Harry and Hazel Hamster

[pinkneon]

Originally Posted by AmityvilleHams

Hmmm do you have the exact ingredients for the food then?I'd be interested in doing a comparison quickly if you do

I have a bag of Harry Hamster right here and can copy it if you want?

[Pebbles82]

Originally Posted by Shelly78

sorry I wasn't tring to stress you out I did send a email to them about it and it does have the same GA as harry

Yes it does - at the beginning of this post is the copy of their reply which says it does.

Maybe we had better not all bombard Supreme Petfoods with emails though

[pinkneon]

What's GA? Also what are the things the message said they didn't put in? Got confused with the letters lol

[Pebbles82]

The letter from Supreme Petfoods just said the Harry and Hazel Hamster are the exact same formula - it's the bit on the first post at the beginning of the thread. I'm not sure what GA means either lol.

[AmityvilleHams]

GA means Guaranteed Analyses,which basically means the exact nutrients it works out to.For this reason it is actually more logical to have a guaranteed analyses,but it takes more extensive work and such to get these calculated in general.It's guaranteed though,no possible variation,and with Typical ones they can have some wiggle room as far as I'm aware.Our ingredients lists are much more thorough in the US,there isn't really an allowance for usage of unspecific terminology when it comes to these things.

[Pebbles82]

Thanks for clarifying that. I wouldn't call it wiggle room exactly - that sounds as if they are trying to get out of something. I thought I'd have a look to see what they say about food labelling on pet foods in the US. This is what it says about Guaranteed Analysis.

"Guaranteed Analysis

At minimum, many state regulations require a pet food to guarantee the minimum percentages of crude protein and crude fat, and the maximum percentages of crude fiber and moisture. The "crude" term refers to the specific method of testing the product, not to the quality of the nutrient itself."

The full article is here

Pet Food Labels - General

So the guaranteed analysis is the minimum amount of protein. The typical amount is the amount it is produced to contain and probably does contain. EU laws are fairly tight on animal feeds as well.

So the GA means it contains no less than that percent but the manufacturers say it contains more than that. Depends how you want to look at it really.

The main thing is - and where the confusion has been sometimes - is that both Hazel and Harry Hamster are exactly the same formula. It's produced in the Uk and complies with English and EU legislation. It's one of the main hamster foods in the Uk and plenty of hamster lead healthy happy lives with it.

[pinkneon]

I love Harry Hamster! We always had it even when I was a kid. Only have 1 pet shop near here that sells it, but the shop isn't walking distance as they closed the other one! And they don't have it in all the time unfortunately as they also sell a loose mix that you buy buy weight. Not sure what what it is though? I know a farm shop near here sells one like that too. So I usually get it online unless I known I'm going to be near the pet shop and order it in

[Vectis Hamstery]

Thanks for posting, Serendipity. Useful information about the different ways of expressing information in different countries. I wasn't aware of the different legal positions. It just goes to show that rigidly sticking to an 'ideal' percentage isn't always a helpful way of thinking about hamster food, especially as different animals have different needs and even the same animal has different needs throughout his/her lifetime and now I discover different countries express the figures differently! I do quite like Harry food myself and recommend it for owners of my baby hams as it's a nice all round food and hams can do well on that without much supplementation

[oddlyoblivious]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

I think a lot of mixes fall a bit short on protein which is why people supplement a bit. I've just tended to go with supplementing occasional fresh food because it's nice! But it does help with protein as well. Charlie has mainly only ever had Harry Hamster, with the occasional piece of cheese, half a brazil nut or a piece of plain chicken now and then, and he is perfectly healthy So if Hazel and Harry are exactly the same food then Hazel must be fine too

It's still fascinating to discover this, because I had no idea the way the percentages were represented were different between countries. I need to go food shopping for Eve but can't make up my mind. I've not been able to find hazel hamster either, though amusingly enough I found the brands they market for other species.

Thanks for sharing this info Serendipity!

Also good to know Vectis!