# Veggies are a no?



## Novicehedgehoger (Aug 28, 2015)

My breeder informed me that hedgehogs should not eat veggies or fruits, since she use to dissect hedgehogs and even studied them before becoming a breeder. Yet, all I see are post where people feed them veggies and whatnot. So I'm confused about it. I want to believe my breeder since she has a history with them and has even seen how their bodies work internally/externally literally.

(This was in the care sheet I got.) In addition to cat food , hedgehogs need bugs or meal worms in their diet. According to the Journal of nutrition, 
Hedgehogs have enzymatic ability to digest chitin from insect exoskeletons as a dietary fiber source, but they do not 
seem to digest cellulose (plant matter) efficiently. Fiber in the diet is important for proper fat and protein metabolism. 
Therefore, it is important to add at 1 tsp of fresh or freeze dried mealworms or other insects to your hedgehog's diet daily.

*DO NOT FEED YOUR HEDGEHOG FRUITS or VEGETABLES. Hedgehogs can't digest cellulose (plant matter) efficiently. Feeding 
the African Pygmy Hedgehog fruits or veggies can put your hedgehog at risk. A local breeder has a recent 
necropsy report on a hedgehog that died from eating strawberries! The seeds impacted the small intestine, stopped the 
blood supply, and killed the hedgehog. *


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

Hedgehogs are omnivores. 
http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Atelerix_algirus/
They just lean more towards being what once was insectivores. 
Out of curiosity, what foods does she feed specifically? Most cat foods contain some plant matter.

Yes it's possible that seeds from fruit can cause an impaction, if it's severe enough, it can cause death.


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

Hedgehogs lack the cecum, a part of the intestines that is prominent in herbivores and a little smaller in carnivores. It helps digests plant matter. However, they do eat plant matter in the wild, since they are opportunistic omnivores (although most of their diet consists of insects) as has been found through dissecting them and in the faeces of wild hedgehogs. This means they most likely eat fruit, roots, seeds etc. if there is a shortage of other food. Veggies & fruit should be fed in moderation.



twobytwopets said:


> Hedgehogs are omnivores.
> http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Atelerix_algirus/
> They just lean more towards being what once was insectivores.
> Out of curiosity, what foods does she feed specifically? Most cat foods contain some plant matter.
> ...


That link is for a different species, but it should be roughly the same.


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

I meant to add that in my previous post about the link not being for pygmy hedgehogs, my brain wasn't working in full throttle last night that late. It was almost one in the morning.


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## Novicehedgehoger (Aug 28, 2015)

twobytwopets said:


> Hedgehogs are omnivores.
> http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Atelerix_algirus/
> They just lean more towards being what once was insectivores.
> Out of curiosity, what foods does she feed specifically? Most cat foods contain some plant matter.
> ...


oh okay then, thank you for the new information ^^

(Breeder -->) We recommend using Kirkland All stages cat food (available at Costco), Wellness Complete Health 
"Adult Health" (Avaialable at Petco or Petsmart), or Simply Nourish Adult Chicken and Rice (only available at 
Petsmart).


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

Ok, if she truly believes what she is saying, she is contradicting herself. Kirkland food, according to her website contains whole grain brown rice as the 3rd ingredient. Remember ingredients are listed in order by percentage. 
Keeping that in mind, read this...
_Besides energy, rice provides fiber. In this case we must choose the whole rice since most of the fiber is concentrated in the external layers of the grain formed by cellulose. The cellulose cannot be digested and it expelled with the other dragging products from the intestine. 100 g of whole rice contain approximately 1'9 g of fiber. This proportion is 5 times smaller when we speak of white rice. For those inclined to constipation, it is better to eat whole rice because it favors the expulsion of feces.
Source...http://www.botanical-online.com/english/foodpropertiesofrice.htm_


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