# Too hard for little teeth?



## CoxMD (Apr 30, 2010)

Hi there! I've just aquired a male salt-and-pepper named Basil and I went and bought some high quality light cat food for him because he was eating what looked like kitty litter. I've given him a few kibbles as treats, and it seems the kibble is work to chew.

In my pre-hedgehog research, I've leared that many hedgies have teeth problems in my mind perhaps due to hard cat food. Should I moisten the kibble before he eats it as to prevent tooth damage?


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## Free2Dream (Aug 10, 2009)

In my experience (and I'm by no means an expert, lol), a lot of hedgies don't like moistened cat food. You can try it, but my two eat more when their kibble is dry. Perhaps the dry kibble helps strengthen their teeth and gums. 

Are you sure that your hedgie is salt and pepper, though? That's a very rare color. If so, then you're lucky.  They are beautiful.


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

How old is your hedgie?


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

Which brand of food it is?
Just that they come in MANY shapes and sizes.
My boy prefers the flat or triangular shaped kibble, as I guess they are easier to bite.

The Wellness kibbles were small cylinder shaped, so I actually had to crack those in half for my boy to even eat it. 

If yours is the rounder cylinder shaped, you may want to try partially crushing them so that it cracks down the middle in half. See if that would make a difference.


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

Free2Dream said:


> In my experience (and I'm by no means an expert, lol), a lot of hedgies don't like moistened cat food. You can try it, but my two eat more when their kibble is dry. Perhaps the dry kibble helps strengthen their teeth and gums.


I have the same experience with Quigley. He will not touch wet food. Unless it is coming out of a syringe. It's like he doesn't think it's food unless there is something hard to bite onto (kibble or syringe end). When he eats he does really have to crunch the kibble but he doesn't seem to have a problem doing it.


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## CoxMD (Apr 30, 2010)

LarryT said:


> How old is your hedgie?


The man ho owned him previously had him for a year, and he said that he "wasn't that old" when he got him. We're guesstimating about a year and a half old.



Immortalia said:


> Which brand of food it is?
> Just that they come in MANY shapes and sizes.
> My boy prefers the flat or triangular shaped kibble, as I guess they are easier to bite.
> 
> ...


I'm feeding Nutrience Adult Light which are round pucks. Their size is ok, I was just worried about the consistency.


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