`s use as a biscuit that can be used for these purposes if my lad ever needs palliative care or loses any teeth. It`s manufactured specifically for hamsters and they do a mouse one too! x

[cypher]

I do agree it is useful to have for all the reasons you mentioned RH (although I prefer oxbox personally) but going back to the original question here I just think there might be a bit of confusion over why people give dog biscuits & what's given as a main food, ss biscuits really aren't very hard so not especially good for teeth really.

[racinghamster]

I get what you mean cypher, but some (not all) dog biscuits can cause allergies, usually skin issues in hamsters and I`ve seen a few articles suggesting this. That`s not to say they will be harmful to all hamsters, but I do think caution is needed regarding the ingredients. If they are organic dog biscuits, I would still want to know what ingredients were used. For example, if the biscuit was made up of wheat/oats/oatmeal/oil or had flavourings that were clearly explained and could be identified, the biscuits would probably be okay to use. Milk bones seem to be safe enough but again, I would still ask questions and look closely at every ingredient and google anything you don`t understand or can`t identify.

In the past, I put a few different shaped dog biscuits in my Syrian`s bowl but he wasn`t even interested! It was experimental I admit, but my theory is that if a hamster has a varied diet, the teeth should be maintained naturally by chewing and using their teeth naturally without any need for additional conditioning. They will chew on wood or cardboard too, which helps, although some hamsters don`t get destructive with accessories while some do.

Misaligned or bad teeth won`t be put right by chewing alone. Long teeth or overgrowth may be due to the fact that the hamster`s diet isn`t sufficient in the first place, so needs to be careful looked at and added to or changed if the hamster is not eating it all or is losing weight.

I get the whole additional `treats` for enrichment reasons, but personally, I would try and stick to items made specifically for hamsters, or even rats/mice/degus, but STILL read the ingredients! x