Can Hamsters Eat Beef? All You Need To Know!
Do you love beef? Are you sitting here and wondering if your hamster can eat beef? If yes, read on! Hamsters are omnivores in the wild, which means that they feed on both plants and animals as their primary food source.
In this article, we will look at all your questions on this topic, such as how to prepare beef for your hamster, how much beef you should feed your hamster, and the types of beef products you can and cannot feed your hamster.
Happy reading!
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Can Hamsters Eat Beef?
I know there are mixed opinions online on whether beef is safe for hamsters to eat. Some thinks that hamsters should not eat red meat at all to avoid the risk of developing health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and obesity.
Here’s my take on whether hamster can eat beef. You can feed your hamster as an occasional treat and it is safe as long as you don’t overindulge it.
Hop over to sections on ‘Ways To Prepare Beef For Your Hamster’ as well as ‘How Much Beef Should You Feed Your Hamster’ for detailed explanation to feed your hamster beef safely.
In summary, yes, you can feed your hamster beef but as it applies to all types of food, beef has potential health benefits as well as health risks to your hamster. It is important to take note of your hamster’s protein intake, size and breed before you make the decision to feed your hamster beef.
Nutritional Facts of Beef
Beef is considered as a type of red meat. Often associated with various illnesses if consumed in the long run, red meat has significantly more nutrients compared to white meat (chicken) especially when it comes to its vitamin B-12 content.
A beef tenderloin contains:
- Calories: 165 g
- Energy: 168 kcal
- Protein: 27.7 g
- Total Fats: 5.56 g
- Cholesterol: 85 mg
- Minerals
- Iron: 3.04 mg
- Zinc: 3.7 mg
- Magnesium: 13.7 mg
- Potassium: 352 mg
- Vitamins
- Riboflavin: 0.4 mg
- Niacin: 5.76 mg
- Vitamin B-12: 4.21 µg
- Carbohydrates: 0 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Sugar: 0 g
Source: USDA
Ways To Prepare Beef For Your Hamster
If you want to treat your hamster with occasional beef treats, make sure you prepare it healthily for your hamster’s consumption.
The healthiest way to prepare beef for your hamster is to steam or boil it. Otherwise, you can also stir-fry lean beef on a pan without any seasonings.
Try not to give your hamster grilled steak. Grilled steak is cooked by placing the meat directly under an open flame at high temperatures.
Grilling produces carcinogens such as heterocyclic aromatic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Carcinogens are cancer-causing agents, and grilled food might expose your hamster to various types of cancer.
Should You Feed Your Hamster Raw Or Cooked Beef?
Never feed your hamster raw meat, and that includes beef as well.
Even though we humans can eat raw beef tartare, it might not be the same for our little hamsters. Raw beef contains many different types of bacteria and can be infested with tapeworms such as cysticercus.
Tapeworm infections are very common among hamsters. Mild infections might go undetected most of the time as the symptoms are mild. However, serious tapeworm infections might cause weight loss among hamsters.
How Much Beef Should You Feed Your Hamster?
Beef should be meant as treats for your hamster. It shouldn’t be more than 10% of your hamster’s diet.
As a rule of thumb, the protein intake your hamster should consume is based on a few factors:
1. Breed of hamster
○ Syrian Hamsters (also known as teddy bear or golden hamsters)
Limit your hamster’s beef treats at small amounts, around the size of a penny each serving.
○ Chinese Hamsters
I wouldn’t recommend feeding beef to your chinese hamster as their digestive system is too weak to have any red meat at all.
○ Dwarf Hamsters (Roborovski, Campbell, Winter White/Djungarian/Siberian)
Similarly, a dwarf hamster’s digestive system is too small to digest any red meat safely. It’s best to refrain from feeding your dwarf hamsters any beef.
2. Size of hamster
○ The smaller the size of your hamster, the smaller their digestive systems will be. So if you wish to feed your hamster beef, take into account their size and serving amount.
3. Other types of protein your hamster consume besides beef
○ Only feed it once a week if beef is the only source of protein in your hamster’s diet.
○ If you feed your hamster other kinds of proteins, such as chicken, turkey, fish, and shrimp, limit the intake to once every other week.
Is Beef Good For Your Hamster?
Even though beef is not a natural source of food in your hamster’s diet, feeding them beef occasionally in small amounts may be beneficial. Let’s see the benefits of feeding your hamster beef below:
1. It Is A Good Source Of Vitamins and Minerals
Beef contains a wide range of vitamins and minerals that is essential for your hamster’s growth. This includes heme iron, zinc, selenium, and B-vitamins.
Beef contains a higher content of heme iron compared to poultry, and heme iron is absorbed more efficiently into your hamster’s body compared to other sources of iron like grains, beans, nuts, and seeds.
On the other hand, zinc is proven to protect hamsters from teratogenesis, a process that causes birth defects and malformations in hamster fetuses.
It may be beneficial to feed pregnant hamsters with lean beef regularly during their pregnancy, but care must be taken to avoid overfeeding.
2. It Improves Hamster’s Cardiac Performance
L-carnitine is a type of amino acid that is widely found in beef. It is vital in metabolizing fat and converting body fat to energy.
A study conducted shows that Syrian hamsters fed with high doses of L-carnitine improve your hamster’s cardiac performance and overall heart health.
