Rescue Hamster - really obese

[Mom]

Hi. We have rescued a hamster from the well-meaning hands of a rescue organization that doesn't know much about dwarf hamsters. He is 66 grams, we can't feel his ribs, and he can barely heave himself on his wheel for three to four seconds. He's been "pampered" and fed high-fat high-protein snacks way more than he should have been.

We are looking for a good vet in our area and will get him into see them ASAP. In the meantime, we need to start getting that weight off the little guy before he has a heart-attack or his kidneys fail. He does have the "peeing too much protein" pee smell aready, but we are hoping that will rectify itself when he's got nothing to eat but his low-cal hamster chow. He has access to plenty of water and a wheel. I am hoping that as he has less food he will begin to shed some weight and feel better about running in the wheel. Right now he cannot heave himself up the ramp in his cage!

In the meantime, can anyone suggest anything else we can be doing? We don't want to stress him too much - he's just come home in the last 24 hours - and we are encouraging him to explore his large new cage (he had been kept in a small fish tank all his life, apparently). Ideas?

[cypher]

66g isn’t what I’d consiider obese for a Russian hybrid more like average although they do vary a lot in weight & some can be a fair bit less or even more.
I wouldn’t cut his food back too much as it’s important he gets all the nutrients he needs, it’s always better to encourage more activity, so plenty of enrichment in the cage to keep him busy, scatter feeding & time out of the cage with lots of things to explore.
What are you planning on feeding him? I know it’s hard to get a goof mix for a dwarf in the US.

[Ria P]

I had a 68g Russian dwarf who wasn't overweight.
Dwarfs shouldn't have sugary snacks, honey based nibble sticks or fruit because they're prone to diabetes but they need enough of a good hamster mix to eat and to keep a hoard. A hoard is important to them to keep them happy so i would be careful with a diet and make sure that he gets fresh greens as well.

Could it be that he doesn't know how to use a wheel? I actually had to teach a dwarf how to use a wheel once. You could also replace the ramp with a bendy bridge for now.

Like cypher, i would also recommend exercise.
Could you hamster proof a room to let him free roam? My dwarfs all have an upright wheel and a flying saucer and one of them prefers the flying saucer. You could add one as an additional wheel to see if he'd use that more.

[Shannonmcn]

My wee dwarf took a good while to figure out his upright wheel as well, he was used to a saucer, but once he got the hang of it he was flying.

I would agree that I wouldn't cut back on the amount of proper food he's getting (is this a specific mix or do you mean low-cal as in... just what he needs and not a treat?). Cutting back on the high fat treats you say he's been getting and having a larger space to explore will probably do wonders for his weight and fitness without needing to change anything else. You don't really want them to lose weight too fast either!

[Mom]

Hi All. Thanks for the responses. I will be happier once a Vet has looked him over (hopefully very soon).

We cannot feel his ribs at all. It's like holding a completely squishy hamster. We've had dwarf hamsters before and know about the loose skin, etc., but we've always been able to feel their bones. They were feeding him sugary treats and dried fish flakes in excess. They also gave us his other treats, which seem to be some sort of cookies and something that resembles sugar cubes. I've thrown the cookies and sugary stuff away. A bottle of seeds mixed with looks like dried mealworms was also with the hamster when he arrived, too - that seems like way too much protein to me. And another bottle of dried mealworms, as well as a full bag of seed mix.

This morning he had a leaf of fresh cilantro as a treat (a very small leaf). I also have fresh growing basil, mint, and parsley in the house and need to check to see if those are ok to give him (I think so). He'll get them in very tiny quantities for a treat, if so. We bought him "Oxbow Garden Select" pelleted feed and will cut his seed mixture with some of that, slowly. The Oxbow seems to have a high proportion of timothy hay and was the lowest-fat and protein mix on the shelf. The Oxbow is:

Guaranteed Analysis

Crude Protein (min) 16.00%
Crude Fat (min) 2.50%
Crude Fiber (min) 18.00%
Crude Fiber (max) 23.00%
Moisture (max) 10.00%
Calcium (min) 0.80%
Calcium (max) 1.30%
Phosphorus (min) 0.50%
Vitamin A (min) 10,000 IU/kg
Vitamin D3 (min) 900 IU/kg
Vitamin E (min) 190 IU/kg

I was not familiar with Oxbow but we had a few people recommend it and it seemed like a good thing to mix in with the other food we were given for him to try to wean him down from all that fat.

