# Hedgehog booster??



## Amuhlhahn (Aug 8, 2014)

So the other day we were going through the local pet store and saw a hedgehog booster. I looked at the ingredients on it and looked similar to a multivitamin. I was wondering if anyone has used these or even heard of them.


----------



## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

As long as you're feeding a good quality cat food you don't need to add anything. I would be worried that its formulated for hedgehogs just as well as "hedgehog food" is..in other words not healthy at all.


----------



## GoodandPlenty (Feb 4, 2012)

I agree with nikki's thoughts.

......................................................

It's just too risky add a supplement, IMO. If even one of the vitamins / minerals / trace elements is way out of whack for what a hedgehog should have, that could cause serious problems - and you won't know until well down the road.

If only there were a magic supplement for hedgehogs - *but there isn't.* I've done a lot of research on diet - party out of general interest - partly out of necessity. Sophie's diet is a custom blend for health reasons.

For us, the best way to feel some confidence that she is getting everything she needs and getting it in a proper balance is to retain her kibble in a smallish amount (ground with mortar and pestle) and to continue feeding high quality canned cat foods as her primary sources of meats, fat, protein, and a 'proper' blend of all the other essentials. Because she tends to gain weight these days, the energy density is diluted by adding baby food vegetables (healthy filler that lets her eat, but without gaining a lot of weight).

Some folks are all in on natural-food / raw-food diets, *but you need to be very experienced before considering splashing around in that pool.* We have 'straddled' the fence, leaning towards natural-food / raw-food (especially in treats) but limiting risk by relying and well known, proven products that have a balance of all nutrients.

With her last visit, Sophie's vet added some additional chemistry markers to the blood tests to help us get a look at the results of her diet as scientifically as possible. There are limits to what they can test for (unless cost is no object), but the additional markers that we got data for came out looking very good. Protein is a touch high, as is calcium. These things are not a problem (they weren't that high), and they give us a baseline for her.

......................................................

Note: Evidently calcium can bind with protein (in a way I don't understand very well) and a drop in protein percentage might at the same time push down the calcium. There was initially some question if she was picking up the calcium from her high level of vegetables, but that appears unlikely. Root vegetables tend to be low in calcium. Green-leaf vegetables tend to be high in calcium. Other vegetables tend toward 'in between'.

I've assessed her vegetables. She could be getting a bit much calcium from the high percentage that she gets overall in the total diet, but probably not because she isn't getting anything that would be classified as likely to be high calcium. So we will just continue keeping notes that might prove to be helpful later if her situation changes.

.


----------



## Amuhlhahn (Aug 8, 2014)

Thank you both for your info. I thought of the same thing but wasn't sure what others might think.


----------

