# wellness treats



## Annagrace89 (Jul 3, 2012)

I bought Wellness Pure Delights chicken & lamb for Lulu and she absolutely loves them! I've been using them as an occasional treat and she eats the 2 I give her and tries to stare me down for more lol. I looked at the ingredients and they seemed good, but I'm not sure about the chicory. Does anyone know if these are ok?


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I tried these out with Lily as well, and she liked them pretty well. My only concern with them is because they're pretty tough, being jerky, I cut the treats in half to make them even smaller so she could chew them more easily. I didn't want to take a chance of her choking on it. I used them as a hiding treat in her cage, since they wouldn't spoil as quickly as wet food. I'm not sure about the chicory though - I had no issues or side effects with Lily related to the treats, but I didn't use them for an overly long period either, or give her more than one treat a night (usually less than that).


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## MurE (Aug 29, 2011)

I'm not sure... I picked up some Halo treats today though. Anyone know if those are okay? The ingredients are Chicken, Potato Flour, Ground peas, tapioca flour, Chicken Fat, Pumpkin, Flaxseed, Tomatoes, Catnip, Taurine, Ascorbic Acid

Poggles seems to like eating them and they come in cute little heart and flower shapes


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## Annagrace89 (Jul 3, 2012)

The taurine and catnip seem suspicious to me but I'm not sure


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

They look fine to me as well - taurine is an amino acid that is vital to cats, and something they can't produce on their own. They get it from raw meat if they were wild, but the cat foods that we manufacture for them must have it added in to make sure they're getting the correct amount, or they die. Hedgehogs, being omnivores, would eat meat as well, so taurine won't hurt them. There was actually a topic around recently about a hedgehog who was diagnosed with a taurine deficiency, though I haven't heard much more on it. I wouldn't /think/ the catnip would do anything, but I'm not 100% sure on that.


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## sweetergrrrl (May 5, 2009)

there are some cat and dog treats now that are essentially dehydrated chicken. Thats the only ingredient. I think they are Halo. I will have to check at work today and get back to ya'll. the treats are awsome though, protein packed and they pretty much melt in your pets mouth. I was going to pick some up for Link today anyway!


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

One brand I know of like that is Pure Bites. Someone else posted about them recently, too. I used to feed Lily the shrimp ones, she liked them pretty well. They also have chicken, liver (though someone else tried those and their hedgehog annointed the treat all over himself and smelled like roadkill, according to her :lol: ), and I think whitefish or something.


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## Annagrace89 (Jul 3, 2012)

I got Lulu some of the pure bites dehydrated chicken but she didn't care for them at all.


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## MurE (Aug 29, 2011)

Yeah, I saw the PureBites dehydrated chicken, but I didn't buy them. I have actually offered real chicken to Poggles before and he turned it down, so I figured the dehydrated stuff would be worse. He also refuses dried mealworms (like, the ones that have just died in my mealworm colony) so I don't buy him dehydrated worms either. He's a picky eater. He's eating the Halo treats just fine though, but those seem very similar to his normal kibble so I guess that's why.


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## MurE (Aug 29, 2011)

Wait, hold that thought. I just gave him some today and he annointed with them. Hm... kind of messy. Does catnip make cats mellow? Cuz Poggles seems kinda mellow afterwards. And he spends a good amount of time licking his paws afterwards and sort of nibbling little crumbs for a long time.


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## sweetergrrrl (May 5, 2009)

Catnip makes some cats mellow and some cats just nuts-o crazy. Depends on the cat.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

MurE said:


> Yeah, I saw the PureBites dehydrated chicken, but I didn't buy them. I have actually offered real chicken to Poggles before and he turned it down, so I figured the dehydrated stuff would be worse. He also refuses dried mealworms (like, the ones that have just died in my mealworm colony) so I don't buy him dehydrated worms either. He's a picky eater. He's eating the Halo treats just fine though, but those seem very similar to his normal kibble so I guess that's why.


Have you tried feeding him mealworms that are still alive? I can't really blame him for not touching ones that have died - they wouldn't seem very appealing. Live is better than freeze-dried ones anyway, since freeze-dried mealies are more likely to cause an impaction. If you try offering him a live mealie and he turns his nose up, you can also try cutting it half so he gets a big whiff of mealie smell from the guts. Gross, but has been effective for getting hedgies to try mealies before.


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## MurE (Aug 29, 2011)

Lilysmommy said:


> Have you tried feeding him mealworms that are still alive? I can't really blame him for not touching ones that have died - they wouldn't seem very appealing. Live is better than freeze-dried ones anyway, since freeze-dried mealies are more likely to cause an impaction. If you try offering him a live mealie and he turns his nose up, you can also try cutting it half so he gets a big whiff of mealie smell from the guts. Gross, but has been effective for getting hedgies to try mealies before.


Oh, don't worry. I keep a live mealworm colony running for him. I have just noticed that he rejects some of the mealworms and that it's usually because they are dead, dried up, partially dried on one side, etc. Basically all strange ones are not okay with him. He won't eat any mealworms/aliens/beetles that are anomalies either. Sometimes I will get ones that don't develop properly and it's stuck somewhere in between stages. He won't eat those. He chews them up and spits them out.


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