He went in the wheel and ran - or walked, really - for maybe five seconds, then turned around and walked in the other direction for the same time. That was after we picked him up and put him on the top shelf of the cage where the wheel access is. We've put his food dish up there, too, so that he will be encouraged to walk up the ramp to get to it. He has a stash set up already - when we put him up by the wheel he went straight for the food dish, got in, and stuffed his pouches. We will sprinkle a bit of food around in the bedding for him to find.

I guess it could also be that he has no muscle tone to speak of if he's been kept in a really small space all his life? He is currently in a Kaytee CritterTrail Super Habitat for Small Animals because it was the one with the largest footprint I could find (540 sq inches) that had good high sides and really narrow bar spacing. If he doesn't seem to use the existing wheel after a couple of weeks we'll get him a flying saucer wheel to try. We do plan to let him roam (supervised) on the living-room floor - we'll be setting a blanket out and putting some tubes/toys/chewies/boxes out and letting him walk around as we wants to. I have the distinct impression that the only times he's been out of a cage recently was to be hand-held, so he's not had much exercise.

I do plan to do all of this very slowly, of course, to minimize the shock to his system (so to speak). The poor little thing has been through at least three homes in a month, so he needs some time to get settled in. Again, I'll feel better after he's been seen by a Vet. Hopefully he has no unseen injuries or other problems. But until then I'll definitely take all your advice into mind. Thanks!

[AmityvilleHams]

Oxbow really isn't a good brand when it comes to hamster food. They may do very well for other pet foods but just not hamsters - timothy hay being a significant portion of the pellets makes it an inappropriate food from a nutrition perspective and pelleted diets as a whole are very unsuitable to the natural behaviors of hamsters who really need a proper mixed diet.

The proper diet in the US would be Higgins Vita Garden with added flax seed and Pure Bites freeze dried meat(avoid giving duck too often mostly due to fat content - shrimp, chicken, and turkey are some very good options for Pure Bites).

What wheel are you using at the moment? The Silent Spinners in particular are known to often not spin well or eventually stop spinning and any wheel of that sort of design has a safety flaw caused by the way the two pieces of plastic connect together for the wheel surface(essentially they can come apart and give a very serious injury risk - many do have a small gap regardless which is also dangerous since that can catch toenails and rip them out).

Comfort Wheels are a good pet store option as long as they're properly sized - the 8.5 inch version is appropriate for dwarf hamsters. The 9 inch Silent Runner is also a very good wheel but that has to be ordered online. I would strongly recommend against flying saucer type wheels though - they don't allow a natural running position unlike a properly sized upright wheel and as such do not replace a proper upright wheel!

[Ria P]

Originally Posted by AmityvilleHams

I would strongly recommend against flying saucer type wheels though - they don't allow a natural running position unlike a properly sized upright wheel and as such do not replace a proper upright wheel!

I didn't suggest to replace an upright wheel with a flying saucer but to add one as an additional wheel to give a hamster a choice.
I don't think that they run in an unnatural position either but like with many things, opinions vary.

[Ria P]

You could do a health check yourself in the meantime and you could post a photo of him here.

Are you worried there's something wrong with him?

If you're worried about diabetes then you could check him yourself. Amazon sells keto sticks to test his urine for glucose. All you need to do is put him in a plastic tub and wait till he pees, take him out and test his urine.

[Mom]

Originally Posted by Ria P

You could do a health check yourself in the meantime and you could post a photo of him here.

Are you worried there's something wrong with him?

If you're worried about diabetes then you could check him yourself. Amazon sells keto sticks to test his urine for glucose. All you need to do is put him in a plastic tub and wait till he pees, take him out and test his urine.

Yeah, I'm worried about his kidneys and his heart, to tell you the truth. That kind of protein load, and being overweight and inactive = Bad combinations! We have keto sticks in the house (diabetic) so we'll definitely check that out. My larger concern are the other two issues, really. He's not seeming diabetic - he's not losing weight, not drinking excessively, etc., and so we are hoping that's no in the picture. We're going to weigh him again tomorrow and see if just a couple of days of lack of proteiny/sugary treats plus moving around a lot more will have taken a gram or two off of him.

[Mom]

Ok, as someone above predicted, he's moving around a lot more and the more he moves around, the happier he seems to be. The kind of dirty/oily funk on his coat is now gone and it's incredibly soft and silky. He no longer has the "too much protein" smell. He is coming over to the side of the cage to be picked up, and is actively investigating the floor when he is taken out for playtime a few times a day rather than just sitting there.

He chews on his applewood sticks, and also likes parsley, cilantro, and basil (in minute quantities). He has actually got a very sweet disposition and is cute as a button. I think he's going to be fine, as long as the progress he's made so far is any indication of the future.

Thanks for all the advice.