# is there anyway i can NOT feed hedgie cat food?



## ashley82 (Nov 19, 2011)

if i have to continue with the kibble a little bit thats fine but my penelope is getting really chunky and i'd like to get her weight down.

is there anyway i can only feed her insects/fruits/veggies/meat?

if so how? 
does anyone else do this?
how expensive would it be?


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

What kind of cat food does she eat? There are other ways to deal with a weight issue with a hedgehog, besides removing the cat food. The first step would be to look at the protein/fat percentages in the food she currently eats, and possibly switch her to a cat food with a lower fat content.


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## ashley82 (Nov 19, 2011)

well she's on purina kitten chow right now because one day when i ran out of food i had to buy her whatever i could find at the time. so now that the bag of purina is getting kind of low i'm gonna switch her over to the chicken soup for the pet lovers soul or whatever its called. but i'd really like to get her diet to be primarily real food.


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## Hissy-Fit-Hazel (Jul 15, 2011)

I have the opposite problem...I'd rather mine eat her kibble but she won't unless I mix them in. I think this is because I spoiled her with real food lol!
I still feed her a 3 type mix of kibble but I crush it then mix it in her REAL food. I've not found it expensive to feed her but the prep is a bit much. I was able to prepare enough fresh foods in one day to freeze in ice cube trays for her ...that lasts about 4 mths so not too bad. She gets cooked chicken or scrambled egg, sometimes beef on occasion. To that I add a cube of veggie (last time I did broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, butternut squash, yams so I rotate each night then I mix it all up with her crushed kibbles  I also give her cantelope and honey dew at times.

I suppose one could just feed a home cooked diet all the time by figuring out the nutrient values for each...I'd rather she eat her kibble tho so I knew she was getting what she needs.


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## ashley82 (Nov 19, 2011)

can you go into a little bit more detail about the ice cube tray idea? 

also what combination of kibble do you feed her?


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## Hissy-Fit-Hazel (Jul 15, 2011)

I cook and purée all her veggies, meat I steam (to get the cooked fats off and be the most healthy possible) scrambled egg I do in the microwave. 

I put them in ice cube trays overnight then the next day I bag each type of food up separately and label them. I place all the meats/protein in one container and all the bagged veggies in another. Each night I choose a meat or egg-veggie combo. I suspect one could put the meats and veggies together but if they start having an issue with a food you are kinda screwed. 

I find regular ice cube size is kind of a lot so I found some smaller ones that are only about a tsp for the veggies because a regular ice cube is about 4 tsp What I like about the ice cube trays is that it is easy to keep track of how many days worth of food you have


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## Hissy-Fit-Hazel (Jul 15, 2011)

Kibble I feed Innova low fat, Solid Gold katz n Flocken and NOW! Grain free senior


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## ashley82 (Nov 19, 2011)

that sounds like a good idea. one day of prep for 4 months of food. 

how long does it take for it to thaw? do you reheat it?


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## Hissy-Fit-Hazel (Jul 15, 2011)

I take it out in the morning and let it sit in the fridge for the day until an hr or so before I feed her. If I forget I just nuke it for a few seconds and let it cool. 

It took some calculating and messing around but by crushing her kibble I was able to figure out that 2 tsp of what I feed crushed = about 44 kibbles plus her meat and veggies. She would NEVER eat 44 kibbles if I just added them in lol. 

The downside of feeding like that is that I worry what her teeth are going to look like by the time she is 3 y/o. I leave a bowl of regular kibble with her all the time and put her mealies in there but she never touches the kibble ha


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## ashley82 (Nov 19, 2011)

i'm gonna seriously consider trying that. i'll have to get a job first though. i don't think my mom would buy veggies and such specifically for penelope. haha


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## alsohere (Dec 26, 2011)

I went a little nuts on the cat food. I bought five bags of various good bags of kibble, and I am adding them at appropriate times. We had a "craft session" and repackaged the food in vacuum sealed bags, so it would last longer, and double wrapped it in three pound increments. Then, we put it in the freezer. I don't know how long the three pounds will last, but we'll see.

I am going to watch for freezer burn and things, but I think it will carry well. I was told that the barn cats would love it, if I don't want to feed it to my hedgie. 

I didn't know how much a hedgehog eats, so I didn't know how much was to much.

But, maybe if you didn't want to feed any kibble you could try a home cooked cat food mix with a supplement. I don't know if this would work, but the vitamin content would be right and the same with protein, fat, and other considerations. Also, it would be easier than the mix with cats, because hedgis are omnivores and cat's are carnivores.


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## bj1998 (Jun 10, 2011)

I get Thorne This : http://www.petco.com/product/106692/Sun ... SiteSearch

It's even MADE for Hedgies!!! She Lovesit!!!!


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## SquiggyTheHedgie (Jul 26, 2011)

Have you read the ingredients list for the Sunseed? Most people on here would not recommend it because of all the fillers. Also because it doesnt contain real meat as the primary ingredient. Majority of pet shop foods labeled for hedgehogs is usually not very good and contains no real nutritional value. Sunseed is one of the moderately acceptable ones, but shouldnt be used as a staple. Are you feeding your hedgie just this? Or are you mixing it with a kind of kibble?


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## Hissy-Fit-Hazel (Jul 15, 2011)

I asked about the Sunseed at a local pet supply just as an occasional treat when I came across it on their shelves........the cashier (who has a hedgie too) wouldn't even sell it to me and sent me to a competitor store for something else lol


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## Christemo (Oct 5, 2011)

Most stuff that say "hedgehog" on it are best for duck food, not hedgehogs.


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

Any type of cat food that has "chow" in it is NOT a good food. Kitten chow is even worse, it probably has a pretty high fat content. It'd be much better before trying to remove cat food altogether, to just switch her onto a decent, low fat food.


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

bj1998 said:


> I get Thorne This : http://www.petco.com/product/106692/Sun ... SiteSearch
> 
> It's even MADE for Hedgies!!! She Lovesit!!!!


This isn't a good food, just by looking at the percentages in it it has 37% protien which is to high and only 7% fat which is way to low. It "might" be ok in a mix of cat food but I'm guessing that given the choice most hedgies would eat the cat food and leave the hedgie food behind. In my opinion its not worth the money to buy it.


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## sweetergrrrl (May 5, 2009)

Innova makes a high quality low fat cat food. (senior cats I believe) I use a little in the mix Link gets every night.


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