3. It Bulks Up Your Hamster
The high amount of protein found in beef provides all the nutrients your hamster needs for a stronger body. Protein helps to increase and preserve muscle mass as well as bone mass.
Is Beef Bad For Your Hamster?
For years, beef has had a bad reputation for causing various health issues such as cancer, heart disease, kidney inflammation, etc. Let us examine the risks of feeding your hamster beef below:
1. Increases The Risk Of Heart Diseases
Generally, red meat such as beef contains more saturated fat than other meat such as poultry and fish. Saturated fats is said to increase the risk of heart diseases due to its ability to increase cholesterol levels in blood.
However, it is important to note that the consumption of different cuts of beef and forms of beef will affect the health benefits of beef consumption.
For instance, processed red meats such as beef burger patties, sausages, and corned beef tend to have high amount of sodium and fats compared to unprocessed, lean beef.
2. May Cause Kidney Inflammation
Similar to humans, your hamster may develop kidney diseases as they grow older. This is commonly caused by immune disorder, viral infection and high blood pressure.
Your hamster’s digestive system is so tiny and they wouldn’t be able to handle large quantities of red meat. Feeding them red meat that is hard to digest will put a strain on their digestive systems as well as their kidneys.
3. May Cause Cancer
There’s no direct correlation between eating red meat and cancer. However, cooking red meat at very high temperatures will release carcinogens such as heterocyclic aromatic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
Long term consumption of carcinogens may increase the risk of cancer in your hamster.
Can Hamsters Eat Beef Steak?
If you are wondering whether you can share your steak with your hamster, think twice before you do that.
Beef steak is usually prepared by dry heat method, including grilling and roasting the beef. Hamsters can eat beef steak in small quantities only if it is cooked thoroughly without any seasonings.
Unless you love eating well done steak, I don’t recommend sharing a slice of medium rare steak with your hamster.
Can Hamsters Eat Beef Jerky?
No. However, homemade beef jerky is safe for your hamster’s consumption.
Your hamster cannot eat store bought beef jerky that are full of salt and preservatives. Instead, if you want to give your hamster beef jerky, make it yourself with the recipe here.
As usual, remember to omit all the spices and seasonings. This includes the crushed red pepper, black pepper, garlic, onion powder and use a low sodium soy sauce.
Otherwise, you can also buy beef jerky treats that are meant for pets instead.
Can Hamsters Eat Beef Sausages?
No. Processed food is not recommended for your hamster.
Your hamster can eat beef sausages only if it is made without preservatives, additives, seasonings and extra flavourings. That means your hamster cannot eat sausages you buy from the deli or Costco.
Make your own healthy beef sausages without preservatives and additives here so you can enjoy it together with your little buddy.
Omit the spices and salt to ensure the beef sausages are safe for your hamster to consume.
Can Hamsters Eat Beef Ham?
Beef ham is NOT SAFE for your hamster to consume!
The World Health Organization has categorised ham as carcinogenic which means that there’s convincing evidences that links properties in ham to cancer.
Beef ham is extremely high in sodium and salt is dangerous to hamsters as it might result in kidney stone formation.
Plus, hamsters are small animals. Too much salt will cause dehydration, a condition that occurs when more water and fluids leave your hamster’s body than it can take in.
Beef Products You Should Avoid Giving Your Hamster
As reiterated in the sections above, you should avoid giving your hamster any beef products that are raw, as well as beef products that contain high amounts of fat, sodium, preservatives, and additives. This includes:
- Your regular medium well beef steak meal
- Store-bought beef ham
- Store-bought beef sausages
- Store-bought beef jerky
FAQs
Can Hamsters Eat Cooked Ground Beef?
Yes, definitely! Ground beef is basically beef meat and beef fat that has been finely chopped, so it’s totally safe to feed ground beef to your hamster.
However, choose the type of cut carefully before buying ground beef. Ideally, ground beef should consist of more lean meat than fat. Also, it shouldn’t contain any other preservatives and additives.
Can I Give My Hamster Raw Meat?
As discussed in the section ‘Should You Feed Your Hamster Raw Or Cooked Beef’, one should never feed a hamster raw meat or raw eggs as they contain high levels of bacteria and parasites that can be deadly to them.
Can Hamsters Have Sausage?
Your hamster will happily eat meat as well as fruit and vegetables. Since sausage is a meat product, you may feed them sausages but refrain from feeding them store bought sausage.
Instead, make your own unseasoned sausage so it does not contain preservatives and additives that will harm your hamster.
What Are Hamster’s Favorite Food?
Your hamster will love eating cheese, cooked beans, cucumbers, apples, carrots, leafy vegetables, toasted bread, dog biscuits, rice, etc.
Larger hamster breeds like Syrian hamsters would love eating fresh fruits and vegetables, while dwarf roborovski hamsters should be fed a variety of fruits, vegetables, and grains.
Conclusion
So, there you have it. Hamsters can eat beef, and it’s a safe source of protein for them. If you’re looking to incorporate protein into their diet, why not try some beef? Just remember to feed them in small servings and serve it to them as snacks.
Make sure you stick to the recommended serving size, so they don’t get too full. Also, steer away from processed food even though it contains beef as processed food is full of sodium, preservatives, and additives.
Thanks for reading, and happy hamster-feeding!
Before you go, check out this cute video of a dwarf hamster enjoying a tiny slab of steak.
