Pet shop advice

[michyLS]

I went to a well known pet shop today to get some bits for Arlo. The girl recommended some honey /fruit nibble things so I said surely dwarfs shouldn't have them , being prone to diabetes. She said "oh it's fine to give one a day, they can have the same as Syrians. Or give him fruit or cucumber ".
I was really surprised. I've tried to avoid anything sweet, am I being over cautious or is she giving dud advice?

[Cinnamon Bear]

It's definitely bad advise! Should have no sugary treats at all for dwarves. I think certain kinds of fruit is ok maybe once a week, like a blueberry, blackberry kind of thing.

[cypher]

I definitely wouldn't follow that advice.
Advise from people in pet shops (even different people in the same shop) varies enormously from really good to really bad so never take advice without checking it out & doing your research too!

[AmityvilleHams]

Terrible advice!Fruit is fine in moderation when you're careful about what fruit it is,but daily fruit is not as good as feeding fruit that is relatively low in sugar weekly or even less frequently,depending on your personal preference.

That being said,the majority of pet shop advice is questionable at best.There may be some really good advice here and there,but with any advice you just have to be careful and do your own research and never really take anything someone says for gospel or hold it to some ridiculous standard of perfection.

[Fluffagrams]

From my understanding and experience, eating sweet foods will not necessarily cause diabetes even within the diabetes prone species such as Chinese and Russian hamsters however it would be adviseable to be cautious with how much you are feeding, much as you would with a fattening food.

I have fed those nibble sticks to my Chinesesys from time to time although I tend to just put them in over night as a treat and then will take them out the next day so that they're not eating too much at once.

You will find some pet shops give some great advice and others will tell you something that turns out being a load of nonsense. If you're not sure on the accuracy of the advice, it's always best to do a little bit of further research.

[Cinnamon Bear]

When I first got Chloe 20 months ago, I didn't know about diabetes so I fed her sugary food almost every day. She isn't diabetic at all. I stopped months ago tho

Where C Bear got fed a lot of fattening seeds & he is diabetic, don't know if I caused it or if it was just his genetics? I don't feed seeds in abundance anymore now as that can be as bad as feeding sugary treats.

[AmityvilleHams]

It's ultimately about moderation.Yes,seeds and fruits can be perfectly safe,but that is only when fed in reasonable amounts over reasonable periods of time.You can always have too much of a good thing!

It is a bit of a learning process and it may seem confusing at first,but there is information out there that can be used to learn which fruits have less sugar than others and the same information is there for all sorts of foods.

The main concept is not necessarily feeding fruit without forethought,but actually doing research and understanding nutritional values of safe fruits and selecting carefully based on that information and feeding within moderation.Fruit can easily become a bad thing if you're not using information and you're just feeding random amounts,but that is exactly why forethought and moderation are so crucial.

[Pebbles82]

I don't think you are being over cautious. Sugar isn't good for anyone really! Our Syrian isn't prone to diabetes but I still rarely give him anything with sugar in.

I would give him a sugar free diet - it's a healthy option. Those treat sticks have honey in I think as well as fruit. Some pet shop assistants don't know much and some just want to sell stuff!

The fruit issue seems to be debatable. Personally I would stick to veg rather than fruit and non sugary treats. Rosewood naturals make a great range of treat sticks that are free from sugar and honey and no nasty additives.

These are a couple of them and the link shows other products by them further down. I used to like the Rosewood little hearts for taming and our hamster loved them. No sugar too

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rosewood-Na...wood+dandelion

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rosewood-Bo...G1GERXQM1KFBB9

[AmityvilleHams]

It is important to note that while you can eliminate fruit you can't have a completely sugar free diet.Yes,it would be good to eliminate artificial sugars,but really you can't take away glucose from every single plant as plants create glucose when they are going through photosynthesis.Since vegetables are plants,vegetables are going to have glucose just like fruits would have glucose.

It's always good to learn more though,but you also need to understand the crucial role moderation plays when it comes to nutrition.Just like humans can have a few sweets once in a while and be healthy,hamsters can certainly have a tiny bit of fruit in moderation and be healthy.The key is moderation,and without it there certainly can be worsened cases of diabetes and hamsters with poor nutrition and other things that are bad!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucose
This link might help a bit,but it is definitely important to understand glucose before making a decision.Fruit is debated,just like any other part of caring for a hamster.Do your own research though before you assume something based on information,as you never know if information is entirely correct.

The concept overall that I believe in completely is doing your own research.You're taught this in school,because not all sources are unbiased or correct.It is a good skill to have,since nobody is perfect Everyone can be prone to mistakes,regardless of how experienced they are.A lot of people are really knowledgeable and that's great,but with good information comes potential bad information so learning to filter through is always good.

[cypher]

I agree sugar isn't good for anyone & isn't needed in the diet.
If you have a diabetes prone species you have absolutely no way of knowing how likely it is to actually develop the problem so the way I see it is that if you give sugar you are taking a gamble, you may get lucky or you may not, I personally prefer not to gamble with my hams health!
The other thing to remember is that a dwarf ham really only eats very little, maybe a teaspoon of food or just a bit more a day so proportionally even a small amount of sugar is quite a lot.
There's such a wide range of healthy treats they enjoy & plenty of veg to choose from over fruit they can be more than happy & a lot healthier without any sweet treats at all.