Ageing hamster care (dwarf)

[Kyrkogrimr]

Ok, I'm going to do this as a bullet list because I've tried way too many times to write this and I end up rambling and not making much sense

My dwarf hamster, Cadmium, is about 17 months old now. Up until mid-March it was honestly easy to forget that she wasn't only a few months old any more. In mid-March, we had to take her to the vet for a respiratory infection, which fortunately was treated and cleared up, though we were reminded of her age at the time and advised to be aware of it. She picked up and was back to her old self for a while, but since then I've noticed a few changes:

- sleeping more and inconsistent about when she is up, when you used to be able to easily predict when she'd be up and about
- eating less, though she's still interested in her food: she'll jump on any mealworms offered to her, she just collects up less of her seed mix
- she's getting thinner (though she's definitely not worryingly skinny) presumably because she's not eating as much
- less interested in out of cage time or being handled (which is fine, I'm happy to do things on her terms) where she used to take every opportunity to come out and have a cuddle
- seems a little bit shaky at times
- seems a bit grumpier than she used to be.

These appear to be fairly common signs of ageing, and given that she's rattling towards 18 months, it doesn't seem unfair to consider that she's starting to feel her age a bit.

So my question is about cage set up. I've got Cadmium in a detolf which has been a really good cage for her. It's coming up to time to do more than a spot clean, and the last time I did it, she wasn't really showing signs of ageing, so I did her preferred layout of a deep end with her house on top for burrowing, sloping down to a shallower end with her wheel and sand bath. She's got bendy bridges and shelf-type toys that she's always enjoyed climbing on/over/under, as well as card board and wooden tunnels. (Amongst plenty of other stuff... bear with me)

I'm just wondering if I need to be levelling out her cage for her next set up, or taking out bridges. She's pretty clumsy at times and she loves to climb, so I've always made sure that anything she *might* fall off has plenty of soft substrate underneath, and limited the heights she can fall from anyway.

I don't want to take away the things she enjoys, but equally, I don't want to risk her hurting herself unnecessarily

I'm also reticent to go from scatter feeding to bowl feeding because she *always* ignores her bowl :/ I know it would make it easier for her to collect her food, but I'm worried she won't get enough food, so maybe scatter feed closer to her nest?

Any advice?

[Stella Maris]

Hi!
Sounds like you've given little Cadmium a lovely life.
I'm in a similar spot, with an ageing Campbell's dwarf. He's still surprisingly full of energy, but he's 1yr 10mos. He's changed his hours a bit, and has lost weight and his fur isn't as glossy. I haven't changed the basics of his cage.
I don't know what to advise you, I'm thinking you'll know best. It might be a good idea to scatter feed closer to "home"; maybe try a bowl from time to time. My hammie didn't used to drink from a bowl, but now he often does. So things change.
I hope all goes well.

[hoggy25]

Hi i have 5 hamsters 2 syrians 3 dwarf one. fudge twiglet holly dominic and my very old pretzel.. pretzel is nearly 3 years old dwarf hamster who is set in his ways,his fur is a tad lighter but he is still very active on saying that he does not go on his wheel much and sleeps longer but as for his food he is fussy i mix it up sometimes in a bowl or i scatter it round hiding it which makes him find it keeping him active and so keep his brain working.. I get a lot of pleasure and company from my fur balls so my advise is keep loving him some healthy veg and herbs meal worms for protein mine like a small bit of mild cheese now and then.. Your doing a good job keep going