# Kibble hardness



## Syne (Aug 7, 2012)

So after searching for a looongg time, I FINALLY found a store that sell Natural Balance - Green Pea and Duck. I've read that Natural Balance kibble is pretty hard? Will my hedgies have problem eating it if I make it their staple diet? One of mine chipped his front teeth, and another have trouble eating even Royal Canin Fit 32. I really wish I can change their diet as I know RC isn't very good (but not bad either, I think).

Another question, what do you guys think about Addiction - Viva la Venison cat food? Somehow I feel wary to use it. Below is its ingredients and nutritional analysis:

Venison Meal, Dried Potatoes, Dried Tapioca, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Peas, Natural Flavors, Dried Kelp, Dried Cranberries, Dried Apples, Dried Spinach, Brewers Dried Yeast, Dried Enterococcus Faecium, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Dried Bifidobacterium Longum, Dried Bifidobacterium Thermophilum, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin (Vitamin B3), Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B5), Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Biotin (Vitamin B7), Vitamin B12 Supplement , Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid (Vitamin B9), Sodium Chloride, Taurine, Choline Chloride, Magnesium Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Calcium Carbonate, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Cobalt Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Green Tea Extract, Rosemary Extract.

With added: New Zealand Venison high in protein, low in fat
Probiotics for a healthy digestive system
Fruits and Vegetables high in antioxidants and phytonutrients
No: Grain
By products, Fillers, Corn, Wheat, Soy, Artificial Colors or Flavorings

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (min.) 30%
Crude Fat (min.) 15%
Crude Ash (max.) 11%
Crude Fibre (max.) 3.5%
Moisture (max.) 10%


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

What about it makes you feel wary? As long as your hedgie can tolerate the fat content, it looks like a really great food. I personally think that Natural Balance has pretty hard kibble, and I don't use it anymore but when I had it in Inky's mix I'd just use sharp scissors to cut each kibble in half for him.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I agree, looks like a great food! And I like that it has venison for the main meat, that's not a common one for cat foods.


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## Syne (Aug 7, 2012)

It's because it's made of venison that I'm quite wary about it. Thanks! I think I'm trying this one out.
Just when I thought I'd found something good.. I'm torn. I heard so many good thing about this kibble.. But I don't want to wear off my hedgehog's teeth. It's so hard to find good quality cat food here. I can get Wellness Indoor, but I heard some hedgehog have problem with that brand? How relatively hard is Natural Balance compared to RC, do you think?


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

I don't know much about the New Zealand deer farms, I know they raise them for the hormones in the velvet, not sure how humanely they're raised compared to other typical livestock. There's no real benefit to feeding venison over any other meat, some people just like unusual meat sources. 

Wellness is also a pretty hard kibble, and some people have had great luck with it and others have seen digestive upset from feeding it. NB compared to RC... I'd say that the NB is harder but it's also usually smaller than RC, which makes a difference. I'd choose to feed NB and just crush up the kibble rather than keep using RC, just since RC is really mediocre (like Science Diet, it sounds like it'd be good but it's just low quality food).


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## JJStefaniec (Nov 27, 2012)

I put all of my hedgies food in the food processor and ground it up because I thought it might help her eat more. I've had great results.


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## Syne (Aug 7, 2012)

I'm leaning into crushing kibble.. Thanks for the help everyone! One question though, when we crush up the kibbles, there's some 'dust' formed, what do you guys do with the 'dust'? Will hedgies eat it? I really don't want to throw it away. I'm worried my hedgies won't eat the crumbled kibbles too, but I won't know that until I tried. Hopefully I got this right. So many worries for such little critters, lol.


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

We use a pretty low quality old-fashioned grinder, so we get more powder than we'd like, though it's much less than using a food processor (we've tried practically everything!). We have some hedgehogs that don't mind the powder at all and will eat it (though they usually eat the larger pieces first) and we have some that won't touch it. I hate wasting it too, so we don't bother sifting it out or anything. For hedgies that leave it all in the bottom though, I just dump the powder into our mealworm and roach bins and it's "recycled" by feeding something else with a more open mind.  The bugs don't care!


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## alexvdl (Dec 19, 2012)

Would a coffee grinder work? Just tap it a few times and you'd still have some pretty decent chunks. I think.


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

We haven't had good luck with electric grinders doing an "even" job of breaking the kibble up - you end up with a lot of whole pieces and a lot of powder, and not much of the "in between" properly sized broken kibble pieces. We've tried food processors, coffee grinders, "slap chop" things, rolling pins, hammers, and spoons for physically crushing, our old fashioned grinder, and using scissors to cut each kibble into smaller pieces. I've by far had the best success with the scissors, you get practically no powder and each piece is a nice size. It's hard to spend time doing that for more than one hedgie though, so what was most efficient for us was to get a manual grinder.


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## momIImany (Oct 14, 2012)

A meat mallet works well. Just put the food in a baggie and hit it a few times. :lol:


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## Olympia (Aug 4, 2010)

I use an ordinary kitchen knife to cut the kibble pieces in half. It takes a little bit of time but it doesn't make a lot of dust.


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## GailC (Aug 20, 2011)

I've used a heavy marble rolling pin, works pretty good and is quick. I'm switching to blue buffalo food though and its much small.


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## Syne (Aug 7, 2012)

Thanks, everyone, for your input!


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