Re: Elderly hamster not eating hard food
If his teeth look fine it could be toothache in the back teeth making chewing hard food a bit painful. He'll probably enjoy some soft food but keep putting his hard mix out as well in case he has a little chew on it - plus they still like pouching it and hoarding it even if they don't eat much of it! Also put about a bit of his hamster mix soaked in a very small bit of boiling water - not so it turns to complete mush, but just softened. You can also do that with science selective biscuits - all the nutrients are in those so you know they're getting a balanced diet. Plus a bit of baby food and an occasional bit of scrambled egg or porridge.
When our last Syrian was having to have soft food I used to put 3 little extra options out as well as his hard mix. I used the lids from the baby food and put one lid with a few soaked science selective biscuits and another with a healthy extra each day - either some linseeds or hemp seeds or crushed sunflower and pumpkin seeds (you can buy them ready crushed). Then another little pot (I used an egg cup pushed into the substrate) with a bit of baby food in each day. He loved the baby food! You have to be careful to remove it in the morning though or it could start going off.
Boots fruity chicken was a favourite and also cow and gate pumpkin and chicken. Age 4 months ones usually have safe ingredients, but I avoided the ones with tomato, onions, garic and spices.
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