# Smallest good cat food?



## alyssinreality (Jan 18, 2012)

Diggory does not seem to like the Newmans Own Organic I am trying to feed him. He eats around it no matter what I do. It takes him a great deal longer to chew than the itty bitty hedgehog food he is used to so that may be why. I cut it up but he is still avoiding it. So what small, healthy, and tasty cat foods should I look for? I know there is already a thread for posting photos of the size of the kibble but they all look the same size as newmans or bigger and that just isn't working for diggy.


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## JustOnePost (Dec 27, 2011)

Since he appears small and is only 3 months I would say go with Royal Canin Baby Cat or Kitten as they are the smallest, while the ingredients aren't the bet they are still decent and as your hedgehog may still grow more you can try introducing one of the many Blue Buffalo Basics


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## alyssinreality (Jan 18, 2012)

Thank you. I'm trying to get him off the terrible hedgie food but he's not being very compliant!


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## JustOnePost (Dec 27, 2011)

Well the Kitten and Baby cat foods are high in fat which is okay for a growing hedgie for now and should be a hit, work as/if he grows more towards others can you can always try smashing some of the new bigger kibbles


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## alyssinreality (Jan 18, 2012)

Isn't it bad to have corn in it? I thought I read that somewhere. The royal canin babycat has corn...


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Corn isn't ideal, but it's not the devil either. The ingredients of Babycat -

Chicken meal, rice, chicken fat, corn gluten meal, chicken, corn, natural chicken flavor, dried egg product, dried beet pulp (sugar removed), dried brewers yeast, soya oil, anchovy oil (source of EPA/DHA), L-lysine, powdered cellulose, salt, potassium chloride, sodium silico aluminate, fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), dried brewers yeast extract (source of mannan-oligosaccharides), choline chloride, taurine, Vitamins [DL-alpha tocopherol acetate (source of vitamin E), L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), biotin, niacin supplement, riboflavin (vitamin B2) supplement, D-calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin A acetate, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), folic acid, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement], Trace Minerals [zinc oxide, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, manganese proteinate, copper sulfate, copper proteinate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite], marigold extract (Tagetes erecta L.), L-Carnitine, preserved with natural mixed tocopherols (source of vitamin E) and citric acid, rosemary extract.

Even though it has corn in it, it's still not a horrible food. Chicken meal is the first ingredient, which is great. And the main ingredients are the ones up to and including the first fat or oil, so chicken meal, rice, and chicken fat are the three main ingredients, with the corn coming afterwards in lesser amounts. So it wouldn't be bad at all to feed. There's many breeders that like to give this food to pregnant or nursing mamas and new babies because of the teeny tiny size and the high fat.

Keep in mind though, the high fat means you may then have trouble getting him off this food if/once he needs it. :lol: But if the ingredients are better than the hedgehog food, it wouldn't hurt to change it for now (assuming he'll try it), and then work on switching him to lower-fat foods in the future if he should need it. Just make sure you keep an eye on his weight and body figure.


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## alyssinreality (Jan 18, 2012)

Thank you, I bought it. I think he'll eat it with no problem. Now I need to get a scale! I know I would notice if he looked/felt any heavier because I spend time with him all the time but I don't even know what he ways now and I'm curious if he's underweight. He isn't as small as he looks in the photo in my signature. There's more accurate pictures of him in his photo thread. He takes up both my hands(but then again I have tiny hands :lol: )


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## alyssinreality (Jan 18, 2012)

You guys keep saying if he gets bigger and if he needs to get off it. Do some eat babycat food their whole lives and really stay small?


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Yup, scales are good things! It'll be useful to weigh him regularly just in case he suddenly starts losing weight, which can be a sign of illness. And yeah, some hogs just seem to have a faster metabolism or something, or they just run a LOT and they actually really need the higher fat foods in order to keep weight on. I know Hanhan has been trying to keep weight on her Milly (and I think is actually using Babycat as well for the higher fat), and Kalandra's current girls need high fat foods as well.

