Thirsty hamster...

[ruzzian]

Hi everyone. I havent been on here in a little while so I hope you are all well. Just a simple question from me this time which is a relief :p . My little Ray turned 2 years old a few weeks back and today I have noticed how much he seems to be drinking. He has always drunk quite a lot, and he is a big hamster, but last time I experienced one of my hamsters drinking a lot we found out she had Cushings Disease.

I'm not suggesting Ray has the same condition but I learnt from that experience that hamsters drink more when something isnt right with them inside. Do you reckon this is something I should take care of or do older hamsters tend to drink more? :drink:

[CritterCrazy1]

Sometimes it is very serious. Do you have a picture of the watter bottle you use? If you do please post it here along with telling us (pointing somehow to the waterbottle) about where he drinks up to. But befoure you do, tell me if you can so I don't wait too long..

[ruzzian]

I can take a picture, but I dont understand why. He actually has two water bottles so it is quite hard to show a fair gauge. To give you a vague idea of how much he has drunk. He has one water that measures 4cm in diameter and he has drunk just under a cm down in that and he has another water bottle that measures 3cm in diameter and he has drunk 1cm down in that. All this in just under 24 hours.

This might be normal just my other two little female hamsters hardly used to drink anything so I struggle to compare Ray to anyone else. Ray is about 16cm long, maybe a bit longer outstrecthed, so he is quite a large hamster.

[ruzzian]

...and to add to my previous post. Is this a sympton of diatbetes in hamsters as I know it is in humans?:scared:

[Punkygirl0101]

Drinking alot of water IS a sign of diabetes in humans,as well as in animals. Also, excessive urination is another.

[Moosley]

how about you go out, buy a new water bottle and have just one water bottle in the cage, find out how much water goes in the bottle, certain bottles will tell you... the most common is 150mls... failing that, use a jug with measurements on and count how much water goes in.... then measure how much is left in 24 hours time...

get a small tray or cardboard tray and fill with sand and encourage ham to pee in one place only so you can tell if he is peeing excessively or not... excessively will be that the tray is soaked in 24 hours...

LASTLY, from your local pharmacy/chemist etc, ask over the counter for Ketodiastix (failing that, get Ketostix AND Diastix seperately) if chemists dont have them, try eBay...

the levels on keto/dia/ketodiastix should read 0. this will tell you the levels of glucose and ketones in the pee (hold the stick in the pee, put hamster in empty plastic box and wait for pee...) which should diagnose diabetes.

if you are concerned diabetes is the cause, stop feeding ALL seeds, fruits, vegetables and nuts. (which makes it hard to feed them i know..)