If you have a little furry friend, then you are always worried about their diet. In the wild, hamsters eat everything such as grains, nuts, seeds even small insects.
As a pet, it is necessary to diversify its diet, otherwise, your hamster feel boring to eat the same diet every day.
For this if you searching can hamsters eat meat? Then you need to read this whole post and clear all your doubts about the meat diet.
So, if you are a hammie lover then you need to know all about meat in their diet.
Without knowing, you don’t serve anything to your hamster, otherwise, your lovely pet might be getting sick.
So, be with us, and know if can hamsters eat meat or not.
Can Hamsters Eat Meat? The Answer
Yes, Hamsters can eat meat, but in a small quantity. In the wild, hamsters depend on all living or non-living things, which are good for their health.
They eat nuts, grains, different seeds, and insects because they are not carnivorous rodents like dogs and cats. They eat insects to gain some extra protein, which is beneficial for them.
If wild hamsters find a vegetation diet easily, they can live their entire life with these.
So, you can feed meat to your hammie in small quantities. But it is considerable that not all types of meat are good for them.
Hamsters eat insects if you don’t know let’s check it out Do hamsters eat insects?
Is Meat Safe Diet for Your Hamster?
Yes, meat can be a safe diet for hamsters when you give them small quantities.
Hamsters are very active rodents, they do different activities the whole day such as climbing, jumping, digging burrows, and playing.
In doing all these different activities, they burn lots of energy.
It appears from that, to give them a properly balanced protein diet is good for their health and muscles.
So, a piece of meat is a good source of protein to serve your little buddy.
There are other popular protein diets available except meat. But if you decide to give your little companion a small munchy piece as a treat, you can.
What types of meat do hamsters eat?
Always feed cooked and boiled meat to your hamster in small quantities.
A hamster’s digestive system is not strong for digest raw meat. If you give your furry friend a small piece of raw meat, it becomes ill.
You could only feed them these types of meat, which are bland, light, and unsalted:
List of Safe and Unsafe Meat for Hamsters
| S. No. | Safe Meat | Unsafe Meat |
| 1 | Chicken | Packed Meat |
| 2 | Fish | Cooked with oil and ingredients |
| 3 | Shrimp | Chicken Nuggets |
| 4 | Beef | Lunch Meat |
| 5 | Turkey | Pork |
#1. Chicken for Hamster
Chicken is good meat for your hamster if it is cooked without any additional ingredients or oil.
Because oily cooked chicken is a heavy fatty meat, it could be dangerous for hamster health.
Serving just a nail-sized piece of meat for your hamster as a treat.
#2. Shrimp for Hamster
Shrimp is one of the good seafood to give hamster. Same as chicken, you should baked or cooked it.
Just simply boiling shrimp is another option.
Hamsters have very sensitive noses, so they smell their food as far. For that, the smell of shrimp attracts hamsters to eat it.
#3. Fish for Hamster
Fishes are a vital source of nutrients and vitamins. However, fishes are a perfect seafood for humans.
Still, you boil and cook fish without any added oil, salt, and spices, you can feed your hamster a small piece of it as a treat.
For feeding fish to hamsters, be careful to choose very light, and remove its bones, otherwise, these bones may get stuck into the hamster’s throat and might choke.
Benefits of Feeding Meats for Hamsters
Every food has its benefits, so feeding meat to your hamster is good for their health.
Meats are high in proteins, amino acids, and other vitamins which improve hamster health, make muscles stronger, and good digestive system.
Expect all of these, there are some other health benefits for your hamster
- It helps muscle growth and strength.
- It reduces the risk of heart disease.
- It maintains a healthy body weight.
- The best source of improving vitality and stamina.
Always give white meat such as shrimp, chicken, and fish, which are light and easy to digest. Remember before feeding meat to hamsters don't serve them a big portion of meat, always give them a small nail-sized meat piece.
Risks of Feeding Meat for Your Hamster
However, if you don’t give meat to hamsters for their entire life, they don’t tend towards meat.
