Chicken is one of the meats that is eaten the most by humans! It’s delicious, cheap and can be very nutritious. We love our hamster, and our hamster loves us! This means that we want to provide the best food for our hamsters, to allow them to grow and develop into wonderful creatures that live their full life. So can hamsters eat chicken? Absolutely! You just need to make sure that you give them the correct amount and that you feed it to them in the proper manner.
This article will be looking at what chicken is, how to feed it to your hamster and the benefits and risks of feeding it to your pet. We will also let you know how much you should feed to your pet!
We all know chicken! It’s a wonderful meat that is eaten all over the world! It can be baked, fried, grilled and so much more! It can even be boiled, which we recommend for your hamster. There are 19 billion chickens in the world, which shows that production is huge! There’s so much chicken for your hamster to be able to eat. It is generally healthier than red meats like pork.
As stated before, hamsters can absolutely eat chicken! It can be a delicious treat for your pet. You just need to make sure that you feed it in the right amounts! Syrians can eat more than the other breeds of hamster though, so you need to be careful. You also need to make sure that the chicken is:
- Unsalted – Salt can seriously hurt your hamster’s health
- Cooked – Hamsters cannot eat raw chicken.
- Boneless – They could choke on the bones!
- Boiled – It’s the best way to keep the chicken safe.
If the chicken meets these qualities, your hamster should be able to eat it!
When you are giving treats, such as chicken, to your hamster, always make sure you are holding them or make sure that you are close to them. This is because giving treats to your hamster can strengthen your bond and assist in socializing them. Only give a small amount to your hamster at first, this is to figure out if they like chicken. 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 poaches though.
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Make sure that the chicken is cooked through! Just like humans, you can’t feed raw chicken to your pet. It can be extremely dangerous for them!
Consider feeding chicken to your hamster as part of a daily diet including treats like pumpkin seeds, cabbage and carrots! Lots of fruit and vegetables are great for your ham!
The amount of chicken that a hamster can eat depends on their breed. Syrians can eat more than Robos. Dwarfs can only eat a tiny amount! This is due to their size and the strength of their digestive system! Dwarfs simply cannot handle it in large amounts.
Your Syrian will absolutely love chicken, but you need to make sure that they only have a small amount! Give your Syrian around a teaspoon of chicken every week! This is vital to stick to, too much chicken can be an issue for your pet!
Robos are smaller than Syrians, this means that they can’t have as much chicken as Syrian hamsters. Give your Robo Hamster around a teaspoon of chicken every other week! Make sure not to give them anymore though, this can cause some serious problems.
Winter White dwarf hamsters, Chinese hamsters and Campbell Dwarf hamsters can only eat one teaspoon of chicken a month. This is because these hamsters are so tiny! They simply cannot handle a lot! You need to focus on giving them their normal hamster food!
Chicken has plenty of benefits for humans! It can be nutritious, healthy and easy to eat. But does the same apply for hamsters, absolutely! It can be a delicious snack for them. Some of the benefits of chicken include:
- Protein – This helps your hamster grow big and strong! It’s especially important as they are growing.
- Vitamin B – This gives your hamster lots of energy to run around during the day.
- Phosphorous – This gives your furry friend many benefits, including the increased ability to repair and maintain cells.
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As you can see, there’s a few benefits of chicken. However, there’s also many risks around giving your furry friend too much chicken! Some of the risks of overfeeding chicken to your pet include:
- Obesity – Feeding too much chicken to your hamster can obviously result in obesity. They will want to eat as much as possible and they can therefore become overweight.
- Nutritional issues – Feeding your hamster too much chicken will mean that they don’t have enough room for anything else. This can cause issues as your hamster won’t be able to eat nutritionally correct items.
- Digestive problems – Chicken can have quite a bit of acid in it. This means that too much chicken could hurt your furry friend’s delicate stomach.
There’s plenty of different types of chicken, so you may be wondering which types your hamster can eat. Here is a quick guide.
We don’t recommend breaded chicken! This is because it has addictive that could hurt your hamster’s health. Stick to unflavoured and boiled chicken.
Nope! Chicken soup is too hard for your hamster to drink and therefore they shouldn’t have it. It has too much salt as well!
No! It is cooked by deep-frying and therefore can hurt your furry friend’s health. Stick to boiled chicken!
As you can see, hamsters can absolutely eat chicken! This article has hopefully answered all of your questions on this food and the ability of your furry friend to enjoy it. We’ve looked at how to give your hamster chicken, the benefits and risks and how much to give your hamster. Remember to only give a small amount because of the risks of overfeeding. You shouldn’t give breaded chicken, chicken soup or chicken nuggets to your pet.
Maykon Alvarenga is a seasoned pet care expert with over 8 years of experience in the field. He holds a Master’s degree in Veterinary Science, specializing in small animal care. His passion for pets is reflected in his work on PetsBent.com, where he shares valuable insights on pet health, behavior, and training. Maykon is dedicated to helping pet owners provide the best care for their furry friends. Connect with him on Instagram at @maykon.alvarenga for more tips and updates.