# vitamin C--how to feed?



## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

any suggestions on how to feed my kids vit C? they eat *a little* of it (when it's smeared on the chicken), but i really don't know how to give them the suggested dose.  it's liquid.


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## tie-dye hedgie (Dec 19, 2009)

I don't know if this would work, but what about putting a couple drops in their water dishs?


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

Why are you feeding Vitamin C?


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## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

nikki said:


> Why are you feeding Vitamin C?


the vet said it prevents the loss of teeth. she's actually experienced w/hedgies.


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

wow...i've never heard that...that's interesting...thanks


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

I've never heard that either. I agree, it's interesting.


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## HedgeMom (Nov 7, 2008)

Oh dear. Your vet is confused about species. 

Hedgehogs, like most mammals, make their own Vitamin C and do not need supplementation. Humans, bats, guinea pigs, apes and some birds do not so they need either fruit in their diet or supplementation. Vitamin C is given to some rodent species to help with the assimilation of calcium to assist in tooth production since rodent teeth grow continuously but hedgehogs are not rodents. So there is little need to supplement Vit C in hedgehogs. 

That being said, it is a water soluable vitamin and any excess will be excreted in the urine. Vitamin C cannot be given in water because it is rendered inert after a few minutes exposure to sunlight.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Thanks Hedgemom. I guess that's why we've never heard of it. :lol:


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## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

dr horton said it's her personal finding about the effect of vit c on teeth. she said it came from her observations of hedgies over the years. so i really, really doubt it's possible to confuse species by observing it for many years. that'd be a major feat. just sayin'.


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## HedgeMom (Nov 7, 2008)

After over 16 years experience with hedgehogs, I can count on one hand the vets who have a large enough hedgehog clientele to be able to base something on their observations. 

There is no way to predict which hedgehog will have dental issues and which ones won't. Even between litters you can have some with issues and some without. 

In order to make such a statement, one would have to have a controlled group of hedgehogs on an identical diet with identical bloodlines and part would get Vitamin S supplemented and part wouldn't. One would have to document the instances of dental disease for several generations while eliminating anything that isn't similar in each protocol. 

Anecdata is fine in it's place but it doesn't replace real scientific study. I've had more hedgehogs through here than your vet will ever see and I can categorically state that Vitamin C is unnecessary if the animal is fed a quality diet with good variety. Supplementation is required at times of ill health and stress and that's different. 

That said, supplementing C won't hurt but I sure as heck wouldn't stress a new hedgehog trying to do it.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

I agree that even a vet with a large hedgehog clientele could not with any accuracy say that vit c helps prevent dental issues. I've had babies born here to the same parents, lived here all their lives, same food, same environment same everything and some with perfect teeth at death, others with very few teeth at death. Had the ones with perfect teeth been given vit c, it could have been said it was the vit c that helped their teeth when in fact their teeth would have been fine anyways.


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## MieraCurie (Jan 2, 2022)

HedgeMom said:


> After over 16 years experience with hedgehogs, I can count on one hand the vets who have a large enough hedgehog clientele to be able to base something on their observations.
> 
> There is no way to predict which hedgehog will have dental issues and which ones won't. Even between litters you can have some with issues and some without.
> 
> ...


Hi, I want to ask for your opinion about a liver supplements given from the vet for Chubby. You can find my thread here:








Liver enlargement


Chubby has dark green poop and we did a full check up for her which includes x-ray, blood test, fecal analysis etc. Her poop: First they said she has worms in her poop, so they give me multivitamins, antibiotics and dewormer. 5 days of dewormer and the poop is worm free. The blood test...




www.hedgehogcentral.com





So I just asked my vet the name of the supplements, and he said it was Livoferol. I give her twice daily, 0.3 ml each time. I'm just wondering, is this really helping her? I don't want to be giving her something I shouldn't give, I trust my vet though, but I just want to ask everyone here just in case.


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## ChloëMali (Mar 25, 2020)

MieraCurie said:


> Hi, I want to ask for your opinion about a liver supplements given from the vet for Chubby. You can find my thread here:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This thread is from 12 years ago, so I'm not sure if the poster is still active. You might want to add your question to the first thread you made if it's not there already, or make a separate thread with it so that people see it and can help you.


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

Sadly, Nancy Adams, aka Hedgemom, passed away from cancer in 2011, she won't be responding.


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