Can Cats and Hamsters Coexist in Harmony?

Having numerous sorts of pets can be amazing and super fun, but it can create chaos as well. People experience clashes among family pets and it is very common when there’s a cat and a hamster in the same house. If you already have a cat and you want to bring a pet hamster too, then you’ve got to be very vigilant. Although many cats may treat the hamster-like a loving member of their family, some of them would only look at them as their favorite food.

 

They should not ethically do this but they will keep an eye on the hamster and will try to attack whenever they get the opportunity. Nevertheless, a cat and a hamster can actually coexist in an environment, only if the cat has that kind of temperament. Therefore, when you decide to bring a hamster at home, you have to take some necessary precautions even though your cat is pet-friendly because you wouldn’t want to take the risk. Below are given some simple tips for you to keep your hamster safe from the cat.

 

Step 1: Keep the Hamster in a Cage

When you bring the hamster, try to keep it in a cage initially for approximately 3 to 4 weeks. In this way, the new pet would be given a chance to get settled in its new home. For small animals, relocating from a pet store to an entirely new home and adjusting to a new family is traumatic because everything they look, smell, or hear is a lot different than their experience of the pet shop, so they would require a lot of time to get used to their new home. This is not a time to introduce them to a cat, especially those that are not pet-friendly.

 

 

Step 2: Keep the Cage Protected

In order to make sure that your hamster is protected from any cat, you need to protect their cage. If you want to know what cages are the best to keep your hamsters protected, they are plastic acrylic cages for pets. There are acrylic cages with bars available in the market. Once you buy the cage, make sure that it is secured from every side and fixing because if there’s a little space left, the cat will try to attack and scratch the poor hamster.

 

Step 3: Keep an Eye on the Cat

While you have to work very hard to protect the hamster from the cat, it’s the other way around too. You must keep an eye on your cat and observe what it is doing throughout the day. Observe it when it tries to go near your hamster’s cage or when it stares at it. If the cat doesn’t want to kill it, it will sit around the pet and relax. However, when it wants to eat the hamster, it would have unusual confidence and hunger in its eyes that you can feel. It would spend more time outside the cage, keeping an eye on every move that the hamster would take and attacking every chance it gets. If that’s the case, then you should plan to reintroduce your hamster to the cat to make sure it understands the new family member and doesn’t want to eat it.

 

Step 4: Hamster’s are friends!

To teach your cat how to be careful around your small pet, you have to interact with the hamster yourself. Hold the hamster safely in front of your cat so it understands that the pet is not for eating, rather it’s a new addition to the family. Keep doing this for two to three weeks and keep the hamster close to you.

 

 

Step 5: Repeat the Process

To make the cat understand well, you have to keep repeating the process described in step 4. Keep your hamster close and show your cat that it’s not for food, it is a new friend that they need to take care of.

 

Step 6: Be Careful

Even if your cat is pet-friendly and cooperative, you should never fully leave your cat alone with it. It can, at any point, try to attack and eat the hamster. It is better to take every necessary precaution and never leave your hamster alone with your cat.

It may sound impossible to some, but keeping a cat and a hamster as pets is possible and many people do it. However, doing this may take a lot of hard work which may require patience. It’s not easy to make your cat understand that the little tempting creature that she wants to eat is not food. It may take a long time for the cat to understand this, but once it does, you’ll be surprised to see how incredibly peaceful your pet family has become, which itself will be a great reward.

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