Turkey, not to be confused with the country, is a delicious meat that most of us will have eaten at some point. It is particularly popular at thanksgiving and Christmas, you may be reading this after your dinner and seeing if your hamster can eat your leftovers! So, can hamsters eat turkey? Absolutely! You just need to make sure you know the right amount and the benefits and risks of feeding this meat to your pet!
This article will be looking at what turkey is, how to feed it to your hamster and the benefits and risks of giving it to your furry friend. We will also let you know how much you should be giving to your pet. Read on for more!
Turkey is a popular poultry meat which is traditionally eaten as the main course in many events, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was found in Northern Africa and had been eaten since ancient times. It began to be eaten in Europe by the 16th century and we loved it! They are normally baked or roasted in an oven, but some areas deep fry it! It’s a very popular meat, no wonder people ask if they hamster can have it!
Absolutely! Hamsters can eat turkey and they are likely to love it. You just need to ensure that it is fed in the correct amounts, otherwise, it can pose quite a few problems for them. We will get into this later on in this article. Ensure that the turkey is:
- Cooked – Raw turkey can seriously hurt your hamster’s health!
- Unsalted – Added salt can hurt your pet’s health.
- Plain – No marinades! It needs to be plain.
When you are giving treats, such as turkey, 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 turkey. 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.
Make sure that the turkey is cooked through! Just like humans, you can’t feed raw turkey to your pet. It can be extremely dangerous for them!
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Consider feeding turkey to your hamster as part of a diet including treats like pumpkin seeds, cabbage and carrots! Lots of fruit and vegetables are great for your ham!
The amount of turkey that your pet can eat depends on their breed. A Syrian hamster can have more than a Robo and a Robo can have more than a Dwarf! We will now be going into each breed and how much turkey they can eat.
Syrian Hamsters love turkey, but you need to make sure that they only have a little bit! Give your Syrian around a teaspoon of turkey weekly. if you don’t stick to this, you can face a few problems which we state later in the article!
Robos love turkey as well, but they can’t have as much as Syrians. This is due to their size, they are much smaller! Give your Robo around a teaspoon of turkey every fortnight. Make sure to stick to this as best you can!
Winter White dwarf hamsters, Chinese hamsters and Campbell Dwarf hamsters can only eat one teaspoon of turkey a month. This is because of how small they are, it will overwhelm their bodies if they have too much! Focus on their usual hamster food.
Turkey has a lot of fantastic benefits for humans, it can be really healthy for us! But does this apply for hamsters as well, absolutely! As long as it is fed in moderation, it can be a delicious and nutritious treat for them! Some of the benefits of turkey include:
- Protein – This gives your hamster lots of energy and helps them grow!
- Zinc – This helps regulate your pet’s immune system and helps their health!
- Vitamin B – This gives your furry friend lots of energy to go about their day!
- Antioxidants – This provides your hamster with protection against the negative effects of aging!
- Niacin – This provides protection for your furry friend’s skin and hair!
Although there are clearly a lot of benefits to Turkey, there can be some serious problems if you feed your pet too much turkey! This is the same for all foods, there’s always too much of a good thing! Some of the risks of feeding your hamster too much turkey include:
- Diabetes. If hamsters have a lot of turkey then it can cause diabetes. This is because of the high amounts of fat that turkey contains. You need to make sure you keep the amounts you give them low!
- Nutritional Issues – Turkey contains some nutrients, but your pet can’t survive on it! Too much turkey will fill them up so that they can’t eat their normal hamster food!
- Choking – Make sure to cut up the turkey into small portions. Your furry friend could choke on it otherwise!
- Blood Pressure problems – The salt in turkey means that your pet needs to have small amounts of turkey, otherwise they could have serious health problems.
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There’s a few different types of Turkey, and there’s different ways you can eat it. Let’s have a quick overview of what parts of the turkey you can give to your furry friend.
As far as we know, yes! It has the same nutrients so you need to make sure that you stick to the guidelines that we specify above. Make sure not to overfeed your hamster!
We don’t recommend it! The bones could get lodged in their throat which could cause them to choke and die! Stay away from turkey bones!
As you can see, hamsters can eat turkey! I hope that this page has answered all of the questions that you wanted to ask about if your pet can eat this lovely meat. If not, let me know in the comments! We’ve looked at how to give turkey to your pet and the benefits and risks of doing so. We’ve looked at the most critical part as well, which is how much to give to your hamster! Remember to only give a small amount! Turkey skin should be fine for your pet, but not the bones!
