Yes, and a Chinese hamster's shyness sets the terms
A Chinese hamster can live happily in a home with other kinds of pets, because this species asks for separation rather than social skill from the animals around it. Chinese hamsters are notably shy, solitary, and most active from dusk onward, so a household with dogs or cats suits them fine provided the cage is secure and the room stays calm. The hamster will likely never know what lives beyond its door, and that ignorance is exactly the point. What it does need is protection from being watched, startled, and reached for, since a stressed Chinese hamster retreats into its burrows and may stop emerging even at night.
A climber's cage needs a different kind of secure
Securing a Chinese hamster in a multi-pet home means thinking like both a predator and an escape artist. This species is slim and agile, climbs bars readily, and can squeeze through gaps that look impossibly small, so bar spacing and door latches deserve real scrutiny and the lid must fasten, not just rest. A cat should never be able to sit on top of the cage or hook a paw through the bars, which argues for a stand in a closable room and, in cat-heavy homes, a tank-style enclosure with a mesh top. Check the cage weekly for chewed corners and loosening doors; a Chinese hamster loose in a house with a cat is in immediate danger.
Why this hamster should never be introduced around
Some owners hope a Chinese hamster and a gentle dog or cat can learn to be friends, but the hamster gains nothing from the experiment and risks everything. Out of its cage it is a prey animal in a room of predators, and even a curious nose boop can injure it or flood it with fear it remembers. Playpens and balls do not change that arithmetic when other pets are in the room, so handling and out-of-cage time should always happen behind a closed door with the household's other animals elsewhere. If children want the hamster and the family dog involved in the same activity, let the dog watch a video of a wheel instead; the hamster's evening stays its own.
Quiet placement matters more for a Chinese hamster
Where the cage sits decides how happy a Chinese hamster can be in a busy home. This species sleeps in the day and is easily kept awake by a dog barking at deliveries, a cat yowling at birds through a nearby window, or the vibration of a cage stand in a hallway everyone pounds through. A corner of a calm room, away from the television and front door, with the cage raised off the floor on a solid stand, gives the hamster its best chance of deep daytime sleep. Keep other pets out of that room during the day if they are boisterous there; the hamster's schedule is the opposite of theirs and deserves equal respect.
Shared rules stop the small accidents
The risks to a Chinese hamster in a mixed-pet home are mostly procedural: a cage door left ajar after spot-cleaning, a visitor's child opening the lid while the cat slips in, a playpen session forgotten as the dog is let back into the room. Agree the sequence once, as a household: other pets out, door closed, hamster handled seated and low, cage latched and checked before the door reopens. Note where the travel carrier lives so a vet trip never becomes a scramble past the dog. KinsLe's Family Sharing keeps your Chinese hamster's room rules, handling sequence, and cage-check notes on one shared profile, so its quiet life does not depend on anyone's memory.