# Dog food?!?!?!



## alexdud25 (Oct 31, 2010)

Took my ShadowBaby to the vet today and the vet told me to switch him from Blue Buffalo kitten food to a "low calorie dog food such as science diet".


I have read this message board up and down and have NEVER seen that hedgies should eat dog food. PLEASE tell me if this is correct or if my vet might not know what she is talking about???? 

It contradicts EVERYTHING I have read on this forum by breeders!


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## Sarahg (Feb 18, 2010)

Dog food, in general, is a bad choice. The pieces are usually larger and harder, and I think the protein is usually higher (as in too high, but I'm not entirely sure on that one). The biggest issue is that it's hard for little hedgie teeth to crunch.


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## leaveittoweaver (Sep 25, 2010)

Sarahg said:


> Dog food, in general, is a bad choice. The pieces are usually larger and harder, and I think the protein is usually higher (as in too high, but I'm not entirely sure on that one). The biggest issue is that it's hard for little hedgie teeth to crunch.


That is a big part of it but actually cat food is generally higher in protein. A cat in the wild is pretty much an obligate carnviore where a dog can be more omnivorous and I assume an insectivore would need a diet more like a cat's than a dogs. But that's just my opinion. Maybe someone else will be able to chime in.


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

Good brand of dog food is comparable to it's catfood counter part. As long as the ingredients look ok and the nutritional percentages are in the correct range it's perfectly ok to feed. 

However, like stated above, most dog food is too large and too hard for hedgies to chew and could possibly break teeth that will never grow back. So most people just stick to feeding cat food instead of dog food. I know there's one member here that feeds dog food, I'm just blanking on the name.


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## NoDivision (Aug 29, 2010)

do you mind if I ask WHY your vet suggested this change? The use of the phrase "low calorie" leans me to believe they might be concerned about weight? I just can't really see why they would suggest that... 

Apart from anything else, all the science diet products I just looked at (lite, or diet, for small breeds/small kibble size) all had CORN as the first ingredient, followed closely by "chicken by product meal."

Sorry, sounds to me like your vet has no idea what they're talking about.


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## leaveittoweaver (Sep 25, 2010)

NoDivision said:


> do you mind if I ask WHY your vet suggested this change? The use of the phrase "low calorie" leans me to believe they might be concerned about weight? I just can't really see why they would suggest that...
> 
> Apart from anything else, all the science diet products I just looked at (lite, or diet, for small breeds/small kibble size) all had CORN as the first ingredient, followed closely by "chicken by product meal."
> 
> Sorry, sounds to me like your vet has no idea what they're talking about.


Yeah I forgot to mention, Science Diet is really low quality. At my job we never ever recommend it. Science Diet, Purina, Pedigree, Royal Canin, and Eukanuba are all foods I tend to stay away from. If your vet is worried about weight like NoDivision asked, I'd switch to Wellness HealthyWeight and Innova Reduced Fat.


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## alexdud25 (Oct 31, 2010)

NoDivision said:


> do you mind if I ask WHY your vet suggested this change? The use of the phrase "low calorie" leans me to believe they might be concerned about weight? I just can't really see why they would suggest that...
> 
> Apart from anything else, all the science diet products I just looked at (lite, or diet, for small breeds/small kibble size) all had CORN as the first ingredient, followed closely by "chicken by product meal."
> 
> Sorry, sounds to me like your vet has no idea what they're talking about.


I went in with ShadowBaby having very dry skin and quill lose (he lost 67 quills last week). He isn't quilling and has been treated for mites recently. (Recently as in within the past month). I did all of the recommended measures to insure the mites did not come back.

He is not over weight. He leaves food in his dish every night, he wheels for hours off and on, and is just over 300g.

Based on what I have read here and my observations of him, I assumed he just had very dry skin. I was interested in getting Sunshine Factor (which I did after I insisted upon it). She also gave me Revolution for mite treatment, and a lym/sulphur dip to bathe him in. I do not feel comfortable bathing him in LymDyp until I consulted y'all.

Have any of y'all heard of LymDyp? She said it is used to treat mites and a bacterial infection even though his skin scrap and physical came back inconclusive of either condition...


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## leopardhedgehog (Nov 18, 2010)

leaveittoweaver said:


> NoDivision said:
> 
> 
> > do you mind if I ask WHY your vet suggested this change? The use of the phrase "low calorie" leans me to believe they might be concerned about weight? I just can't really see why they would suggest that...
> ...


I never knew Science Diet was bad. I'd heard it was ok, but you'd probably know better than I would. Anyways, both of my dogs eat Iams dog food which I think is pretty good quality


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## leaveittoweaver (Sep 25, 2010)

leopardhedgehog said:


> leaveittoweaver said:
> 
> 
> > NoDivision said:
> ...


To the OP: I do not know about Lymdip being used with hedgehogs but I have read about it being used with Guinea Pigs. Other than that though I don't know a whole lot about it.

And leopardhedgehog, the Iams is honestly not considered a great quality food either. If you look at the ingredients it contains a lot of corns and grains and also by-products. Even though it's not a hedgehog site, http://catinfo.org taught me a lot about animal nutrition if you're ever interested in doing your own research


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## rivoli256 (Mar 1, 2009)

i feed puppy food or small breed/small bites dog food in my mix...most specifically:

Halo Spot's Stew Puppy
Innova Small Bites 
Solid Gold Just a Wee Bit
Now Small Breed Formula

they are small size - even smaller than some cat kibble & lower in protein & fat than kat/kitten food. this makes it perfect to balance out the other foods i feed - especially since i have an easy keeper (chubster  ), naturally large guy (600g), & a guy with cardiomyopathy who is not very active & does not need to gain weight...but not lose either.

i started feeding dog/puppy food to my 1st hedgie Henry b/c he REFUSED cat/kitten food of any & every kind. i don't know why! :roll: :shock: :roll: could be the same brand, same ingredients...if i offered a bowl of each (& i did), he snubbed the cat food & went for the puppy. so i have always fed puppy food to him. & always included it in my mix for my others.

& we all know i always supplement with probiotics & fresh meats & fruits & veggies.  

side note: as a very young, very small hedgie (less than 200g), Henry preferred GIANT kibble. the larger, the better! :lol: if it was almost too big to fit it his mouth, that was when he was happiest! weirdo. now, he prefers small kibble. the smaller, the better. i can't win! :roll:


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## leaveittoweaver (Sep 25, 2010)

rivoli256 said:


> i feed puppy food or small breed/small bites dog food in my mix...most specifically:
> 
> Halo Spot's Stew Puppy
> Innova Small Bites
> ...


Haha that's interesting. What kind of probiotics do you use? Maybe I should look into that for Sonic.


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## rivoli256 (Mar 1, 2009)

i use BeneBac & now have added in Animal Essentials Probiotics & Enzymes
http://www.jefferspet.com/bene-bac-for-pets/p/4157/
http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Essent...ef=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302628136&sr=8-1-spell

i give my WHS guy BeneBac 2x a day b/c his GI system is a mess...my others get the BeneBac & Animal Essentials mixed in with their food...


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