But wait! It could be dangerous to feed meat every day.
After that, your hamster will want to eat meat regularly and leave out all other veggies, fruits, and a commercially balanced diet.
So, feed meat to your hamster occasionally.
Even meat is a good source of multivitamins and protein, if you give them baked and boiled, there are no risks.
But opposite that, there are some risks of feeding meats to your hamster, if you give salted or mixed meat in ingredients and added flavor.
Not all types of meat are suitable for eating.
If you serve salted and oily meat or more than just a small piece, your hamster gets sick. They feel stomach pain, obesity, and diarrhea problems.
Hamsters don’t need extra salt in their diet, so salted meat may cause their sickness.
Like Surimi, Crab meat, and Octopus are not a good idea.
The main reason behind this is that no one has tried these kinds of seafood before, so if you take any action towards them, you need to take advice from a Veteran.
Feeding meats and seafood just an assumption is not a good idea.
How to Feeding Meat to a Hamster
Maybe you are confused about how to feed meat to your hamster. There is not any rocket science behind feeding meat to your hamster.
You can follow these simple steps just for feeding:
- First, take white meat and bake or boil it. Don’t mix any additional flavor and ingredients.
- After baking, just cut a small piece and put it into a hamster food bowl.
- If you want to do some interesting with your hamster, you just hide meat pieces in the hamster cage or hamsterarium. By doing this, your little buddy needs to do extra exercise to find it.
- You can directly give a small piece of meat with your hands.
- It is considered that never serve salted, spicy, and oily meat to your hamster.
- You cut meat into small pieces and dry them to make meat chips. Hamsters have sharp gnawing teeth, they can gnaw it enjoyable.
- One other option is to hang meat slice into its cage, so it can make little effort to find it and feel the wild surroundings.
In our opinion, these all are good options for serving meat to your hamster. If you have another crazy option, you can tell us in the comment section below.
Let’s check some other questions about the hamster meat diet.
FAQs
1. Can Hamsters Eat Chicken?
Ye, chicken is considered white meat and light meat. You can boil or bake it, and serve a small piece of chicken meat occasionally. In chicken meat, carbohydrates, and fats are in low quantity and protein is high. So, it is one of the healthiest animal protein options.
2. Can Baby Hamsters Eat Meat?
When hamsters are in their starting phase, they consume a small amount of protein to grow. They can start eating solids when they reach 10 days old, and at this time they can eat meat and other solid foods easily.
3. Can Hamsters Eat Turkey?
Occasionally, hamsters can eat turkey meat, because it is the same as chicken meat. If a turkey is cooked plainly without adding any extra salt or harmful contains, it can be a good source of protein.
4. Can Hamsters Eat Lunch Meat?
Feeding Lunch Meat is not a healthy option for hamsters. Because in the supermarket, you always find it as heavily processed and packed with salt and preservatives.
5. Can Hamsters Eat Fish?
Yes, fish is a perfect seafood to serve your hamster as a treat, Occasionally. It is light and high in proteins, which gives your hamster extra energy.
6. Can Hamsters Eat Beef?
Beef meat is a red fatty meat, and it is cooked often with oil and some spices. So, it is unhealthy for hammie.
7. can hamsters eat chicken nuggets?
No, hamsters can’t eat chicken nuggets. By chance, if they eat, they face digestive issues, obesity, and choking problems.
8. Is Lamb Safe for Hamsters?
Yes, a small piece of lamb meat thoroughly cooked without seasoning is perfect to eat for the hamster.
Final Words
It is our responsibility as pet owners, before serving any kind of food to our pet buddies, first check, whether is it a good diet for them or not.
So, in the hamster case, if you want to feed them some meat, so, first check, can hamster eat meat or not.
You should always feed unsalted, unflavored, and oil-free meat to your hamster as we discussed in this article.
If you have any queries or suggestions, just comment below, we try to do our best.