As far as whether they're underweight or overweight, that's easiest to tell with their figure, not a weight number. Weighing them is more to keep track of trends in how much they gain or lose, in case there's a sudden movement either way, or if they just keep gaining steadily/losing steadily (when they should be more stable, such as after reaching adult size). A healthy weight is either ( ) lightly rounded sides, or straight sides for a runner | |. Underweight, when he's standing normally, his sides would looked dipped in ) ( and overweight, he looks more like a ball than anything ( ). :lol: Other signs of getting overweight include extra flab under his chin, under his legs (around the armpit area), a hump on the back around the shoulder area, and inability to ball up completely.


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## JustOnePost (Dec 27, 2011)

Like humans hedgehogs can have different activeness levels and differences in their metabolism as well. Its impossible to classify 100% a hedgehog due to this factor its always a learning process I have runners who need higher fat because they burn so much, I have less actives that need extra fat because their metabolism is so strong and I have active ones that seem to pack on weight and need low fat and lean foods to keep them trim.

Their all unique ^.^


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

BabyCat is great, but you'll probably not be able to keep him on it forever, and certainly not feeding it on its own. I've also struggled trying to find foods with small kibbles and have come to accept my fate of cutting up kibbles every night, but I still like to search for the smallest pieces. Apart from BabyCat, Castor & Pollux Natural Ultramix has awesome bitty pieces, though they changed their packaging recently and I'm not sure if the food changed with it. Then Halo Spot's Stew has pretty small little flat disks, and the Fromm 4 Star formulas are nice small pellets. I personally hate seeing tiny hedgies chewing monster pieces of food that are appropriately sized for an animal twenty times their size.


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## alyssinreality (Jan 18, 2012)

I do not plan to feed it on its own. I am still going to keep putting cut up bits of Newmans organic in there too because he is eating it I think just not very much of it at all. So right now I have mystery hedgehog food (  ), babycat, and newmans.


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

Are the tiny pieces dark colored and tiny-pellety? It's probably sunseed, which isn't the worst hedgehog food out there.


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## alyssinreality (Jan 18, 2012)

No they're tiny and roundish. The lady said it was made in Missouri which leads me to believe it's Spike's Delight. She claimed it was the best hedgehog food you can buy and that she tried others and hated them. I am 90% sure it is not the Mazuri brand because she did not say that was the name of it, but that it was made there. And when she did say the name(I just cant remember because she couldn't at first and then said it as an afterthought) I do not remember it being that at all.


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

It is likely Spikes. There are a few breeders who sell and use Spike's. Some of the Spike's varieties contain ok ingredients. The kibble size is fairly small. I used it for a bit with one of mine a couple of years ago and stopped using it when it was discovered that the batch I had was the same batch that had been reported to have sharp, hard pieces in it. The pieces were plant based, but one vet/owner blamed the food for cutting a hedgehog's tongue. I tossed it.

Here is a link to the company that makes it, and an image of a bag, dunno if you can compare the kibble inside or not: http://www.pet-pro.com/index.php?main_p ... ducts_id=2

You may want to look at Halo or Fromm. I'm using both and have a small adult who eats it just fine. She had some issues with larger kibble (like Katz-n-Flocken).

One caution with baby cat... you may have a lot of trouble getting your hedgehog to wean off of it. If the hedgehog likes it, they usually like it so much that they don't want to stop eating it. With a highly active hedgehog, you may not need to wean off of it, but with the 'average' hedgehog you will need to monitor him and wean him back if he starts to get too plump.


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## alyssinreality (Jan 18, 2012)

Blah. The way he refuses to touch anything but the hedgie food now already worries me it's gonna suck weaning him off the baby cat.


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

Do you pre-mix foods before feeding, or just mix them when you put them in the food dish? If you aren't pre-mixing, give it a try. I have had several picky eaters who refused to try new stuff, but eventually would try them if the food was pre-mixed for a while. The timing may be a few weeks, to allow the flavors and smells to mingle between the old and new, but quite often they would start to eat the new.

If you aren't pre-mixing, it may be something for you to try.


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## alyssinreality (Jan 18, 2012)

Thank you. I will have to try that. And unfortunately I have found out through Missy(another user on here who happens to have bought Diggory's sister!) that it is Mazuri hedgehog food. Should I just switch to the baby cat full on or still go slowly? I'm pretty sure he's eating at least some of it...


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