Oxbow Hamster Food Review: Recalls, Pros & Cons, and More

As hamster lovers, we want to provide our small pets with the best nutrition available on the market. Providing your hamster with a healthy diet that contains beneficial ingredients that are free from harmful additives (such as artificial preservatives, colors, and flavors) is the key to their physical health and vitality. Not only does Oxbow strive to be a good company that provides the best products and foods for our beloved pets, but they also consult with trusted veterinarians and nutritionists when creating food.

Oxbow hamster essentials have become quite a popular uniform pelleted food that contains all the nutrients your hamster needs to thrive. This is a high-quality hamster food that stands out for its excellent ingredients that are well-balanced and specifically created according to a hamster’s nutritional requirements.

The best part? Oxbow hamster food is free from harmful additives and each batch of food is guaranteed to be of good quality. If you are interested in what this food has to offer your hamster in terms of nutrition and brand safety, then this article will give you all the guidance you need!

Best for Picky Eaters

Oxbow Essentials Hamster and Gerbil Food

• Formulated under the direction of top veterinarians and nutritionists
• This complete formula contains all the nutrients your hamster needs to thrive
• Free from harmful additives such as artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives
• Fortified with stabilized vitamin C, A, and B12 for a healthy immune system
• Made from high-fiber Timothy hay

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Oxbow Hamster Food Benefits and Features

You will find that this food is beneficial for hamsters because it has the following fantastic benefits for your pet:

• Fortified with stabilized vitamin C, A, and essential B12 to ensure that your hamster’s immunity is functioning properly
• Includes high-fiber timothy hay meal that helps to promote a healthy digestive tract in hamsters to ensure that this food can be easily digested.
• Meets the requirements of a healthy diet for the omnivorous hamster.
• Balanced and nutritious to mimic what a hamster would eat in the wild in a compacted and uniform pellet that helps to prevent selective feeding in hamsters that are picky eaters.
• Formulated with the guidance of top veterinarians and nutritionists.
• Supports the daily function and performance of hamsters as a complete and balanced daily diet.

Oxbow Hamster Food: Pros & Cons

PROS:

• Contains essential vitamins and minerals.
• Free from artificial colors and preservatives.
• Comes in two different bag volumes at an affordable price.
• Has been formulated with the help of veterinarians and nutritionists.

CONS:

• Lacks variety since it only consists of pellets.
• Contains timothy hay as a main ingredient which is not nutritious for hamsters.

Where is Oxbow Hamster Food Made?

Oxbows hamster food is manufactured in the USA and this brand ensures that all their pet products are up to standards before being released for sale. Oxbow works alongside veterinarians to ensure that their formulas and ingredients are safe for the consumption of the type of animal the specific food is targeted towards. They make sure to include wholesome and healthy ingredients that will benefit your pet.

To add to your peace of mind, Oxbow hamster food is veterinarian approved and is manufactured and packaged in the USA where it is then distributed to various retailers.

Oxbow Hamster Food Ingredients

Oxbow hamster essential food contains wholesome ingredients such as hand-picked timothy hay along with barley, oats, canola meal, millet, and brewers’ yeast to provide your hamster with an omnivorous diet that helps boost their immune system and flawlessly meets their nutritional requirements.

Upon taking a closer look at the ingredients, you will find that timothy hay is at the top of the list. The only downside to timothy hay in a hamster’s diet is that hamsters do not need hay as a necessity in their diet and it provides little nutritional value for them. However, brewers’ yeast is an excellent immune booster for rodents, and oats and barley are great additives.

This food contains no artificial preservatives, colorants, and sugars which do not belong in a hamster’s daily diet. It also has a decent amount of minerals and vitamins such as vitamin B12, zinc, vitamin E and A, along with biotin.

All of these ingredients are packed together into a pellet, which is a bonus if you are looking for food that has high-quality ingredients but will not encourage hamsters to be picky eaters. Each pellet they consume will provide them with the right nutrition without you having to worry that they are leaving pieces of food behind in their bowls.

Which types of Hamsters is Oxbow best suited for?

