worried about my sisters hammy

[Brianh96]

hey all, not posted in aggggeeeesss so hope your all doing fine.
i need your help.
my sister has a syrian hamster called hiedi, shes a gorgous little one but im worried my sister isnt putting hiedi`s health first.

to start off she is using NON SPECIFIED WOODSHAVINGS. As all you will know there are multiple reasons this is not safe, one of the main issues bieng that it can cause respiratory problems.

next problem is hiedi is a full grown syrian hamster and she has her in the cage bellow (she has gone for the largest one)

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pe...ster-wire-cage

even though this is the largest one it is still waaaaaayyyy below the minimum size for any hamster to live. I have told her about this but she says that unless she moves house she doesnt have the space for a larger cage but is still in my opinion if you get a pet you should be putting their health and well fair first and clearly she is not.
in this cage she has put a 6.5 inch flying saucer wheel for hiedi to use. ive explained to her that this will be making her hammys back arch and cause her problems.
heres the worst part .... shes using COTTON WOOL bedding. words cannot describe how worried I am about her hamster.

ive spoken to her about all this but she wont listen to me, can any of you give me some advice on what to say to her.


thankyou

[cypher]

Sorry to hear about this, it is hard when you know a ham isn't getting what it needs but it can be hard to get things across to people sometimes.
Maybe one step at a time, start with the most important thing, the cotton, perhaps you could offer to shred up some toilet tissue for her to see how much Heidi will like it & point out that it will save her money buying the harmful cotton.
I wouldn't worry about the wood shavings, in the UK they have to be kiln dried so it's rare that they are unsafe unless a ham develops an allergy to them so leave that for now.
If you can get her to understand about the cotton & the benefits of using toilet tissue then try to move on to the next most important thing, the wheel.

[Pebbles82]

Does her hamster get much out of cage time or free roam regularly? If the hamster seems happy and doesn't bar chew and gets plenty of out of cage time, then that isn't the smallest cage in the world (about 60 x 40?) although with a larger wheel that would fill it up a bit. Is the hamster average sized or particularly large? If average sized then an 8" wheel would fit and be an improvement. As Cypher said I wouldn't worry about the substrate too much as it has to be kiln dried by law in this country.

If your Sister is resistant to having a bigger cage I would focus on the nesting material and wheel as Cypher said. It's a start.

Would you be able to buy her a wheel as a gift? The 8" Trixie wheel is only about £6 and easy to clean. You could give her the wheel and a pack of two white loo rolls and print these two rspca pages out and give them to her. Paragraph 4 on the environment page is specific about cotton wool and fluffy bedding and the risks. Wrap it all up in nice paper and a bow and with a smiley attitude but a firm "it's for the best". It takes a bit of diplomacy and maybe a bit of "pretty please" pleading. People don't like feeling criticised so tend to get defensive then. If she says there isn't room for the wheel and the flying saucer then do a deal. Say ok I'll take the flying saucer, try the wheel for a couple of weeks and see if she likes it - they run much better in a wheel.

If it's a long haired hamster though, I would get a different wheel without a spindle.

As Cypher said, the wheel and nesting material are the two to tackle as a priority.

These are the RSPCA pages - one on nesting material, one on wheels (it says large diameter rat wheel!). It's important that you come across as just wanting to help her avoid problems for her hamster rather than telling her she's doing it wrong and ask her if she's seen these as it's something you've been made aware of.

https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwe...rs/environment

https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwe...ters/behaviour

That last article actually has some weird stuff about leaving them alone during hibernation! But lets just ignore that for now! Paragraph 6 is about wheels.

[IKrines]

Well, there isn't much to do. It is her pet, so it is her responsibility.
Being suggestive rather than acussing might help. It is really great that you care about the animal.

[CookieBlossomBella]

I have been in the same situation. You can feel very helpless. Just try and educate her as best you can with videos etc. I really hope you managed to get this problem fixed

[Brianh96]

thankyou for the advice guys
ive told her to try toilet paper but she doesnt think that its safe and ive already told her all about the safe and unsafe bedding but she still uses cotton wool as it looks soft
as for the wheel ive spoken to her about that but she wont use a different wheel.
im not sure if hiedi bar chews as i live in a different town to her so i only see her now and again and throughout the day when her hammy is asleep.
but i agree with you all , it is her pet and her responsibility and all i can do is advise her but


thankyou serindipity for the rspca pages, ile give them to her to look at