# Other than smelly poop, is there anything wrong with fish?



## Desperodo (Dec 12, 2010)

I've noticed that people on here say not to use foods with fish because they cause stinky poop. But are they okay to use, if you don't mind the smell? I would be able to add a lot more variety to the kibble mix. 

If the food(s) containing fish only make up a small percentage of the mix (like 4-10 kibbles a day, depending on the hedgehog), would it be an issue?


----------



## zorropirate (Aug 13, 2010)

I just wanted to let it be known... I have a HIGH tolerance for smells, and for smelly poop... but smelly hedgehog poop has to be the worst. It can be suffocating!! Both Daisy and Chloe had been eating some bunk food when they came to live with me and gosh... the smell and quantity of poop from them!! BAH!!!

(And this coming from someone who had an elderly kitty with digestive problems for over 10 years... ) just saying... if you can avoid adding anything that amps up that smell, you need to.


----------



## zorropirate (Aug 13, 2010)

Oh and one more thing to add to my list of smell qualifications... I just spent 4 years working in healthcare, where I on a few occasions had to check each and every bathroom in the facility... multiple times... and I still say there is NO COMPARISON to smelly hedgehog poo!!!


----------



## Desperodo (Dec 12, 2010)

I didn't know it smelled so bad. I thought it'd just smell a little bit worse. If the smell is terrible, then I definitely don't want that. Especially since were I'm moving to the cages will only be 10-15 feet away from my bed.


----------



## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

Honestly, everyone is different. My hog has a food with salmon as the first ingredient in her mix. Her poop does stink, but I'm fine with it, even though her cage is 5 feet away from my bed. Oddly enough, I am a CNA and have dealt with my fair share of nasty smells (changing Depends, colostomy bags, stomas, pus, etc) and hedgehog poo is a walk in the park for me :lol: I decided to go against everyone's advice to avoid fish and I'm happy I did since Milly loves her salmon food and the odor doesn't bother me much.


----------



## zorropirate (Aug 13, 2010)

I just want to clarify that my experience with bad smelling hedgie poop was due to a poor previous diet, neither gal was eating a good quality food, let alone a good quality food with seafood in it. So their bad poo smell was not fish related from the facts I have. 

I just wanted to voice my opinion that hedge poo when bad can be really bad... and times that by 7... well that would be REALLY bad.


----------



## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

I fed a salmon based food for a good long time, the stool smell didn't change from pre-salmon to post-salmon. I think a lot of the smell issue depends on the hedgehog and the source of the fish. Salmon seems to be fine, I have noticed pretty awful smells coming from foods that use cheaper sources of fish.


----------



## Desperodo (Dec 12, 2010)

Hm, interesting. Maybe I'll try adding a fish based food and see. If it doesn't work for some of them or all of them I'll just give it to my neighbour (she has like 30 cats :roll: ). What would be high quality fish? I personally don't eat meat so I'm not familiar with high quality and low quality. When I was looking at foods containing fish I saw:

-Menhaden Fish Meal
-Fish Meal
-Anchovy
-Sardine
-Herring
-Herring Meal
-Trout
-Salmon Meal
-Salmon
-Lake White Fish
-Ocean Fish Meal


----------

