Yes! Cheese for hamsters can be a safe and tasty treat. but as a responsible pet owner, you should be careful about how much you give them.
Only give a small amount to your hamster at first, this is to figure out if they like cheese. There’s no point giving your hamster a lot of it if they just ignore it! Your hamster might put the food in their cheek pouches though.
You can give your hamster cheese such as gouda, cheddar, and mozzarella. These are mild cheeses that shouldn’t cause any problems for your wonderful hamster.
Make sure that the cheese is in a small enough size that your hamster won’t choke on it. Hamsters cannot vomit which makes choking a real risk to their health.
The amount of cheese you can give to your furry friends depends on their breed.
- Give your Syrian Hamster around 2 tiny cubes of cheese every fortnight.
- Feed Robo hamsters around 1 tiny cube every fortnight.
- Winter White dwarf hamsters, Chinese hamsters, and Campbell Dwarf hamsters can only eat one tiny cube every month. This is due to their size of them. Too much cheese can seriously impact their health.
Some of the benefits of cheese in your hamster’s diet include:
- Protein – This helps your hamster grow in size and ensures that they stay strong!
- Calcium – This helps your furry friends’ bones stay strong!
- Vitamin B – This gives your hamster a lot of energy and protects their immune system
- Zinc – This improves your hamster’s metabolism, meaning that they can digest food better!
- Vitamin A – This benefits your pet’s immune system and helps fight off illness
Overfeeding your hamster cheese has risks, despite its benefits. Risks include:
- Obesity – This is because of the very high-fat content in cheese. Too much cheese can easily cause obesity. Cheese also contains a lot of calories.
- Diabetes – Again, this is due to the very high-fat content.
- Choking – Large pieces of cheese can cause your hamster to choke
- Toxicity – Blue cheeses like silton and blue cheese can cause death in serious cases. Avoid it.
You must also avoid soft, aged, blue, and fatty cheeses as these can seriously hurt your hamster.
Don’t feed them cheese puffs or cheesy snacks as these aren’t actually cheese!
Hamsters may become overweight if they are given too much cheese, especially if the cheese is high in fat.
Too much salt (from cheese or other salty snacks) can lead to dehydration and kidney problems in hamsters.
