# Why Cat food?!? Why not dog food.



## AlexLovesOlive (Jul 7, 2014)

So I have been doing research, why do we use cat food which is SO much higher in fat and lower in fiber than dog food? Not to mention dog food has a higher protein content...Isn't that what we are looking for in the 1st place? Do we just use cat food because that's what we have always used? I was comparing ingredients from the cat vs dog food and the dog food is pretty much the same except lower fat and higher protein and fiber. I was looking for a good food that would give Olive the fiber she needs and cat food has almost no fiber in any of them!!!! Then I was at the store buying the puppies food and since I have been doing so much research for her food was interested in what contents my dogs food had and it was so much better. They eat Blue Freedom which is grain free and the most basic ingredients so there isn't a bunch of added ingredients and the content was much better??? Why do we use cat food? What is the difference?


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## Lady (Dec 30, 2013)

You absolutely can use dog or puppy food!

The only issue is it tends to be bigger kibble, so you have to crush it up to fit hedgie's mouth. As long as the nutritional and ingredient requirements are met, you can use dog or cat food, there is no difference otherwise.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Actually dog food is usually lower in protein than cat food as cats are the ones who need higher protein than dogs. 

Hedgehogs shouldn't have any more than 35% protein. High protein was recommended way back when 35% protein was considered high protein. Unfortunately people still recommend high protein even though cat foods now can have protein levels up to 55% which is way too high for hedgehogs. 

Dog food is actually fine for hedgehogs, but the problem is, even small breed dog food can be larger and harder than cat food and can be more difficult for our hedgehogs to crunch and it can cause premature wearing of their teeth.


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## AlexLovesOlive (Jul 7, 2014)

The dog food I get which is not the cheap kind had much better protein, way lower in fat like in the 5%-8% which is great and 14% fiber and I have not been seeing the fiber in cat food higher than like 4-7% which I thought was pretty crappy. And I have a really nice food processor so I could just pulse it a couple times and it would break it up without crushing it.


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## Lady (Dec 30, 2013)

Sounds great  what food is it?


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

My little girl won't eat crumbs so I can't even think about feeding her dog food since she won't touch them.


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## AlexLovesOlive (Jul 7, 2014)

It wouldn't be crumbs it would just make the pieces smaller and they sell kinds for toy breeds that are smaller than even cat food and there were a bunch of them I like.


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