Last updated 21st August 2016. Dry cat food contains 8-10% moisture and generally made by extrusion cooking under high heat and pressure.
Fat may then be sprayed on the food to increase palatability.
Other minor ingredients, such as heat-sensitive vitamins, which would be destroyed in the extrusion process, may be added.
Dry food is most often packed in multi-wall paper bags, sometimes with a plastic film layer.
Similar bag styles with film laminates or co-extrusions are also used. (source)
So can hamsters eat dry cat food at all?
It’s not the most ideal food for hamsters to eat.
But if you have both a hamster and a cat then there is no harm in giving your hamster one or two pieces very occasionally but nothing more than that.