# Is cat food really okay?



## EnaEna (Aug 23, 2012)

The books and online sources say that cat food is a great food for hedgehogs, since hedgehog food tends to have pointless ingredients. At the recommendation of some friends, I got Wellness Core: Grain Free Protein-Focused Nutrition. It has no by-products or fillers, the first ingredients being deboned turkey, deboned chicken, chicken meal, whitefish meal, peas, etc etc. It has 45% protein, and 15% fat. It fits the criteria that all my research sources describe. And Earl Grey, my hedgie, has been eating it with no problem every night since I got him on Monday.

But then I talked to a pet store worker today, who I must say was a bit rude and jerkwad-ish. When he asked, I told him what I was feeding Earl Grey, he shook his head. He said I was doing it wrong, and that hedgehogs need 'Pretty Pet Hedgehog Food' or something like that. I told him that I did my research, explaining everything, but he kept saying, "Vets say you need Pretty Pet food. Hedgehogs that eat cat food will die sooner than than others, because they're not cats." 

I mean, he also said $40 hedgehogs at pet stores are just as good as hedgehogs from breeders, and that breeders are ripping people off.

I know he seems like someone I shouldn't pay attention to, but I really can't help but worry. I overthink and worry a lot. Is he right? If it is okay for hedgehogs to eat cat food, is the one I'm using good?

Also, little side question. Earl Grey didn't seem to like mealworms and freeze dried grasshoppers when I tried to introduce them to him. He seemed interested in the mealworm, until it moved. Should I keep trying? I would like to try to give him other things besides pet food...


----------



## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

If you look at the ingredients of Pretty Pets Hedgehog food you'll see that the ingredients are 100% crap. Hedgehogs can actually starve to death on it. Hedgehogs fed cat food do not live shorter lives. Pets store employees don't usually know what they're talking about.


----------



## MurE (Aug 29, 2011)

Don't worry, you're doing the right thing by feeding with cat food. The pet store person is just poorly informed. 

As a side comment though, there are some threads on here where we discuss alternatives/additions to cat food to hopefully improve the health of our hedgies. You should go check those out! 

I have been trying to read up on them lately so I'm experimenting with things like adding organic baby food to Poggle's diet. I gave him some yesterday and he annointed with a whole spoonful's worth. It was an epic mess, but sooo entertaining to watch (wincing and saying OH NO! No, Poggy, nooooooo! the whole time). However, today he actually ate some without annointing, so I think we're on the right path. 

Maybe later I'll see if I can make my own mix of fresh food to add to his cat food diet. We'll see.

Keep doing your researching. You're doing a good job.


----------



## SpiritWolves1 (Apr 5, 2012)

nt 45% protein high? I had some that was 38% and people told me it was too high and could cause problems ith kidneys and liver?


----------



## AngelaH (Jul 24, 2012)

I got Thistle from an exotics pet store and was also told not to use cat food because it causes liver problems, and I've seen info online saying something similar, so it confuses me too.
I use a mix of Briskys hedgehog (what she was on at the store) and Sunseed hedgehog. But based on what I keep reading here I'm going to get a good cat food to mix in.


----------



## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

45% is high for a hedgehog, yes. For a hedgehog with healthy, functioning liver/kidneys it won't necessarily do damage, or not for a while, but it puts a strain on those organs. 35% protein is the highest they should get.

Grain-free foods tend to be very high in protein - great for cats, but not the best for hedgehogs. Cats are obligate carnivores, whereas hedgehogs are omnivores, so as long as the grains are "good" (like oats/oatmeal, rice, barley) it's fine for hedgehogs. Corn/corn meal/corn gluten meal are fillers and can't be digested, therefore they give no nutrients. All of the highly recommended cat foods for hedgehogs (at least all the ones I can think of right now) have some of the "good" kind of grains.

AngelaH - it's the especially high (40-50%, sometimes higher) protein in some cat foods that would cause those problems. If someone uses the wrong cat food, that statement could hold true, but cat foods in the right fat/protein range with good ingredients are the best option that's currently known for meeting the nutritional needs of hedgehogs.

