**
I didn’t force the hamster to conform to my religious diet. I simply tried to provide an alternative which would be acceptable to the hamster. We did check with pet store personnel to make sure that it would be OK.
If it is the case that a hamster MUST have chametz to survive, then, yes, you may have a point. We have not, however, arrived at that conclusion yet.
Zev Steinhardt
Nope, that was done with all hamsters. Since the old hamster food has to be gotten rid of, it has to be gotten rid of in the cage as well.
Zev Steinhardt
There is a religious requirement to deprive dependant animals of essential nutrition?
Please say there there was some kind of misunderstanding.
Humans are omnivores, and can adjust to a wide variety of diet - most other critters have very specific requirements.
Please do not acquire any pets for which you cannot care, whatever the reason.
**
No. There is a religious requirement to avoid having certain products in one’s possession. Having consulted with both pet store personnel and rabbis, what I thought was an acceptable alternative (millet, supplemented with sunflower seeds, carrot tops, etc.) was found.
As I mentioned above, if it is impossible to do so, then I agree with you, we should not have such pets in the house. Considering the fact that other hamsters came through fine in other years, I’m not certain that this was the problem. I will, however, speak to other people who are more knowledgeable about hamsters than I am to determine if this is truly the case.
Zev Steinhardt
Since I’m doing the late shift here, I decided to give this flame a more thorough going through.
You may agree or disagree, but this is the case:
Judaism, as a religion, makes certain demands on its adherents. They range from the miniscule to the all important. It makes demands on me, on my family and on my possessions. There are certain things I cannot do no matter what (even if it costs me my life), certain things I cannot own under any circumstances and certain things I cannot gain any benefit from whatsoever.
Some of these religious requirements are stricter than others. In some cases, one can violate Jewish law for the sake of an animal. For example, one is allowed to milk a cow on the Sabbath if not doing so would cause the animal excessive pain. OTOH, other laws cannot be broken for an animal’s benefit. For example, a Jew cannot have any benefit from a milk/meat mixture. Therefore, one cannot feed such a mixture to one’s animal, sell it for monetary gain or use it to fuel a fire in one’s fireplace at home. One such substance that Jews are forbidden from deriving any benefit from is chametz on Passover. (And Duck Duck Goose, the item in question need not contain yeast to be considered chametz. Ordinary flour and water made into a dough is chametz if left long enough – even without adding any yeast.)
Having said that, please consider the following:
[ul]
[li]We wanted to keep the laws of Passover, as they are very important to us[/li][li]We have had hamsters through past Passovers. During those years we fed the hamsters essentially what we fed this hamster. We noticed no change in thier behavior (as we did in this one) and they all made it through the holiday just fine.[/li][li]Since this was the first year in the last (at least six) years that we had a hamster, we again asked the pet store workers (whom you would assume would know something about the care and feeding of the creatures they carry) about what to feed the hamsters on Passover. They suggested millet.[/li][li]A leading rabbinic authority in the field of kashrus, Rabbi Avraham Blumenkrantz, puts out a book each year detailing which products are Kosher for Passover and which ones aren’t. His views in this field are considered authoritative. Reasoning that I am probably not the only Orthodox Jew who has a hamster, and judging by the fact that he has a section in his book for hamsters, I can safely assume that he has been asked this very question before. His recommendations are: fresh vegetables, alfalfa grass, sunflower seeds.[/li][li] We therefore gave millet with Rabbi Blumenkrantz’s suggestions added in as a supplement.[/li][li]There was no reason for us to suspect that this hamster would have a problem with the diet presented. We did not just go off and say “Well, the religion says the hamster’s got to starve, so tough luck!” We proceeded based on past experience, expert advice from pet store workers and rabbinical advice.[/li][/ul]
Considering these facts, I ask you to again please reconsider whether I was being cruel or doing “the craziest thing” that you ever heard of. I attempted to find a way to keep the laws of Passover while still feeding my pet a diet that was proper for his needs. Based on previous years’ experience and based on advice I was given, I proceeded.
As a closing point, I will 100% agree that if one cannot properly care for a pet for religious reasons, one should not own that pet. If, for example, I had a pet that ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED a milk/meat mixture to survive, then I should not own that pet, since I cannot feed such a mixture to my pet. But, that is not the case here. As I am sure that I am not the only Orthodox Jew with a hamster, and as I am sure that in previous years this very problem did NOT occur, and as I am fairly sure that not every Orthodox Jew’s hamster dies around Passover time, and (lastly) as I am fairly sure that all other Orthodox Jewish hamster owners do not feed their hamsters products which contain chametz on Passover, I am not certain that the diet I fed the hamster was the sole cause of death of the hamster. OTOH, considering that the change in the hamster’s behavior took place when we changed his diet, I cannot simply shrug it off either. It may be a coincidence that he died now, but it might not. In other words, the matter requires further investigation. But I think calling me “cruel” or “crazy,” or painting me as a “cultist” is a bit beyond the pale in this situation.
Zev Steinhardt
For whatever it’s worth, Zev, it sounds to me like you did all that was reasonable and prudent.
If this is really bugging you, I suggest you take the thing to a vet, who should be able to tell you in about 30 seconds whether or not it starved to death.
