# Thinking of Switching...



## Juls Ruls (Jun 2, 2016)

Ollie has been fed Wellness Complete Health cat food for as long as his previous owner has had him. I've noticed Wellness's ingredient lists are always human-quality. It's just the protein (no less than 36%) and the fat (no less than 17%) are a bit high. I'm not really looking to make a mix of 3+ brands/types, though. I'm thinking of getting Wellness Indoor Health or Wellness Healthy Weight to mix 50/50 with his regular food. I've also heard good things about Blue Buffalo as a staple, and I'd like to hear more about their lines (Wilderness, Weight Control, etc.) to see if the percentages are correct. He's not an active runner, and I'm sure a lower fat content would help him shed a little fat. He's a little chub-butt.  Hopefully sticking with a two-line Wellness mix, and a little help with that would be great, though I'm not totally against switching him to Blue Buffalo if it's better for him.


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## Phynchen (Jul 24, 2016)

I tried switching my hedgies food once but they refused to eat it even though I mixed it with their regular food. They would just leave it behind. I tried again with different food that was around the same size as their regular food but they simply wouldn't eat it no matter what. 
So I stayed with their usual (Royal Canin, for Indoor Cats above the age of 7) and they eat it perfectly well. They're neither fat nor skinny and look otherwise healthy. 

I wouldn't recommend switching foods as long as your hedgehog is behaving normally and is healthy. There's always the huge chance that he won't eat the new food, especially when you try to switch to a different brand and if he's already used to it so much.


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## Juls Ruls (Jun 2, 2016)

I was worried something like that would happen... He is overweight, and his poo stinks because it's too rich. He hasn't been running on his wheel lately, which I'm still trying to figure out and solve. I'll check out Royal Canin; I just want him to be healthy.


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

If you are feeding a mix of two foods from the same company you are missing a major advantage of feeding a mix. In the event a food is recalled, there is still a familiar food to feed. Many times recalls effect multiple foods from the company. 
Yes sometimes they don't want to try a new food, and there are some tricks to help with that. Also many stores have an open bag return policy that you want to check out before buying in case the new food is rejected. Then you return that food and try another. Many times it takes a bit of time for them to start trying a new food.


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## Juls Ruls (Jun 2, 2016)

I was still going to keep Wellness in as a 25% mix with the Blue Buffalo Weight Control to keep the fat up a bit. I was compairing the Sensitive Stomach to the Weight Control, because I am looking for him to loose weight without having to switch if he is loosing too much. I have their offical site links, and I want to know which is better for him.

Weight Control: http://bluebuffalo.com/natural-cat-...-control-adult-chicken-and-brown-rice-recipe/

Sensitive Stomach: http://bluebuffalo.com/natural-cat-...-stomach-adult-chicken-and-brown-rice-recipe/

Thank you for all the help so far!


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## Juls Ruls (Jun 2, 2016)

I can always give him more freeze-dried mealworms if his fat content is too low. Probably going with the Blue Weight Control, seeing he's not the most active little dude. He won't touch anything live, and he hates how cold the frozen ones are (which I can't fix because when they thaw they deconpose).


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

Freeze dried causes its own issues, impactation. You don't want to deal with that. 
Remind me again how old Ollie is.


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## Juls Ruls (Jun 2, 2016)

A year and somewhere around 3 months. I know they can cause impactions, but he won't touch the other ones. He has access to water 24/7 as well (in a bottle, but every time he drinks from a bowl he gets water in his nose, which leads to a URI...). I wish I could get him to use a bowl and enjoy live mealworms, but not everything works out.


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

If you went with the weight control that will help him shed some pounds. Ok we don't want them losing pounds, maybe ounces or grams. If you need to make further adjustments you can adjust the ratios. 
The only problem I seen when I quickly checked the ingredient list was powdered cellulose. Blue buffalo doesn't define that, the reason is likely in the definition itself. It's ground up dried plant matter that can't be defined by other things. It could be crop leftovers like corn stalks and things, but the cheapest item would be sawdust. 9 times out of 10, pet food manufactures go with the cheapest. It's also fairly high in the list and a filler. Most of the things listed before haven had the natural liquid cooked out of it, if they did the list likely would be ordered very differently.


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## Juls Ruls (Jun 2, 2016)

So for the most part, the Weight Control is a pretty good option? I understand that the fillers can have the opposite effect of being a high-quality food. I'm sure it's so much better than Meow Mix, etc. I forgot to add, he has a water dish in his cage but never uses it, and I soak his mealworms in water for 5 minutes or so.


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## Juls Ruls (Jun 2, 2016)

Better than Sensitive Stomach, that is. One of the items is caramel, and it's only one fat % lower than the food he is on now. I doubt they'd put sawdust in their pet food, but you can't really be 100% sure. Like I said, I can do a 25% Wellness mixed with a 75% Blue Buffalo, just in case the fat content is too low. May switch to Wellness's Health Weight to replace the previous Wellness Complete Health, and make it 50% 50% as the percentages are just about equal, though Wellness is still rich.

http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/m/product-detail.aspx?pet=cat&pid=20&pt=1&pl=1&ct=13


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## Juls Ruls (Jun 2, 2016)

Sorry for the delay - I've been doing lots of research lately. I'm going with a 50/50 mix of Wellness Complete Health Indoor Health (http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/m/product-detail.aspx?pet=cat&pid=21&pt=1&pl=1&ct=13) and Blue Buffalo BLUE Freedom Grain-Free Indoor Chicken Recipe for mature cats (http://bluebuffalo.com/natural-cat-...ry-food/freedom-mature-indoor-chicken-recipe/). They both have their ups and downs in their ingredients, but I feel a mix would help balance that out. They are both the same pellet shape, so he can't be biased based on looks. They have a higher fat content than 9%, but lower than my previous food at 17%. Their protein contents are the same, too, at 30% instead of the previous 36%. I am also going to try Zoo Med's Can O Worms. Thank you for all the help!


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