# Are raw diets really ok?



## Zilla (Aug 30, 2016)

Hello everyone from Kansas! I am sorta new when it comes to quills and I would like to learn all that I can before I add one to my family. Long story short my boyfriend has always wanted a hedgehog. He hasn't really had a lot of pets his whole life like I have. I have two cats and a 110lb dog and I home make a raw meat diet for my cats so naturally if we add a hedgehog to this family I want him to have the best also. My boyfriend wants a pug and I told him if you can take excellent care of your hedgehog I will think about getting a pug haha Anyways it's very hard to find information when it comes to the proper hedgehog diet and I would like some insight. I saw on another thread in here that someone was feeding Instinct Raw bites with baby food and mealworms everyday and I believe they froze all of that together in an icecube tray. I knew these guys ate insects but I didn't know they were able to eat raw meat. Are their stomachs similar to a cat? Can they really possibly handle the same bacteria? Do I need to add a supplement if I do something like that? Or would it be safer to go with something like the dehydrated diets Honest Kitchen makes and add mealworms? Thanks for all the help in advance. I'm really looking forward to discussing the topic! I'm well versed in cats but these little guys are new to me.


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

There's a few threads on raw diets here. One of great interest would be bindis raw diet. Kelsey, lilysmommy, has done tons of research on building a diet for one of her girls Bindi. She is currently taking a break from hedgehog central. Another member who has done an insane amount of research on raw diets is Finnickhog. 

Hedgehogs used to be classified as insectivores, but are now considered to be opportunistic omnivores. Their natural diet is closer to a dogs than of a cat's.


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

twobytwopets said:


> Hedgehogs used to be classified as insectivores, but are now considered to be opportunistic omnivores. Their natural diet is closer to a dogs than of a cat's.


This is a common misconception - the reason they are not in the order Insectivora anymore is not because of their dietary habits, but because it was a wastebasket taxon which held quite some animals that weren't really related to each other, so now everyone's got their own orders.

The vast majority of a hedgehog's diet consists of invertebrates. The other parts are meat in the form of carrion or small animals, eggs, and the occasional vegetable matter - usually in the form of berries and roots.

Because of this mainly insectivorous diet it is very difficult to mimic whether you are feeding raw or cat kibble. Cat kibble isn't a suitable diet for a hedgehog either, but at this moment it's the only thing we know which sort of works okay. Because of this I recommend still feeding a bit of kibble to be on the 'safe side' since we do not know what hedgehogs need exactly, nutrition wise. When feeding a more natural ("raw") diet your start is to focus on their #1 food source, the invertebrates. I recommend feeding at least 10 different species to maintain a wide variety. Either way, feeding a hedgehog a raw diet isn't nearly as easy as feeding a well-known carnivore like a cat and it takes a lot of research. There are several threads on here which have more information on raw diets.


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

I was basically saying the same thing, just not worded as well as you put it. When we say something is an insectivore, it's implied that is the sole source of nutrition. And they eat nothing else. 
The other part about being nutritionally closer to a dog then a cat. Dogs will, for whatever reason, seek out non meat foods. Although majority of their foods is meat. 
Cat's will generally not seek out non meat foods.


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## shinydistraction (Jul 6, 2014)

Ah, semantics are fun, aren't they? 

Anyway, the fact of the matter is, there just isn't enough research done on hedgehog nutrition for anyone to give you a straightforward answer about their needs. We just don't know. We can make good guesses that are probably close, but at the end of the day the data just isn't available. I agree, cat kibble is going to be your safe bet to keep the diet reasonably balanced. But you can absolutely supplement with a variety of insects, meats, fruits and veggies.

If you decide to take on the challenge of raw feeding and do the research, just one thing to be prepared for: Hedgehogs are picky. Like oddly picky. Toddler picky. They often refuse to try things, or they'll like something one day and not the next, or only try something after it's been offered like 50 times and decide that's their favorite thing...you get where I'm going. So despite your best efforts, you may not be able to pull together a raw diet that's properly balanced that your hedgehog will actually eat. Just something to consider before going through with it.


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## Zilla (Aug 30, 2016)

Thank you for all the replies. It's unfortunate there's not much research done on hedgehogs. I always strive to provide the best for my other animals so I'm wanting to do the same for this one. I'm not exactly against feeding kibble but being a cat person I know the dangers of it lacking moisture and being processed etc etc. IF I wanted to avoid kibble could I easily try something like the Honest Kitchen Dehydrated diets and it be just as safe as the kibble? I read of a few others using it on here and I'm wondering which formulas they have used. Should I stick with the 30 percent dry matter protein and 15 percent or less fat? Is that a pretty solid guideline? Of course I would be adding various insects fruits veggies etc but it would be mostly the Honest Kitchen. Well and I guess here is another angle to look at it. Does anyone wet down their kibble before they feed it to their quills just to add that water in there?


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