# Is my hedgehog overweight?



## Lobolita87 (Mar 27, 2014)

Hello everyone! I just got my very first baby, Blakely, back in january. He's almost 19 weeks old now! Lately thou I've notice that he seems quite large and im not sure if its because he is jut a big hedgehog or its because he's getting fat. He eats two tbs a day of Purina Pro Plan adult weight management cat food, as this was the food the breeder used. He also only gets meal worms as treats ever other day as he has refused anything else i try to give him. Is he getting overweight? Am i feeding him too much? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

He does look a little pudgy to me. Personally I'd find a new food. Pro Plan isn't the worst food, but the ingredients are far from great. It does have low fat, but it also has a lot of filler ingredients, so it could possibly still be why he's a little round. There's several stickies that you can look at in the Nutrition forum with brand suggestions & info on what to look for in ingredients and protein/fat percentages. I'd stay with 12% or lower for him.

Does he have a wheel and does he run on it much? How many mealworms do you feed when you do?


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## Lobolita87 (Mar 27, 2014)

He does have a wheel and he'll run on it usually every night but not for long periods of time, and I usually give him 2-3 small ones. Do you think reducing the amout of food he gets just for the time being would help at all?


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I wouldn't do that, personally. Limiting food is usually a very last resort since it's so easy to not give them enough. If they're hungry, behavior problems like increased grumpiness and biting can follow. 2 tablespoons is a pretty normal amount, so I wouldn't guess the weight is due to amount of food eaten. 

Another thing I didn't think about with my first post...He's just getting out of baby stage at almost 5 months. Being a bit pudgy might be related to changing metabolism, or one last growth spurt or something. 

If you want something to work with him on while you're looking for a new food to switch to, you could try introducing him to vegetables. They can help fill him up without providing a lot of fat & such. If he doesn't like whole/cooked ones, you can try baby food - that was the only way Lily would ever touch veggies (and even then, had to be mixed with a meat baby food).


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## Lobolita87 (Mar 27, 2014)

ill try that for sure! Hopefully **** eat it, he's soooo picky when it comes to treats. Ill watch him too because i also just switched him from kitten to adult food about two weeks ago, could there be something to that as well?


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Ahh...yes, that could definitely be why he's on the pudgy side. Kitten foods are almost always quite high in fat & it's usually alright for babies, but with his age, he's starting to reach the end of his baby stage. It's good that you switched him to a lower fat food! It'd just be a good idea to switch to a brand with better ingredients too (or at least mix the two) if you're able to. 

Given that he was on kitten food until recently, I wouldn't stress out too much about limiting food or introducing lots of lower fat treats. You can certainly introduce the treats if you want to give them a try, but being on a lower fat food should hopefully keep him from gaining too much more, and he may lose some weight. If you don't already, it'd be a good idea to get a small digital food scale so you can weigh him weekly.


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## Lobolita87 (Mar 27, 2014)

Yah ill definitly do that! Ill also keep on eye out for some of the brands mentioned in the nutrition threads, hopefully my little piggy will thin out a bit on his own though as well. Thanks so much for your help!


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