# Food recommendation for overweight hedgehog?



## soupToaster (Aug 18, 2014)

Hi, everyone! I'm relatively new to this website and I wanted to get a second opinion on what new food I should feed my overweight hedgehog, Gumnut. He is 19 months old and about 690 g. I hate to admit it, but I haven't been very cautious with his diet until noticing that he looks kind of chubby. I've been feeding him Royal Canin Kitten food which doesn't seem to be giving him what he needs. When I took him to the vet, they diagnosed him with obesity and recommended him 8in1 Ultra-Blend Select hedgehog food. He absolutely refuses to eat any of this food and even went as far as going on a hunger strike when I mixed in a few pieces with his current food. The food is currently sitting in a second bowl, completely untouched after leaving it there for about a week or so.

After doing some more digging around on this website, it seems that many experienced owners do not recommend most hedgehog foods. Despite it being a vet's recommendation, I don't feel entirely comfortable feeding this food to my hedgie now. From the list that I've seen and other threads, it seems that Innova Weight Management cat food and Natural Balance Green Pea and Duck are recommended on this webstie (both of which I can easily access from the pet food store near my home).

I've also been told to cut down his food intake. I used to leave his bowl full to the rim but even then, it only seemed as though Gumnut ate about 2-3 tablespoons of it in a 24-hour cycle. Right now, I leave him 3 tablespoons of food each day and about 2 tablespoons of it are gone by morning (he's most active at night time).

Should I go against the vet's recommendation and put him on a cat food mix diet or should I continue attempting to feed him the hedgehog food? Are there any other foods to be recommended for an overweight hedgehog that seriously needs to lose weight?

In terms of treats and exercise, I've only recently started to feed him a meal worm daily (I haven't been very good with feeding him insects, another thing I hate to admit) and he doesn't seem to run on his wheel very much (The last time I've heard him run was the night before). Sometimes he won't run for several days. Should I watch out for that too?

Thanks for your help! -Nat (Links have been provided to the food names to provide the ingredients and guaranteed analysis).


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I would definitely go with the cat food mix over the hedgehog food. It is lower in fat, but the ingredients are also not great & if he doesn't like it, obviously that's no help either. Vets aren't terribly knowledgeable about food & nutrition, and have a tendency to recommend species-specific foods, regardless of the ingredient quality or appropriateness of the diet (as some species-specific foods aren't even good for the species). 

I would try switching to the other two cat foods you linked before cutting down his food amount. 2-3 tablespoons isn't overeating at all, so it's likely the fat content, and possibly the poor ingredients of Royal Canin.

Once he's settled on the new foods, give him a couple weeks to see how he does with them. Another option you can implement if he needs some further help is seeing how he feels about veggies. Sometimes if they're willing to eat them, giving a mix of veggie baby foods or chopped cooked veggies, etc. will help fill them up so they eat less kibble & can help with losing weight. Some hedgies don't like veggies, but may eat veggies as long as there's meat mixed in with them, which is what Lily did.

Giving him insects is a great thing for treats!  I'm glad you've started trying to do that. Mealworms unfortunately tend to be high in fat. It might be worth making mealies a once or twice weekly treat and try some crickets or dubia roaches with him. They're both low in fat & make good treats for heavier hedgies. You could work him up to 3-4 a night if he likes them & see if that helps as well.

Do you know why he doesn't run on his wheel? Are there any reasons he might be reluctant to do so? Some ideas include nails needing to be trimmed, too much light in the room, not warm enough cage, tippy or wobbly wheel, wheel not turning very easily, etc. What kind of wheel does he have?


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## soupToaster (Aug 18, 2014)

Lilysmommy said:


> Do you know why he doesn't run on his wheel? Are there any reasons he might be reluctant to do so? Some ideas include nails needing to be trimmed, too much light in the room, not warm enough cage, tippy or wobbly wheel, wheel not turning very easily, etc. What kind of wheel does he have?


Thank you so much for replying! I've been worrying about this all day and getting this reply relieved a lot of stress on my part. I'll definitely go out and buy the new food for Gumnut as soon as I finish replying.

I've tried feeding fruits to my hedgie before and he didn't seem entirely fond of them but I'll definitely give the veggie mix a try. My biggest concern with feeding him raw foods was whether they were good for him or not.

