One morning, I woke up and realised something was wrong with Flamey. He was sitting in his soil, not moving, looking kind of sleepy. His ears were flat, his back was hunched, and he had barely been up in the night, which I could tell from his camera. Naturally, I took him straight to the vet.
The first vet did a thorough check and told me nothing was wrong. The second vet said he had an enlarged liver and a lump in his spleen. The third vet suggested something more sinister might be going on because Flamey had been falling off things lately, which isn’t common for hamsters. At a year and a half old, no one really wanted to help more than this because he was ‘an old hamster now.’
I wasn’t outright told to put him down, but the option was offered in all three instances.
Then, he stopped eating hard food.
Why Did My Hamster Stop Eating Hard Food?
In Flamey’s case, I never found out exactly why he stopped eating hard food. Shortly after, he developed abscesses on his face, which made me suspect a dental or cheek pouch issue. Even though several vets checked his teeth and found nothing, the abscesses strongly suggested a problem in that area.
If your hamster has stopped eating hard foods, it’s best to consult a vet. A sudden change like this usually has an underlying cause. If a vet can identify and treat the issue, your hamster may recover. However, if no clear solution is found, like in Flamey’s case, you’ll need to find ways to support them nutritionally.
What to Do When Your Hamster Stops Eating Hard Food
Once you've consulted a vet, whether you have a diagnosis or not, your priority will be keeping your hamster well-fed and ensuring they’re still getting the nutrients they need.
Despite being offered euthanasia, Flamey was still having fun being himself. That first bad morning didn’t last, soon enough, he was back to burrowing, running in his wheel, and causing his usual mischief. For me, it was an easy decision: as long as Flamey was enjoying life, I would do what I could to support him. Here’s what I did next.
1. Monitor Their Weight
I started tracking Flamey’s weight weekly, and when I noticed a decline, I switched to daily monitoring. If your hamster stops eating hard food, keeping an eye on their weight becomes even more critical. This will help you determine whether they’re still getting enough nutrition or if you need to adjust their diet further. I wrote a blog post on how and why to weigh your hamster if you want any more information around this including typical weights for hamsters.
2. Try Critical Care Food
I began feeding Flamey Emeraid Omnivore, a vet-recommended critical care food, using a syringe. He had a love-hate relationship with it, it kept him going, but he quickly got bored. A friend of mine mixed Omnivore with different foods to keep her hamster interested, which worked well. Flamey, however, was not so easily pleased, so I had to get creative.
Feeding Your Hamster Soft Foods
1. Baby Food
When Flamey got tired of Omnivore, I had to act fast. I started looking into baby food options, making sure to choose ones with minimal preservatives and no harmful ingredients like garlic or onion.
Some baby foods that are usually safe include:
- Single-ingredient vegetable purees (peas, carrots, sweet potato, etc.)
- Fruit purees (apple, pear, banana and combinations of fruit purees)
- Baby meals there are not many ‘complete meals’ that are suitable for hamsters as they often contain garlic or onion, but if you can find any that include chicken they’re a good source of protein
- Plain yogurts or those with very few ingredients for extra protein
Since baby food packs have short shelf lives, I froze individual portions in an ice cube tray to reduce waste.
Just some of the baby foods I had for Flamey.
Safe hamster baby foods
Here are some of the baby foods I tried with Flamey:
Heinz
- Sunday chicken dinner
HIPP
- Sweet squash and chicken
- Creamy porridge
Ella’s Kitchen
- Squash, sweet potato and parsnip
- Sweet potaoes pumpkin apples and blueberries
- Apples carrots and parsnips
- Mangos pears and papayas
- Sweet potato broccoli and carrots
- Strawberries and apples
- Pumpkin broccoli and sweetcorn
- Squash carrots apples and prunes
- Any that are just a puree of one ingredient (pears, apples, sweet potato etc)
- Mango baby brekkie
Little Angels (Asda)
- Peas
- Sweet potato
- Strawberry blueberry and apple
- Apple and strawberry
- Strawberry greek style yoghurt
- Carrot
- Berry yoghurt
Piccolo
- Apple banana and blueberry
- Apple and apricot
- Blushing berries
- Apple pear and spring greens
- Sweet potato and beetroot
2. Homemade Baby Food
While baby food was helpful, I worried that Flamey wasn’t getting enough nutrition or enrichment. Hamsters get a lot of stimulation from food, and I didn’t want him to only eat puddles off tiny plates!
So, I made my own hamster friendly mashed foods:
- Vegetables: I cooked and mashed courgettes, sprouts, parsnips, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and sweet potato in different combinations.
