# Hills Ideal Balance Indoor Natural Chicken & Turkey Recipe



## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Guaranteed Analysis:

Crude Protein - 27%
Crude Fat - 14.5%
Crude Fiber - 6.0% to 10.0%
Moisture - 8.0%

Ingredients:
Chicken, Turkey, Cracked Pearled Barley, Pea Protein Concentrate, Brown Rice, Oat Fiber, Dried Egg Product, Chicken Fat, Powdered Cellulose, Dried Beet Pulp, Chicken Liver Flavor, Lactic Acid, Flaxseed, Vegetable & fruit blend (Green Peas, Apples, Cranberries, Carrots, Broccoli), Potassium Chloride, Calcium Sulfate, Choline Chloride, Iodized Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Taurine, DL-Methionine, Ginger, Fish Oil, vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Niacin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Mixed Tocopherols for freshness, Beta-Carotene, Natural Flavors.

After buying the first bag of wrong food. (It was hairball control and I was not pleased with that) I went back to PetCo. I live in a small town and apparently that means they do not carry the full line of cat food. But I found this cat food, which was lower in protein than most cat food and a good fat level. Penny is still a baby and an avid runner so the doesn't worry. The food her breeded had her on does bother me. It was Purina One Chicken which was really HIGH in protein. So I'm switching her foods. I read the reviews on Science Hill Diet and the ingredients looked bad. But these ones look good. When I was at the store it was the best bag I could find. Anyone have any thoughts?


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## lilsurfergrlsp (Dec 13, 2013)

The ingredients look good to me. The protein percentage is a little low, though. You could either get another type of food with a higher protein (I know that's hard to find these days, especially in a small town), or you could supplement it with actual cooked meats. 

The fat percentage looks good for a baby (up to six months). However, her personality could change and she could run less once she gets older, so you might need to add a food or switch to a food with lower fat, somewhere around 10% would be better. Especially if you supplement her diet with mealworms, as they can get pretty fatty.

All in all though, everything looks good to me. Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

My biggest concern was that if I found a food with less than 15% fat than the protein was like 40%, if I was looking for around 30% protein then I would get about 20% fat, balance was never easy. Also one food would be great on ingredients and another would be terrible. There is a bag a blue buffalo wilderness that is grain free that was lower in fat and a little higher in protein but I've read some iffy things about blue buffalo so I wasn't sure. Maybe I can do a mix.


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## Teddi4211 (Apr 30, 2014)

I feed my hedgehogs a mix of blue buffalo and another cat food (can't think of the brand), but they definitely favor the blue buffalo because they pick it out first


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## lilsurfergrlsp (Dec 13, 2013)

I use Blue as well, and my girl loves it. It's under scrutiny though because apparently Purina accused them of not using the ingredients that they're stating is in their food. so I've been trying to find another food to mix it with, but my girl is so picky she hasn't liked anything but the Blue so far.

You might have to just buy your second type of food online if you want to make a mix. That's what I ended up doing because there wasn't a lot of options where I go to school. You can find some good deals on food online too, so just shop around. That way you get a ton of different options, and you can mix a food with a higher protein and lower fat with the Hills. Have you seen the recommended foods list on here? If not, here's the link to it:

http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/12-diet-nutrition/23034-beginner-s-guide-hedgehog-nutrition.html //


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Thanks. We used to feed our dogs blue buffalo all the time. But our male husky is a picky eater and he wouldn't eat any dog food for about a month. (We had to feed him rice and beef just to keep him fed.) So we switched to the not so good purina one but he eats it like crazy so I can't complain. However, I really like blue buffalo, the dogs seemed really healthy on it and the other two enjoyed it all the time. (Pretty sure I could feed my other two dogs anything and they would eat it.) I'll double check the list and see if I can find something online but she is almost out of her food from her breeder so I need something fast so blue buffalo might be our option for a mix. To those feeding blue buffalo, which bag did you go with?


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Sorry about the double post but a mile down the street they sell the chicken soup food!!! Which is 34% protein and 9% fat which would be a perfect mix for what I have for her!


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## lilsurfergrlsp (Dec 13, 2013)

Awesome! That's a popular food because it contains a lot of different proteins. That's great news. And for the Blue, I feed my girl the Blue Wilderness chicken formula, the Blue bag with the picture on a lynx (I think? Some sort of wild cat) on the front.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

She will not eat this new food. Should I continue trying or go buy something else? Right now, I am mixing the food her breeder had her on (Purina) and the Hills so I can get her switched over so I can add another food without shocking her system.


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## lilsurfergrlsp (Dec 13, 2013)

That's good that you're making the switch gradually. I would keep trying for a few more nights. Is she just eating around it? You could also try crushing the new food up into small pieces, and maybe sprinkling it over the Purina. Or you could mix it with good wet cat food, or baby food. If she hasn't eaten any of the new food after. Week though, I would stop.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

She will not touch crumbs, if she is chewing food and it falls out of her mouth all crumbly, she just picks up another piece but maybe I will try the baby food thing.

She just eats around it. I think the first day she tried about three pieces of food and the last two days she hasn't touched it. I'm afraid she will only like the crappy food.


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## lilsurfergrlsp (Dec 13, 2013)

My girl is the exact same way when I tried switching her to new foods. If she continues to eat around it, and the baby food thing doesn't work, I would stop trying to feed it to her after a week or so. But just in case, I would add a little more of the crappy food so she's still getting the same amount of food. 

Maybe it would help to switch to a better quality food, but with the same type of flavor/formula? For instance, I successfully switched Tansy from Purina chicken and rice to Blue Buffalo chicken and rice. But any other flavor, she won't touch (so far anyway).


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Thanks I'll try that.

I kept the food she was eating the same and just added extra of the new food for the first day. I put about 100 kibbles in her food and she normally eats around 70 kibbles a night. So I put in 125 kibbles mixed, 25 of the new stuff still around 70 kibbles eaten, then I did 90 old and 35 new, same thing. My fear is that I'll run out of the crappy food before finding something that she likes.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Okay, so I bought Natural Balance Green Pea and Chicken Formula. I gave her a few pieces of kibble when I got home and she anointed with it so I hope that's a good sign. I put a few kibbles in her food dish and we will see how many she eats tonight. I like the fact that this has flax-seed in it and I am hoping it helps with her dry skin.

Also she ate a mealworm and seemed to like it a lot. Which is great because she is soooo picky about everything else. 

Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diets Green Pea & Chicken Formula Dry Cat Food

Ingredients:

Peas, Chicken Meal, Chicken, Pea Protein, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Flaxseed, Natural Flavor, Choline Chloride, Methionine, Taurine, Natural Tocopherols, Zinc Proteinate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Potassium Iodide, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Manganous Oxide, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Folic Acid 
Guaranteed Analysis:

Crude Protein (min.) 30.0%, Crude Fat (min.) 12.0%, Crude Fiber (max.) 8.0%, Moisture (max.) 10.0%, Taurine (Min) 0.1%, Omega-3 Fatty Acids* (min.) 0.5%, Omega-6 Fatty Acids* (min.) 3.0%

FYI - I hate peas! And this smells like peas so I almost lost my lunch. Ugh. But as long she likes it, I don't care.


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