Commercial hedgehog foods range from "so-so" to "downright awful" when it comes to how good they are for hedgehogs. Sunseed and Spike's Delite are probably the two best of them. Brisky's is going to be too low in fat for most hedgehogs (5%, which can actually risk starvation if the hedgehog is particularly active) and the list of ingredients is rubbish. The first ingredient is corn and there isn't any meat until #4, which is pork byproduct meal (meaning the discarded parts of pig - the hooves, organs, heads, anything not considered appropriate for human consumption).


----------



## laurentj23 (Aug 22, 2012)

Sounds like the pet store employee is trying to sell their products to you.


----------



## EnaEna (Aug 23, 2012)

Thank you! The guy was really a jerk, but I just wanted to be sure. It was the one day that the owner wasn't in the store when I stopped by. If this jerk is there when I go by again, I'm turning right around and leaving.

Thanks for letting me know about the high protein content! I thought the more protein the better... The resources just said 'at least 32% protein', so I thought 45% was excellent. I shall go out and buy better food today~


----------



## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

Pet store employees that are like that really bother me. I'd suggest finding another place to shop if possible. Or you could direct the owner to your sources and let him/her know that the employee gave you bad information (and was rude about it, that's really the main thing). A good owner or employee will want to learn about what you do because they are interested in different methods not to put you down. If they disagree they should ask you why and ask for your sources of info. I've had people in pet stores recommend unsafe wheels, bad cages, and bad food, I've given up listening to them. 

Pretty pets is basically cardboard my hedgehog wouldn't even touch it, I read the ingredients list and immediately understood why. Understanding pet food ingredients is maybe one of the best things you can do for yourself as a pet owner. If you make the effort to understand pet food then the next time someone says "____ food is what you should be feeding" you can say "oh really?! well lets take a look at it shall we ... oh the first ingredient is corn? well what nutritional value does corn have for this animal? Nothing? that's what I thought" :roll:


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

hedgielover said:


> Pet store employees that are like that really bother me. I'd suggest finding another place to shop if possible. Or you could direct the owner to your sources and let him/her know that the employee gave you bad information (and was rude about it, that's really the main thing). A good owner or employee will want to learn about what you do because they are interested in different methods not to put you down. If they disagree they should ask you why and ask for your sources of info. I've had people in pet stores recommend unsafe wheels, bad cages, and bad food, I've given up listening to them.
> 
> Pretty pets is basically cardboard my hedgehog wouldn't even touch it, I read the ingredients list and immediately understood why. Understanding pet food ingredients is maybe one of the best things you can do for yourself as a pet owner. If you make the effort to understand pet food then the next time someone says "____ food is what you should be feeding" you can say "oh really?! well lets take a look at it shall we ... oh the first ingredient is corn? well what nutritional value does corn have for this animal? Nothing? that's what I thought" :roll:


I used to work at a pet store and my coworkers all drove me crazy half of the time - they either had no clue what they were talking about & wouldn't try to remedy that, or they'd recommend risky things and defend it with "Well, I've never had a problem with it." Maybe not, but you can still remember there's a risk and at least let people know that. :roll: And I completely agree with knowing pet food ingredients. SO many people at my store got the really low-end dog and cat foods and I always had to clench my teeth and bite my tongue...we weren't supposed to harass customers if they weren't interested in changing on their own. I was always way too excited to see customers buying all of the good, healthy brands, or when someone asked me what would be a good food and was totally on board with learning about ingredients & getting a good food.


----------



## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

I used to work in a pet store too only it was healthy food store so we were encouraged to educate people and try to get them to switch to the higher end brands that we carried (we didn't carry low end food at all).


