# Signs of obesity?



## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

Mildred has been in my home for almost 4 weeks now. (She's a little over 2 months old) She has settled in nicely, loves her food mix, and adores her CSBW. She wheels almost every night. On days like yesterday, when I had to interrupt her sleep at 5pm to clean her cage and give her a bath, she usually doesn't wheel at night, but other than that she's pretty regular. 

I'm a little concerned that she may be getting overweight. I have seen pictures of VERY obese hedgehogs, and she doesn't look like that, but she is looking... plump. Her bottom honestly looks pretty large. The scale I have been using to track her weight is broken right now, but on June 2nd she was 230g, and I can see a noticeable difference in her size since then. She isn't a baby anymore, lol.

Her food:
Purina One Beyond - Salmon & whole brown rice (33% protein, 14% fat)
Chicken Soup for Cat Lover's Soul - Adult cat light (32% protein, 9% fat)
Natural Balance - Green pea & duck (30% protein, 12% fat)

Is it possibly that such a young hedgie is overweight? When she balls up, she can still hide everything. I think I'm just being paranoid, but I wanted to make sure. I can post pictures if need be.


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## xspiked (Feb 27, 2011)

I have the same paranoia! Some days I think Bulu's looking a little chunky and my friends reprimand me for being silly. Other days I think she's too skinny, and start spoiling her with mealworms. 
She looks bigger probably because she is getting bigger. Since it's a growing process, you don't notice an abrupt change, but you just feel like she's getting rounder and longer. No biggie. The fat content in your mix seems decent. Some hedgies need an even higher fat content because they just run so much.
Anddd, she's still a growing baby, which means she'll need more food/fat. I think when a hedgie is obese, you'll really notice, and even then there are ways to help them get to a healthier weight again. Haha why do we worry ourselves pointlessly? :lol:


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

230 grams is tiny not obese :lol: If she gets up past 600-700 grams then she maybe getting on the fat side.  The foods you are feeding look good to me and if she's a marathon runner you should never have any overweight issues.


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## panda (May 23, 2011)

someone correct me if i am wrong but i have read somewhere that hedgies come in all sizes & a good rule of thumb is if they cannot curl into a tight ball because of their size then they are obese.


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