my hamster is obese and yet i feed her all the right foods. she wont use her wheel she gets excersise.?

Question

she shares her cage and is a bit of a food hog ive had comments that she looks lie a syrian and yet she is a russian dwarf

Answer 1

The first thing that comes to my mind is that she has diabetes. Diabetes has become an epidemic in Campbells Russian Dwarf hamsters. It was observed that 30-50% of the Campbells at one chain pet store had early onset diabetes. There's no way to tell how many of the ones that didn't test positive had late onset diabetes. The hamsters weren't tested by the pet store but by members of a hamster club that wanted to survey the diabetes problem. Needless to say, the results are alarming.

A diabetic dwarf will have all or some of the following symptoms:

1. Increased thirst, drinking excessively
2. Peeing excessively, strong smelly urine with either a sweetish smell or a acetone (nail polish remover) smell.
3. Sudden weight loss or weight gain
4. Tiredness (sleeping more than usual) or excessive exercise or a combination of both at the extremes
5. Irritability (only in some), unusual biting when the ham did not bite before
6. Increased hunger

If you think you have a diabetic hamster, I encourage you to join the Yahoo! Group called Honey Hams. It's a group solely dedicated to diabetic hamsters. In the files section of the group are some files that tell you how you can test for diabetes and things you can do to modify the hamsters diet to help control the diabetes. Here's the link for the group:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/HoneyHams/

Given the few clues you've listed in your question, I'm pretty sure that your hamster is suffering from diabetes.

-Janice
http://www.holmdenhillhaven.com

Answer 2

I've never met a Russian who didn't love their wheel. They're little speed freaks. One thing to keep in mind is the kind of food you feed your hammy. Just because you buy a brand specifically made for hammies doesn't always mean it's the good stuff. I started buying food that was a bit more expensive than the store brand I'd bought at my local pet store, and my hammy slimmed down nicely. Many of the cheaper foods will have a lot of unneeded fillers which can easily cause obesity.

Generally speaking though, obesity is not that bad of a thing for a hamster. I've probably had twenty hamsters or more over the years, some fat and some not, and they all lived about the same lifespan. I think the fatter ones are cuter anyway. Hamsters can be pretty sedentary anyway, so I wouldn't worry about it too much unless you discover that your hamster has diabetes or the other disease mentioned.

Good luck

Answer 3

Is her wheel big enough? 5" is OK for a normal sized dwarf, but if she has a longer body length she may not be comfortable running in it. Hamsters need to run without having to arch their backs.

If she is letting her cagemate eat too, I wouldn't recommend separating them as it does tend to result in them being a bit depressed at first. Perhaps try cutting peanuts and sunflower seeds out of the food mix (you can hand feed them to her partner when handling so she gets them). Don't give her treats that aren't fruit or veg.

If you got them from a pet shop and were told they were the same sex, then there is a chance they're not and she's pregnant. Check if their genitals match (and males have a scent gland in a "belly button" type position). Gestation is around 20 days though, and they tend not to show until the last few days, so if she's been fat for a while that's not the problem.

Answer 4

We have a handful of Campbell's Russian dwarfs like that. You can cut back to feeding only every other day if she hoards the food. Ours ended up not being fat, but had Cushing's disease. They have what appears to be fat around their chest area, but it wasn't, it's fluid. Does your hamster seem to drink a lot, like most of the water bottle daily? This is a symptom they get. They get a tumor under the skin that usually can't be seen unless they loose all their hair. Only one has lost his hair, but a week later grew it back. You could see almost inside of him, the skin get nearly transparent. Sudden weight loss can occur, but only one of ours has done this. They can live good lives. Our vet said they will live a shorter life, but their already 13 months and with a life span of only 1-2 years, that's pretty good. Our dwarfs with Cushing's are a lot larger then the ones without and they too look like Syrians in size. Thinking about it, my youngest daughter's hamster is a Syrian and she's smaller then my male dwarf with Cushing's. I can't find much about this disease in hamsters, just that it's quite common among both breeds. Dogs and cats get it as well as humans. I hope she's overweight and not with Cushing's like my dwarfs.

Cushing's Disease

What is it?
This is a disease caused by the overproduction of cortisol from the adrenal glands.

Answer 5

I would put her in her own cage where she can be the only one eating,and have her own wheel,and only feed her 1 little hamster bowl of food a day.Like half in the morning and half at night.And feed her alot of fruits and veggies.Such as apples and cucumbers,my 4 hamsters always liked them.

Answer 6

feed her healthy foods.
apples, lettuce, tomato, anyting you can find except for chocolate and hard chips.

like a human,
hamsters can just as well "watch the carbs" check out the different hamster foods at the store.
it will this fattie and the other hamster well.

or you can put her on a "diet" try to catch her snatching the regular hamster food and take her out to give her lettuce and tomatos andapples and celery. the list goes on.


heres the hammy diet list i use:

lettuce,
tommato
apple
celery
cucumber,
yogurt,
peach,
banana,
strawberries,


i mean the possibilities are endless.
just think
"if iwas a health freak (unlessu already are) and i like to watch my cals on everything, i would eat _____ and stay away from ____"

its like a hammy jenny craig.


give these occasionally

yellow cake (no frosting)
cereal (everything except for tony the tiger)
and anything sweet except for candy.



i hoped i helped!!!

Answer 7

lol, umm. sum hamsters just tend to get fat. do u kno how she was fed b4 u got her? it mayb that she was fed with loads of others around so had 2 get as much food as quickly as possible. to be honest i've never had russian dwarfs, only syrian. but prehaps finding the cause wuld lead to the answer. it sounds daft i kno, but she may actually hav a thyroid problem!! try taking her 2 the vet 2 get her checked out

Answer 8

Dont worry russian draf hamsters have the round obese look to them, thats what makes them my fav hamsters, just little round dumpy balls of fluff SO CUTE!!!

My little Billie J is just like yours he will use his wheel but is always eating and he lives on his own LOL.

Answer 9

1

Answer 10

Hamsters aren't usually considered obese. Since you mentioned that your hamster shares a cage, is it possible that she is pregnant?
For exercise, buy one of those hamster balls so that she can go all over the place. Mine always liked them.