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Jealous! I would love working at a store like that! It always drove me nuts that people would bother stopping by a pet store to get the same food they could get at a grocery store. If you're going to make the effort to come to the pet store, at least get a decent food, not the same crap you'd find at Walmart. :roll:


----------



## Tabi (Jun 24, 2012)

I wanna work at a pet store now, thanks guys :lol:


----------



## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

There's a pet store nearby (next town over; the town where Nick works so we're in the area a lot) - it's a small family-owned "chain" (though I feel bad calling it that) with a handful of stores in Washington, and on the site they have a list of all the brands of food they sell - they're all very very good quality and most of them aren't in the big chain pet stores. They actually take a direct interest in not selling crap, which is awesome. I keep meaning to go by there. Unfortunately, when it's privately-owned stores and small brands that aren't very well known, they tend to be more expensive - but I don't know where this one falls as far as that goes. It's only a cat/dog store, but at some point I'll get around to stopping by to take a look, and maybe I'll pick up another food to add to our current mix.

The main component of our mix (chicken soup in two varieties) is similar to what they sell in terms of quality and not being sold in places like PetCo and Petsmart, but it also is able to have better prices compared to the other "best" foods for hedgehogs, and I think it's better known overall compared to other small brands. It's at least available to order online from various places. Most of the ones this store sells can't be ordered, and when you have to replenish food as often as we do, being able to order it is ideal. Still, I like to support small, non-corporate brands and stores. There are a lot of small brands out there that have at least one variety that's good for hedgehogs in terms of fat/protein, plus good ingredients, but people just don't know they exist for the most part and they get overlooked.


----------



## OllieTheHedgie (Aug 4, 2012)

I can't comment about the pet food thing but when I was shopping for supplies for Ollie before we first got him the pet store I went to (a local one who just started selling hedgies) was suggesting horrible things. They wanted me to get a unsafe wheel, a too small cage, and horrible bedding. I'm glad I had a site like this to help me out so I would know exactly what was safe or else poor Ollie would be in such bad shape!


----------



## Tabi (Jun 24, 2012)

OllieTheHedgie said:


> I can't comment about the pet food thing but when I was shopping for supplies for Ollie before we first got him the pet store I went to (a local one who just started selling hedgies) was suggesting horrible things. They wanted me to get a unsafe wheel, a too small cage, and horrible bedding. I'm glad I had a site like this to help me out so I would know exactly what was safe or else poor Ollie would be in such bad shape!


Ugh Pet stores make me so mad! a month ago, someone who bought a baby hog from me said the guy at petco was like "NO YOU CANT HAVE HEDGEHOGS WITH KIDS THEYRE VICIOUS." she just laughed. If I had $50 for every pet store person who knows nothing about hedgehogs, I'd be very rich. And also happy. about being rich. not about...the guys....anyways. pet stores know nothing. :lol:


----------



## EnaEna (Aug 23, 2012)

My friend went to ask a guy at a pet store what were some really good toys for hedgehogs. He honestly had absolutely no clue what a hedgehog was. He had never heard of one before. I mean, I met a guy who had never seen one in real life before, but how can you not know what a hedgehog is?

My dad also frustrates me. When I was telling him about the food thing, he was like 'Don't trust people on forums, they can tell you anything. Go with what the pet store workers suggest, they know a lot about animals." *headdesk*

Oh, also, he has no interest in mealworms or freeze dried crickets. Is this something that will change as he gets older? (his age is in the meter in my signature) Is there anything else I can try? I would like him to eat more than just cat kibble...


----------



## heatherhaywood (Aug 12, 2012)

I generally never listen to what pet store clerks say because it's mostly wrong. Occasionally you can find some knowledgeable workers but not too often.

We went into Petsmart once looking at fish and we overheard the salesman trying to sell a gentleman an oscar to put in a 10 gallon tank! Didn't even tell the guy that Oscars get huge. So we went and told the customer to NOT get one. Long story short, the employee went and got his manager and the manager offered us a job LOL

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Tabi (Jun 24, 2012)

heatherhaywood said:


> I generally never listen to what pet store clerks say because it's mostly wrong. Occasionally you can find some knowledgeable workers but not too often.
> 
> We went into Petsmart once looking at fish and we overheard the salesman trying to sell a gentleman an oscar to put in a 10 gallon tank! Didn't even tell the guy that Oscars get huge. So we went and told the customer to NOT get one. Long story short, the employee went and got his manager and the manager offered us a job LOL
> 
> Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


oh god. I'm a total fish nerd and oscars get up to 18". I had one that let me pet him on the head! hehe


----------