Oxbow essentials hamster food is suitable for all species of hamsters, such as the Syrian, Robovorski, Russian, and Campbell dwarves (including hybrid varieties). This means that the species of hamster you own can eat this food as a staple diet and this food is not targeted toward a specific species. Although each species of hamster originates from a different environment where they will each have slightly altered dietary requirements, Oxbow hamster food contains a little bit of everything a hamster would need.

Oxbow Hamster Food Recalls

There have been no recalls for this specific brand of hamster food, however, Oxbow has had their young rat food recalled due to excess moisture in the packaging bag that was causing a mold issue. For the most part, Oxbow hamster food essentials have had no issues with its food or packaging after the manufacturing stage.

Oxbow Hamster Food: Where to Buy

Oxbow hamster food is mainly sold in the USA, and you can purchase it from many different pet stores. If you are outside of the USA then you might find it easier to purchase Oxbow hamster essentials food from Chewy or Amazon.

Best for Picky Eaters

Oxbow Essentials Hamster and Gerbil Food

• Formulated under the direction of top veterinarians and nutritionists
• This complete formula contains all the nutrients your hamster needs to thrive
• Free from harmful additives such as artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives
• Fortified with stabilized vitamin C, A, and B12 for a healthy immune system
• Made from high-fiber Timothy hay

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Oxbow Hamster Food Specs

Guaranteed Analysis

Oxbow hamster food has a standard guaranteed analysis:

• Crude protein: 15.00%

• Crude fat: 4.50%

• Crude fiber: 15.00%

• Moisture: 10.00%

This food has a good percentage of fat and a moderate level of protein which is slightly too low to be fed to young hamsters, which is why it should be mixed with a different hamster food to increase the protein content. The fiber is a decent 15.00% so you do not have to supplement your hamster’s diet with extra fiber if they are being fed this food.

Price

In comparison to other hamster foods on the market, Oxbow hamster food is a fair price. You can get a 1 lb bag of this food for $5.52 and there is another option of a 15 lb bag that you can get for $66.76. The price for this food will vary according to the size of the bag you purchase and whether the website you are buying the food from has any promotions and specials on their site. It is generally an inexpensive hamster food for the quality of this hamster food.

Volume Of Food

There are two main different size options of the Oxbow hamster essentials, the 1 lb bag, and the 15 lb bag. It is better to buy the larger bag of food if you have a lot of hamsters to ensure that the bag maintains it freshness instead of buying the large bag of food if you have less than two hamsters and then the bag is stored incorrectly and starts to lose its freshness over time. If you do decide to buy the larger version of food, you should follow the proper storage methods and ensure that it is in an airtight container in an area with low light. It is a good choice to choose the smaller bag option if you have one or two hamsters because it will last for a good few months and you will not have to worry about the food losing its freshness.

Oxbow Essentials vs. Higgins Sunburst

The main noticeable difference between these two types of great hamster foods is that the Oxbow essentials are only available in a pelleted form and do not contain any seeds, nuts, and grains that a foraging hamster would benefit from. However, the necessary ingredients are all compacted into a simple pellet that provides your hamster with all the same nutrition they would get from eating a loose seed mix. This can be great for hamsters who are picky eaters, but it is still a good idea to mix Oxbow hamster food with another seed mix to provide your hamster with optimal nutrition.

In fact, Higgins sunburst is the perfect match for Oxbow hamster food and these two foods can be mixed together to provide your hamster with both a pelleted food and a seed mix. Higgins sunburst is another popular hamster food that contains high-quality ingredients with no artificial additives. Higgins sunburst is a varied seed mix that intrigues your hamster’s natural foraging instincts. This food contains a mix of dried fruit, nuts, legumes, and seeds that are loosely packaged and fortified with various minerals and antioxidants that can benefit your hamster.

Overall, these two foods can be mixed together as they both offer your hamster a varied yet balanced daily diet. Since each food is so vastly different in terms of ingredients and appearance, they seem to complement each other when fed together.

Bottom Line

Oxbow hamster food is an overall good hamster food, and it is packed with plenty of great ingredients, vitamins, and minerals. However, the only issue is that this food contains a lot of timothy hay which is not very useful in a hamster’s diet. This can make a good hamster food if it is combined with a high-quality seed mix to ensure that your hamster can forage and have more protein and variety in its diet. It is definitely a food we recommend for hamsters who are picky eaters and need high-quality pelleted food packed with nutrition.