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hamsties!
My hamster, Jelly, has been gaining weight very rapidly. I try to give her lots of fruits and vegetables, but she can't even fit into the tunnel anymore! I make her run on her wheel everyday, but afterwards, she finishes the bottle of water, and I have to refill it. Please help. <3 JeLLy BeLLy
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First off, what have you been feeding her? Commercial hamster foods are high in seeds and oils and lead to obesity. You should not feed her those anymore.
You should feed her some commercially bought rat or mice foods which are usually available as dry blocks or pellets. These diets can be supplemented with small amounts of dry, sugar-free breakfast cereals, whole-wheat bread, uncooked pasta, cooked chicken, tuna fish, cheese, fresh fruits (apples) and vegetables. The last 2 items must be thoroughly washed to avoid exposing pet hamsters to pesticide residues and possible bacterial contamination.
You shouldn't be feeding her a diet of fruits and vegetables, and only fruits and vegetables. They are too high in fat.
You should also keep water in her cage at all times. If she finishes a bottle that quickly, you might want to consider putting two bottles in there, just in case you can't get a chance to refill in for a while.
Also, cut back on the amount of this food that you feed her. If she is seriously overweight, which she appears to be, then you should probably cut her food content in half for a while. This may seem cruel, but, trust me, she will not starve.
To make it easier on her, feed her smaller meals, more often durring the day. Do you feed her twice a day now? Well, take the shortened, diet amount of those two meals, and feed it to her three times durring the day.
May seem a little confusing, but, lets say you feed her 1 cup of food through the day. Normally you would give her a half cup of food at morning, then at night. Now that your putting her on a diet, and she'll be eating less, it is much more comfortable for her if you feed her three meals a day of one third cup. This way, she will have a small amount of food in her stomach throughout most of the day, instead of a large amount in there twice a day.
Now, after you've done all of this, and kept up with the diet, then watch her.
If she doesn't seem to be losing any weight, or, worse, if she continues to gain weight, then it may be a some kind of medical problem.
If this is the case, you have to decide what to do. You may be able to find some information online, and figure out what is wrong with her. If you try that approach, then make sure you get pages with ".org" or ".gov" instead of just ".com" Anyone can make a .com website, but you have to have a little more expertise in order to get .org, or .gov website.
The best option would be to bring her to the Veterinarian. Of course, hamsters do not have a long life time, and many people don't find it beneficial to spend all the money it takes to bring them to the Vet. It's completely up to you.
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