It’s entirely possible that this is a coincidence—if this hamster was old when you brought him home, and you have had him for a year or so, he certainly was no young puppy. The change in diet and the change in behavior maywell have had notihng to do with his sudden death.
Alternitively, it could be that the change in diet aggrivated some pre-exisiting condition. You could not have forseen that and it was not suggested by any of the authorities you counsulted. Please don’t spend any time feeling guilty about this, or, by inference, feeling guilty about your son’s pain.
Okay, thanks, Zev. 
I have to say that I still don’t really “get” why certain seeds are acceptable in the house during Passover and others aren’t, but hey, it’s your religion, and I’m not here to make judgements about other people’s religions. Fundies probably do some weird stuff, too (potluck suppers spring to mind). 
I’d strongly advise you to just find a babysitter for next year’s hamster. I think it’s really too complicated to try to make up your own seed mix out of “allowed” seeds. Just don’t clean out his food cache before taking him over there, and make sure his food dish is full (or even give him two dishes of food), fill up his water bottle, make sure the cage door is securely fastened (so he doesn’t get loose in the babysitter’s house by accident), and “park him” for the duration.
And I would definitely go ahead and get another one. Your kid is more resilient than you think, and also, the longer that empty cage sits there, the more it’s likely to take on some kind of negative symbolism in Kiddo’s mind. “Oh, no, haunted by the ghost of Black Bear”, etc.
DDG, I’m certainly no expert, but I suspect that it has something to do with the fact that in biblical days “levening” was not understood to be a result of yeast: certainly, it wasn’t added as it’s own ingredient. Levening was the result of the natural yeasts which permeated everything: you mixed your flour and water and let it sit out over night and it rose. Levening was a process, not a thing.
There isn’t anyway to be sure that some degree of levening hasn’t taken place in any refined grain product that isn’t either supervised by a rabbi or made yourself: who knows how long the hampster meal sits in various vats as it is being processed, or what natural yeasts contaminate it?
So I was sharing all this with my beloved family over Sunday dinner, and as soon as I said, “…and then he posted late Saturday night, saying the hamster was dead…” Bonzo and the Better Half looked at each other across the dining room table in high glee and said, in unison, “He’s not dead…”
“…he’s just resting,” finished the Better Half, cackling madly and pantomiming whapping something against the dining room table.
I lectured them, “This is serious stuff, you guys. A little boy’s hamster is dead, and you’re making jokes…” But they just sat there giggling into their chicken and dumplings. “Helloooo, Polly…”
Some people have no class.
You’re right, that is not true. You, for one, seem to know.
Sorry, I’m way too wordy. What I am really saying is:
The nutritional requirements of hamsters have been nowhere near as thoroughly researched as those of food/work/companion animals.
a) A box labled “Hamster Chow” may or may not contain a suitable, lifelong, staple diet for a hamster. (The analogy being that McDonald’s may or may not contain a suitable, lifelong, staple diet for a human.)
Well, we bought another hamster this afternoon.
Upon looking at the hamsters in the store, I noticed that none of the bear hamsters in the store were anywhere near the size of our last one when I bought him. We asked the store worker about that and he indicated that if our hamster was as big as we said he was, then he was an old hamster. So, it is possible that it was simply his time to go.
While we were there, we also inquired again about his diet. We were again assured that millet, sunflower seeds, alfalfa and the occassional carrot piece or grape should have been OK.
Unfortunately, the hamster has already been disposed of, so we cannot take him to the vet. However, when I picked him up, he did not feel like “skin and bones” which is what I would imagine a starved hamster would feel like.
So far the kids are happy to see the hamster cage filled again, even if this one is quite a bit smaller than the previous one.
(BTW, one more side question, if I can trouble you please. How can you tell if a hamster is a male or female. The old one was, let’s say, easily distinguishable by certain features. This one, however, has no such features. Does that make it a female, or is there some other way to tell?)
Zev Steinhardt
I haven’t owned hamsters in years, but as a kid and on into my teens I bred them for a few local pet shops. They are benefited by a varied diet including the occasional fruit and vegetable, when afforded a surplus hamsters will hoard food buried anywhere they can, but even assuming the cage was cleansed of any “chametz” I can’t imagine that even a straight millet diet for nine or ten days would do them harm, particularly with sunflower seeds and carrot greens. In my far from expert experience sudden hamster death, aside from age, is usually due to lack of water than food balance.
And Zev, in absence of certain easily distinguishable features you are most likely dealing with a female, but mistakes are not entirely unknown.
**
[splort]
Um…How can I put this? “Certain features”, yep, that’s a nice tactful G-rated way of saying that a male hamster has, proportionately, testicles the size of cantaloupes.
I mean, here at Goose Acres we’ve had rats and mice and gerbils and guinea pigs and hamsters, and it’s the hamsters that make visitors go, “OMG, your hamster has two of the worst tumors I’ve ever seen, can’t the vet do anything…”
Impossible to mistake, Zev, and AFAIK there’s no such thing as a “gelded” or “altered” male hamster.
Nope, sweetie, if it’s dragging around a couple of big round hairy 'nads like a couple of pieces of Samsonite luggage, then it’s a male. No luggage, give it a pink ribbon on the cage.