my cat is way too interested in my hamster

[Aurecus]

My dwarf hamster gimli died the other day :( I ended up getting a new teddybear named fyodore :) My cat leanne was never really interested in gimli, but she is VERY interested in fyodore. I know she cant get into his cage, but i wonder if her constant curiosity might harm him in someway (stress?) I dont want to leave fyo all couped up all the time, but anytime he is out with us she is all up in his business! Should my primary concern be making sure she doesnt give him a heart attack, or should i not worry about it?

[jostring]

You want to be careful. Your cat will be very curious! Probably thinks your hammie is more like a mouse and smells like a mouse!! hehe!
I think its best you keep your cat away from your hamster - it will frighten him - whenever our dogs accidently see our hammies they are very interested and want to get to them so I keep them away - our hammies hide and are frightened whenever they can hear or smell the dogs - would be the same for cats.
I am sure it will stress your hammy...
Have you got your hammie in a seperate room? like your bedroom??
If so - just keep cat away.
And don't have the cat around when you get hammy out! it could be fatal if your not supervising for a sec!
You never know - you just need to be alert of this.

Jo
xx

[MaryMac]

Maybe it depends on the hamsters and the cats personalities, because I have a Weimaraner dog and he is very interested in the hamster, especially when he's in his ball. He'll even nudge the ball to make it moves if the hamster stops. But we keep an eye on the dog, and she eventually gives up and goes away.

The hamster on the other hand, could care less about the dog. He figured out real fast that the dog couldn't get him, and he actually runs into her if she's laying on the floor.

We've also had the hamster in his "playpen" with the dog around, and the dog gets much more upset than the hamster. Of course, she's a hunting dog by nature and is very curious, but the hamster totally ignores her.

But of course, every situation is different.

[Zouave]

Cats do not belong anywhere near rodents at any time, and what you are doing is foolish and dangerous.

Any injury to that hamster is your fault. If that hamster somehow escapes it will be killed by the cat.

Rodents should be in a locked room cats NEVER go in, if you must have them in the same house at all.

[dosergirl]

It's ridiculous to say that a cat and rodent should never be kept in the smae house.

Zouave, how about the fact that you have hamsters in bins with no lids and you have a rabbit in the house. at any time she is out Poppy could hop in a bin and crush hamster
come on, stop trying to impose your unrealistic views on others.

[jostring]

Yeah but rabbits don't have hunting instincts like cats do they?

It just depends on the cats personality - if your lucky your cat wont be phased - but that would be very rare I think.

Jo
xx

[LilSnooPydOG]

My cat never bugs my hammy anymore. The cage is on a TV stand, and Jinx won't even jumo on the stand anymore, he just sits at the bottom and watches.

It's funny, though, because when Jinx would sit on the stand, Snoopi would bite his paws and my cat would run. It never seemed to bother her, she would either sleep or bite him.

If it is a problem for you, just hold the hammy in a different room and close the door.

And Zouave, it's not easy to choose between pets. My family wasn't going to say, "Well, we have a hamster, so we aren't going to take this cat who is being neglected." and if I hadn't had my hamster already and once we had the cat I said I wanted a hamster, they weren't going to say, "Sorry, we have a cat. But if you really want one, we can just get rid of the cat". It doesn't work that way. That's like saying you can't have a cat if you have a dog, because a lot of dogs attack the cat. There are easy ways to keep the cat away from the hammy, and the cat can still be in the room with it.

Jostring, I don't find it too rare that a cat doesn't care. For a while they may be interested in a hamster but the hammy would be new to them so that's to be expected. I've had my kitty since he was 3 months old, and we had a hamster when I got him so he's pretty used to them now. I'm not too sure on how a rabbit would be, though.