# Is James Wellbeloved Turkey kitten food any good?



## CashmereSkeleton (Nov 28, 2014)

I am expecting a beautiful baby hedgie girl at the end of the year :grin: I have been looking at which food to buy and came across the 




I have read the thread on here called 'The Beginner's Guide to Hedgehog Nutrition' by Lilysmommy and I think this food ticks most of the boxes.

I found what appears to be a very detailed list of ingredients which are below and I would be very grateful if someone with a bit more experience could have a look and let me know whether this would be a good choice.

Composition: turkey meal (29.0%), white rice, turkey fat, brown rice, poultry gravy, maize gluten, potato protein, pea protein, tomato pomace (2.4%), potassium chloride, chicory extract (0.25%), omega oil supplement, calcium carbonate, carrot, sodium chloride, cranberry extract (0.05%), yucca extract (0.02%), rosemary extract.

Additives per kg: antioxidants: E306/Natural antioxidant, 168mg, Vitamins: E672/Vitamin A, 30,000 iu, E671/Vitamin D3, 1400 iu, Amino acids: taurine, 1000mg. Trace elements: E1/iron, 133mg, E2/iodine, 3.3mg, E4/copper, 20mg, E5/manganese, 40mg, E6/zinc, 385mg, E8/selenium, 0.44mg.

Analytical Constituents: protein 33.0%, crude fibres 1.2%, fat content 21%, crude ash 8.8%, Vitamin E 600mg/kg, omega-3 fatty acids 0.4%, omega-6 fatty acids 5.4%


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

It's not an awful food, but I'm not sure I would consider it exactly good either, to be honest. It still has a LOT of fillers in there - white rice and brown rice are both fillers, as well as maize gluten (maize is corn, which is not at all a recommended ingredient in kibble for cats, dogs, or hedgehogs), and maize gluten, potato protein, and pea protein are all cheap ways to boost the protein content without adding more meat.

You could use it as a sort of "junk food" in a mix with another food, but I would definitely plan on getting at least one other better quality food. I have a friend in the UK who told me about this brand - http://www.canagan.co.uk/products.html Their cat foods are a bit high in protein and fat, but could be good in a mix. If you don't mind breaking up the dog food, they have a couple of good ones that would be fine to use as well, with lower protein & fat. http://www.canagan.co.uk/chicken.html and http://www.canagan.co.uk/light-senior.html There's still more filler veggies than I'd like, really, but at least meat is half of the food, and I prefer veggies over grains, especially corn. Especially for hedgehogs, which do fine with some veggies in their diet anyway. 

Edit: I'm sorry the Recommended Brands sticky isn't much help for you in the UK! I'll take a quick look now & see if I can find any brands that you may be able to look for that would be good. I have two weeks left of my school semester before I'm on break, but I'm planning to expand that sticky once I'm on break and have more time.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Alright, I spent a while searching and finally managed to get a decent UK section done on the http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/12-diet-nutrition/23042-recommended-foods-list.html sticky.  Still have some work to do on a couple new sections and on the US section, but I hope the UK one will help you out! Most of them should be either grain-free or use oatmeal or rice with no corn at all in the ingredients. Although, while searching, I realized that the one you posted here probably isn't too bad at all, so if you do have access to it and want to give it a shot, go ahead.  My biggest concerns are the maize gluten & the meat being such a small amount of the full product. But then, in the USA, they don't include percentages of any ingredients, they just list them in order of most weight, so it can be difficult to figure out how much meat there really is.


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## CashmereSkeleton (Nov 28, 2014)

Wow! Thank-you so much Lilysmommy. I was not expecting such a helpful reply.

After perusing your newly updated sticky, I think I have decided on the Orijen brand. I love the idea of using natural ingredients and there seems to be a high meat content.

You said that the protein level was a bit too high for a hedgie. What happens if a hedgehog's diet is too high in protein? And if you were to use this food for your hedgehog, what other foods would you give as well? http://www.orijen.ca/products/cat-food/dry-cat-food/cat-kitten/?lang=en-uk

I also like this brand http://www.lilyskitchen.co.uk/crunch-nibbles-for-cats-delicious-chicken. They appear to have less vegetable ingredients. I noticed 'Milk Thistle Seed' listed as an ingredient though. I don't know what it is but could it be harmful to a hedgehog? Would it be a good idea to use these two brands together maybe?

Thanks again for your response!


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

I use James Wellbeloved in my mix (together with 2 brands of dog food). It's a different one though, Adult Cat Light (turkey). Not the best food out there like Kelsey already mentioned but I use the higher protein to make the overall protein % of my mix a bit higher, while it still has a low fat % which is needed for some of my hogs. It's hard to get suitable, good quality food here so that's why I'm using dog food as well.

There are some UK members on here they might be able to tell you more about foods over there.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I would definitely choose the James Wellbeloved food over many of the others I saw last night, so like I said, not exactly a bad food either! And I think you chose two of the brands I liked best when I was searching last night! :lol: I think those two mixed together would be great, and if you wanted to at some point, you could even mix in another one around 30% protein. But just those two look fine to me, the protein would average out to 35.5%. 

The main concern with protein being too high with kibble is that kibble is so dry. Dry protein can potentially cause kidney issues because they need moisture to help them process the protein. So it's best to stay kind of low with protein in kibble, but I don't consider it as much of a concern if you're feeding wet food or other natural foods (like cooked or raw meat, live/frozen insects, etc.) since the extra moisture in those foods helps the kidneys out. And the milk thistle is just fine as an ingredient, it's an herb that can help support the liver. I know I've seen it mentioned as being helpful for numerous animals, and I believe it something that can potentially be used with hedgehogs if they develop fatty liver disease. It's not really something that needs to be given without reason, but it's in such a very small amount in the food that I wouldn't worry about it.


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## CashmereSkeleton (Nov 28, 2014)

Wow, you seem to know so much! Maybe you should set up your own business making proper hedgehog food! :lol:

Thank you for your help. I have one last question, would you recommend these foods for a young hedgehog. Younger than 6 months?


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

:lol: I have a friend who's actually looking into doing that! I think I'll leave it to her, it sounds like quite a lot of work, lol. I do love talking about animal food though!  And yup, those two foods together should be fine for a young hedgie. The fat averages out to 16.5%, which is around the medium amount. It should be plenty for your baby to grow and you may just have to look into introducing a third lower-fat food or limiting the Orijen if your hedgie starts to put on a bit too much weight as he or she grows.


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## CashmereSkeleton (Nov 28, 2014)

Thank you so much Kelsey, you've been a real help and I feel much more confident about taking care of my baby now!


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