- Added Nutrients: I mixed in small amounts of cheese, cream cheese, milk, or unsalted butter for extra protein.
- Storage: I froze the portions in an ice cube tray, then stored them in a container for easy daily feeding.
- Fruit Options: Frozen fruits like blueberries and blackberries became soft enough on defrosting for Flamey to eat, and he loved them! I bought packs of fruits that are usually sold for smoothie making to ensure he had variety.
3. Adapting Human Food for Hamsters
Over time, I started making hamster-friendly versions of whatever I was eating. This added variety and enrichment for Flamey. Here are just some of the recipes that were most succesful.
- Pasta Bake – Cooked pasta with a tiny bit of watered-down tomato puree, courgette, tomato, and cheese.
- Bulgar Wheat & Apricot – I gave him some plain bulgar wheat (prepared without stock) and chopped apricot.
- Rice Pudding – A tiny portion made with coconut milk instead of dairy.
- Blueberry Crumble – Oats, a little butter, and a touch of honey made up the crumble topping and just plain blueberries in the bottom, served with some plain yoghurt.
- Weetabix & Applesauce – A small portion soaked in coconut milk to make it soft and added applesauce for enrichment.
- Sweet Hamster Hummus – Blended chickpeas with coconut milk and strawberries.
- Chia Pudding - made with coconut milk instead of cream or milk.
With a little practice, I was able to adapt many of my own meals into safe, nutritious treats for him, and some of these I was able to freeze as well.
Can Wet Food Give My Hamster Wet Tail?
One concern I had was that if Flamey was eating a mainly wet food diet, would he get wet tail? I did a deep dive into this at the time and found that wet tail is a bacterial infection, not caused by wet food itself, but rather by stress and poor hygiene. If you are keeping your hamster’s environment clean and offering a balanced diet, feeding soft food should not increase the risk of wet tail.
For a deeper look into this topic, you can check out my full blog post: Can Wet Food Really Give Your Hamster Wet Tail?
However, an increase in wet food can give your hamster diarrhoea, this isn’t fatal like wet tail and often it just means having to offer more solid foods for a while (think soft pasta rather than baby food) while your hamster recovers. Having said that, I was very lucky. Flamey had an exclusively baby food and vegetable mash diet at one point and he never had the slightest sign of diarrhoea.
Your hamster might drink less water on a soft food diet.
One thing I noticed when Flamey switched to soft foods was that he barely drank any water. This is actually quite normal. Hamsters regulate their own water intake, and if they are getting enough hydration from their food, they will naturally drink less from their water bottle or bowl.
However, it’s still important to monitor their hydration. If your hamster is refusing both food and water, or showing signs of dehydration (sunken eyes, lethargy, dry gums), seek veterinary advice immediately.
Will My Hamster Eat Hard Food Again?
It depends on the reason they stopped eating in the first place. Flamey started eating hard food again after his abscesses healed, which was a huge surprise. Even then, I continued offering soft food alongside his regular mix just in case.
If your hamster recovers, they may return to eating hard food. If not, they can still live happily with a well-managed soft food diet.
Keeping Your Hamster Enriched When They Can’t Eat Hard Food
Food is a huge part of a hamster’s enrichment. They love gathering and stashing food, and most boredom breakers involve chewing. If your hamster stops eating hard food, you’ll need to find other ways to keep them engaged.
Here’s what worked for Flamey:
- Extra Play Areas – He had three main play areas and a playpen, which I kept changing to keep things interesting.
- More Sensory Enrichment – I added extra shredded paper, dried flowers, and different textures for him to explore. I also gave him more sand and soil.
- Hand-Feeding & Interaction – Since his diet changed, I used more hand-feeding to keep him engaged.
When to Go Back to the Vet
If your hamster has stopped eating hard food, it’s important to keep monitoring them. Here are some signs that you should return to the vet:
- Continued weight loss despite feeding adjustments
- Lethargy or lack of activity
- Drooling or difficulty swallowing
- Obvious pain or distress while eating
If something doesn’t feel right, trust your instincts and seek veterinary advice.
Supporting Your Hamster Through a Soft Food Diet: Final Thoughts
When Flamey stopped eating hard food, I had no guide to follow, I had to figure it out as we went. That’s why I wanted to write this post: if your hamster is going through something similar, you’re not alone. With careful monitoring, soft food options, and some creativity, you can support them and help them keep enjoying life.
If you have any questions about supporting your hamster when they’re not able to eat hard foods please get in touch.