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15 Jun 2014

Getting Rid Of Hamster Odour

Posted By : Guest

Filed Under : Hamsters | Pet Care

Your hamster may have stolen your heart even before you brought him home, but before long, you may not want to take a whiff of air near his cage. It's usually his urine that stinks so bad. If the smell of your pet hamster's urine is the first thing you notice when you enter the room you keep him in, chances are you need to change how you are taking care of your pet. Hamsters are not smelly animals -- they're super-clean -- but their cages can develop a serious odour problem if you aren't taking measures to keep bad smells at bay.

Normal Urine Odours

Urinating is one of your hamster's way of removing waste from his body. Urine is a sterile fluid that primarily contains water along with various salts, minerals, toxins, sugars and various compounds. The odour of hamster urine is typically weak, but the smell becomes more noticeable depending on what your hamster has been consuming, whether he is suffering from medical problems and whether you clean his cage as you should. A faint ammonia smell is not uncommon.

Cleaning Hamster Cage

Removing all soiled bedding, food and feces from your hamster's cage once a day will significantly reduce the chance of foul odours developing from your hamster's urine. Urine never smells pleasant, but it will smell a lot worse if mold grows in bedding that has been urinated on. In addition to conducting daily cage cleanings, you should also make a point of emptying your hamster's cage completely each week and replacing all his bedding with fresh material. Sterilize toys, food dishes, water bottles and the cage itself, wiping them down with a pet-safe disinfectant cleaning solution.

Bedding

Your choice of bedding can have a significant affect on how you perceive the smell of your hamster's urine. Highly absorbent, scented paper bedding is typically better at masking odours than wood chips or corn cob alternatives. The amount of bedding you use is important -- inadequate amounts of bedding will not be able to absorb the urine, and liquid will be left behind and cause an unpleasant odour.

Get Litter Tray

Teach your hamster to use a litter box. Although the thought of training a hamster to use a litter box might sound incredibly difficult, it's actually quite simple. Use chinchilla sand -- not chinchilla dust -- as the litter in the box. You can also use Burgess Excel Bedding & Litter straw pellets in the tray because it absorbs urine and odours very well, long lasting, biodegradable and easy to clean. Pay attention to where he normally pees and place the litter box near the area. Throw some soiled bedding into the litter box and he'll likely start using the box to do his peeing business. He probably won't defecate in there. Excel Bedding and Litter is also pre-treated to remove dust and mould spores so reducing the risk of allergies and respiratory infections.

Diet

Some foods can cause your hamster's urine output to smell worse than it should. If you notice your hamster's cage seems particularly strong-smelling after feeding certain foodstuffs or after you have made a change to his diet, work to determine the cause by eliminating specific items from his menu individually to systematically rule out possibilities. Also, experiment with different grains. Feeding your hamster vitamin supplements can affect the pet's urine odour and colour.

Veterinary Problems

Health problems can cause your hamster's urine to develop an odour that's stronger than it should be. Bladder and kidney infections can cause your hamster's urine to smell bad and be discoloured. If your hamster's urine suddenly takes on a strong odour with no change in your cage hygiene or his diet, take him to the veterinarian immediately to see if a medical cause is behind the smell.

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