How to tell if my dwarf hamster has diabetes.
I know they're prone to it and I put him on a low sugar diet but this morning the water bottle was empty and one corner was wet. I know this is a sign of diabetes.
Also seems very thirsty. The wet corner was under the water bottle so it either leaked last night and he didn't get water and that's why he's thirsty or he got diabetes.
Any other ways to tell? The wet corner didn't particularly smell like anything except hamster and wet paper.
I'm very worried and thought I was doing a good job. If he did get diabetes where do I go from here?
Shameless bump
What do you feed him? If it's your typical seed diet it tends to be very salty, which means he will drink more water. The bottles also tend to just drip. If he isn't overweight, you don't feed him so much sugar and salt its probably just the bottle.
>>2128756
I feed him generic hamster food with the pieces of corn taken out. He mostly eats the sunflower seeds and pellets.
Once a week I give him little slivers of some vegetable like cucumber or spinach and a little bit of egg white for protein.
He never drank as much as he his now
>>2128758
> He eats mostly sunflower seeds
There you go. They are fucking shit for rodents. Buy him some real hamster food and not some generic bullshit because they will always pick out the most fattiest, unhealthy shit first, get full on that refuse the rest. You are giving your hamster diabetes. You are better off just making your own mix.
>Source: I have rats and gerbils and 98% of what you can buy for them in pet stores is total shit.
>>2128764
I didn't know that. Every site I searched said it was fine for them. Is generic food alright if I take out the corn AND seeds? It's this kind of food. I honestly researched it, but different sources say different things.
>>2128764
What should I do to fix it. He's been eating the cucumbers and spinach as well so he doesn't seem to be full of seeds.
I've only had him a week and I only give him about half a teaspoon of food a day which has about 3 seeds and then 3 pellets and some other little grains and stuff. He empties the entire bowl not just the seeds.
>>2128772
>>2128780
I am too drunk to properly give you information but just Google 'hamstwr diet' and look around multiple links. From what few I've opened, a lot suggest too much protein in my opinion which can cause them to smell and get greasy if fed too much. With rodents I also believe too much of a high protein diet can somewhat 'age they're faster but my experience with that is with rats and gerbils. What experience I have with hamsters is as a child and early teenager, feeding them shitty generic brands which pretty much always resulted them in getting tumors(this is also similar to rats if fed a shitty, generic seed diet).
I believe Oxbow sells hamster pellets and in general that brand is trusted. Low protiwm, sugar and whatnot. they also sell it at petsmart but as the same time you should supplement your ham with fresh foods as well.
>>2128791
It's a slow board anon, no need for bumps for a day or two. Look up hamster caresheets, but from my experience with rats and mice, they probably have some compact blocks that are better. Maybe even vegan dogfood.
>>2128749
Op you can use Bayer Keto-Diastix Urine Reagent Strips. Pic related
>>2128772
Also you might want to look into better hamster mix options. This link here can help http://hamsterhideout.com/forum/topic/102520-hamster-nutrition-iv-commercial-hamster-food-list/