In terms of his wheel, Gumnut has a Super Pet® Comfort Small Animal Wheel. I think the problem definitely lies in the wheel's stability. After giving the wheel a spin, it seems as though there's one part in it that seems to be weighing the spin of the wheel down. I'm not certain if that's the cause of the problem but I can see how it could be an issue. Most of the wheel's support relies on the clip attaching it to his cage as well. I'm not entirely sure what happened to the support stand but if I cannot find it, I'll make an effort to find a new wheel for him that works more smoothly. I definitely don't think his nails are an issue as I trim them regularly and light shouldn't be a problem since his exercise time is late at night when the household is asleep. I'm not entirely sure about the temperature of his cage being a contributor.

Once again, thank you so much for the advice! I'm hoping once the changes are made, he'll be back to being a healthy weight and back to a proper exercise routine.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

The main thing with veggies is to make sure they're small enough for him to eat, and if they're hard veggies (like carrots, sweet potatoes, etc.), it's best to steam them first. Personally, since my family doesn't keep a wide variety of veggies around, I found it easiest to use baby food. I made up mixes with a jar of meat, 2-4 jars of veggies, and 1-2 jars of fruit, mixed it all up, then froze it in ice cube trays. I then kept the cubes in baggies in the freezer & Lily just got a cube (microwaved) each evening.  Some people like baby food, others like to use fresh or frozen veggies, just try different forms if your hedgie turns his nose up at one method. Sometimes other things work!

If you're looking into a new wheel, I'd definitely recommend a cake cover or bucket wheel. They're usually around the price (though shipping usually adds on) as a Comfort Wheel, but they're much more durable, easier to clean, and quieter. They're also sturdier, so maybe that'll make him more comfortable wheeling on them once he gets used to it. LarryT from Carolina Storm Hedgehogs sells bucket & cake cover wheels and they're very popular.  He had some threads in the For Sale section if you want to look!

Glad I was able to help.  Good luck getting your little guy slimmed down! Let us know how he does.


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## sheap (Mar 12, 2012)

soupToaster said:


> I definitely don't think his nails are an issue as I trim them regularly and light shouldn't be a problem since his exercise time is late at night when the household is asleep. I'm not entirely sure about the temperature of his cage being a contributor.


Are you sure that there isn't a stray street light that might be casting light on his cage at night? Some hedgies need to have absolute dark to come out and feel comfortable enough to run. You can try draping his cage with a dark-colored but light-weight blanket to see if he exercises more.

Do you know the temperature of the cage? Often at night the household temperature takes a dip and this slight dip might be causing him to think "nah, I'd rather sleep than run" 

Either way, I would DEFINITELY recommend getting him a much larger wheel. If you are going to use one available at the local petstore, you should get him the Giant Comfort Wheel (12in diameter) as the "Small" one you have is much too small for a hedgie the size of your guy (mine is about the same weight as yours). However, I definitely recommend the bucket wheels you can find listed around here. I just made the switch and I couldn't be happier with them!


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## soupToaster (Aug 18, 2014)

sheap said:


> Are you sure that there isn't a stray street light that might be casting light on his cage at night? [...] You can try draping his cage with a dark-colored but light-weight blanket to see if he exercises more.
> 
> Do you know the temperature of the cage? [...]
> 
> If you are going to use one available at the local petstore, you should get him the Giant Comfort Wheel (12in diameter) as the "Small" one you have is much too small for a hedgie the size of your guy (mine is about the same weight as yours). However, I definitely recommend the bucket wheels you can find listed around here. I just made the switch and I couldn't be happier with them!


I'm more than positive that there isn't a strong light in the room but I'll start leaving the dark cloth over his cage to give it a try anyway. I would do the same during my school schedule (except with a blanket) as I ended up having late nights with assignments and such.

The temperature of the cage I do not know precisely. I'm hoping that it's room temperature (23-24 C, 74-75F) if not a little warmer. I do keep the windows closed at night so the amount of cool air coming in shouldn't be really bad... Is there any way to measure the temperature?

In terms of the wheel, I do have the Giant Comfort Wheel (12in diameter)! I seemed to have looked at the wrong one when browsing through the online selection. I just clicked the one that resembled Gumnut's the most! That mistake was made on my part. :-?

I took a look at the bucket wheel and it doesn't look like I'll be able to get it any time soon. The prices of it are reasonable but the shipping pretty much doubles the price (I live in Canada) so I'll just have to stick with the one I have.

Thanks for all the advice everyone! I'll look into getting a good quality heater for my hedgehog's cage too in case the temperatures are too low.


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