# Liquid Diet?



## charmings (Feb 17, 2014)

My hedgehog Prince Charming had a bit of a scare a few weeks ago (I had posted in the Eye thread) and he had to have some teeth removed. Since then, he will not eat his kibble. I've tried softening it, crushing it up, etc. I also tried some new cat food, and canned cat food, and he will not eat it. I returned to the vet for a checkup and he gave me samples of some soft and hard kibble and he won't try that either.

I was syringe feeding him Carnivore Care for awhile and he loves it. For now I've just been sticking some in a bowl in his cage and he'll eat it on his own. However, I don't want to continue feeding it to him for too long because of the high protein. I went back to the vet and he said everything looked great and he probably just doesn't want to eat because of his missing teeth. 

I'm just at a bit of a loss! Is there any diet that's completely liquid and good for hedgehogs that I can try feeding him? :-|


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

There's a member here whose hedgehog was having major issues with blood in her urine until he switched her to a diet that was pretty close to being a liquid diet in order to work with her pickiness and to get enough water into her. Here's a couple threads where he discusses what he did for her - 
http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/12-diet-nutrition/32538-weighing-feeding-wet-food-blends.html
http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/12-diet-nutrition/35586-wet-food.html

You could try finding a good quality canned food and adding water to it to make it soupier to see if he'll eat that. If he will, then you could gradually work on reducing the amount of water added and see if you can wean him down to eating just the wet food on its own?

Also that said, while you still don't want the protein TOO high, it's not horrible for it to be higher than 35% with wet foods (canned food, liquid diets like CC, etc.). The main reason for trying to restrict amount of protein in dry food is that dry protein is hard on the kidneys and the hedgie might not drink enough water to help with processing the protein. A wet diet helps make that less of an issue.


----------



## MomLady (Aug 14, 2010)

Have you considered mixing maybe a baby food meat with vegetables and maybe a little baby food oatmeal? 
I wouldn't use rice because of the arsenic. Baby food doesn't have seasonings and it comes in small jars! 
To me it doesn't smell as bad as cat food!


----------



## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

Have you tried crushing his kibble and mixing it into the carnivore care? Or mixing any pate style cat food into the carnivore care? If he likes the taste of CC he may be more receptive of other foods if it was mixed in. If he takes to it that way, slowly reduce the amount of CC in the mix.

Does he not show any interest in the canned foods? Or is it he tries to eat it and stops? If he will attempt to eat it, use a pate style food and add more moisture to it.

You can also try to warm the food for him. The heat will help the food to smell more and may make it more appealing. It will also help loosen the gravy within the canned food and make it easier to eat. I use this with sick hedgehogs and with any hedgehog I'm syringe feeding as the pate style foods can become quite runny if you warm them and add just a touch of water to them. Just be careful to not over heat them as you don't want to burn their mouth.


----------



## charmings (Feb 17, 2014)

Thanks so much everyone for the suggestions! I have tried mixing his crushed regular kibble into the carnivore care, and he wouldn't go for it. I haven't tried mixing any canned cat food into the carnivore care or heated anything up, so I'll give that a shot. When I had out a few options for him, it seemed like he would go up to the dishes and sniff around but didn't want to eat any of it.

I was planning to try some sort of baby food as well, so I'll stock up on that and pate style cat food and see what happens!


----------



## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

Sometimes it can be an absolute hassle to get them to switch off of these recovery foods. Hills a/d and Carnivore care are both high in fat and made to be very palatable. It may have nothing to do with his teeth but more to do with the fat content of the food that he likes so much.

I've had good luck with Halo pate chicken, and halo turkey (it has pieces of veggies in it that some like). Some have liked Natural Balance green pea and duck.

And in case you didn't know... Halo always has coupons on its website. Its not much, but every bit helps  when you are hoping something will work. http://www.halopets.com/coupons/

Good luck and keep trying.


----------



## charmings (Feb 17, 2014)

I just wanted to give an update on Prince Charming~ I finally had some success!! I bought some Wellness canned cat food (chicken flavored) and mixed it with a bit of Gerber baby food (apple flavored). I heated it up just a bit and woke the little guy up to get him interested and he really liked it! So for the past three nights he's been eating this mix on his own so I'm so happy he's finally eating again! 

Thanks again for all the suggestions, Prince Charming and I really appreciate it


----------



## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

Excellent news. Now Charming keep it up and try some other foods. There is no reason to worry your human so much.


----------

