# Help! My 11 week old hedgehog has lost his appetite :(



## SiegeRichters (Apr 5, 2012)

Queue Richters, my first pet hedgehog (11 weeks old) has been acting strange for a few days now.  He has gradually lost his appetite. Since the beginning, he has been eating Whiskas Ocean Fish and he really likes munching on them, but things started to change a few days ago. I had been experimenting on a good food tray for him and he has been cautious in eating on the new trays. Now, he ignores his cat food altogether. The thing is though, he really devours his superworms when I offer him some. What should I do? he can't live off supers because they won't have the nutrients he needs. He is starting to get lighter, weaker and sleeps an awful lot. He still has energy to huff and puff on me though. when I let him run around outside his cage, he can still sprint though. In fact a couple of days ago, he was running nonstop testing his new DIY Wheel. 

At this point, I'm not sure if it's because he is quilling, if he's ignoring the dry cat food because he likes his supers more, if it's the stress of travelling, of if it's because of the heat (It's summer time here in the Philippines and the humidity can reach 100% at 30 ºC or 86 ºF ) or if it's something else.

He's been acting a bit sluggish this morning. He ate 3 bits of dry cat food, had 5 supers and took some water. I'm really starting to get worried about him. I hope someone can help me.

Thanks.


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## Guest (Apr 5, 2012)

i would worry he was sluggish and not eating because he is to hot. 86 seems a bit high. also not sure how good whiskas cat food is


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## SiegeRichters (Apr 5, 2012)

Quillzmom said:


> i would worry he was sluggish and not eating because he is to hot. 86 seems a bit high. also not sure how good whiskas cat food is


Yeah. Unfortunately, he had to endure one of the hottest days we've had. His skin really started getting red.


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## DasIgelPoggie (Oct 21, 2010)

During the hot summers with my hedgies, sometimes I'll put a piece of tile in their cage with them. They like to "splat" on it with their belly up against the surface, it seems to cool them down a bit! I have also had success with bribing hedgies to eat with canned cat food, and sometimes I've gotten them to eat a bit by putting about 15 kibble in with 5 mealies (they eat the whole bowl because they get so stoked on the mealies). 

On a side note, I do agree with SiegeRichters-- Not sure how good Whiskas is. I wouldn't change his food until he's eating well again, but maybe once he's feeling better switch him to something with less fillers-- that way he'll get more nutrition with less food and his body won't have to work so hard to process it.


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## SiegeRichters (Apr 5, 2012)

DasIgelPoggie said:


> During the hot summers with my hedgies, sometimes I'll put a piece of tile in their cage with them. They like to "splat" on it with their belly up against the surface, it seems to cool them down a bit! I have also had success with bribing hedgies to eat with canned cat food, and sometimes I've gotten them to eat a bit by putting about 15 kibble in with 5 mealies (they eat the whole bowl because they get so stoked on the mealies).
> 
> On a side note, I do agree with SiegeRichters-- Not sure how good Whiskas is. I wouldn't change his food until he's eating well again, but maybe once he's feeling better switch him to something with less fillers-- that way he'll get more nutrition with less food and his body won't have to work so hard to process it.


I believe it was Quillzmom who said she didn't know how good Whiskas were. But the thing is, I didn't change his normal food. He ate Whiskas the first time I got him and he loved it. The problem started to happen when I tried changing the food dish that he eats in.

Thanks for the Tile tip. I'll give him one so that he'll cool down.

Do you think this is a case of Hunger Strike?


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## DasIgelPoggie (Oct 21, 2010)

Sorry haha misquoted.  I was referring to the quality of the food-- sometimes even the foods they like to eat aren't so good for them. Have you tried going back to the old dishes? If he's simply not eating because he doesn't like the new trays, it's worth a shot to go back to the old ones! 

None of my hedgies have ever just stopped eating because they're mad-- it's always been a reason (something lodged in between their teeth, or they're uncomfortable/sick for some reason, or didn't like the food). The trick is figuring out that reason... it can be quite the game of charades, but just keep tinkering until you figure it out!


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## SiegeRichters (Apr 5, 2012)

DasIgelPoggie said:


> Sorry haha misquoted.  I was referring to the quality of the food-- sometimes even the foods they like to eat aren't so good for them. Have you tried going back to the old dishes? If he's simply not eating because he doesn't like the new trays, it's worth a shot to go back to the old ones!
> 
> None of my hedgies have ever just stopped eating because they're mad-- it's always been a reason (something lodged in between their teeth, or they're uncomfortable/sick for some reason, or didn't like the food). The trick is figuring out that reason... it can be quite the game of charades, but just keep tinkering until you figure it out!


I'll try to do that if he still doesn't want to eat later. His old one's a bit large but hey, if he eats on it then that's fine.

Hmm. how do you suppose I go about doing that.

I just hope he's just tuckered out from yesterday. I guess it was too much stimulation for him. The travel, the heat, the new food bowl.


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## coribelle (Jan 20, 2012)

I don't have a lot of experience in the hedgehog world, but my first thoughts would be the heat. The tile trick is good, and I've heard that putting a bag/bowl of ice on top of the cage helps tremendously as well.
Another thing I would like to add is Whiskas is not a very quality food (it's what we feed the strays around the house, and it's all corn)- he might have stopped eating because it wasn't providing him with the things he needs? If available, I would try to switch to a higher quality cat food, like Innova, Royal Canin, Blue Buffalo, Wellness, or Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul. For the super worms - are you cutting their heads off before you feed them? They have been known to chew through stomachs and such even after they've been eaten, so that also could be causing issues.
I think I would switch back to the old bowls you have, and maybe try to find a different food to slowly add to what you have now so that you can fully transition without upsetting tummies. Hopefully that would do the trick


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## SiegeRichters (Apr 5, 2012)

coribelle said:


> I don't have a lot of experience in the hedgehog world, but my first thoughts would be the heat. The tile trick is good, and I've heard that putting a bag/bowl of ice on top of the cage helps tremendously as well.
> Another thing I would like to add is Whiskas is not a very quality food (it's what we feed the strays around the house, and it's all corn)- he might have stopped eating because it wasn't providing him with the things he needs? If available, I would try to switch to a higher quality cat food, like Innova, Royal Canin, Blue Buffalo, Wellness, or Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul. For the super worms - are you cutting their heads off before you feed them? They have been known to chew through stomachs and such even after they've been eaten, so that also could be causing issues.
> I think I would switch back to the old bowls you have, and maybe try to find a different food to slowly add to what you have now so that you can fully transition without upsetting tummies. Hopefully that would do the trick


I think I'll go with the tile trick. Trust me, ice won't last with the kind of weather we have here in this country. The other 2 hedgies that I'm taking care of don't seem to have problems with eating Whiskas Ocean Fish. The breeder I got him from told me he used to feed them IAMS before I got them. Is that any good? As for the supers, I crush their heads before I give them to Queue because I heard he same stories. One thing I got from a reply in another post was that I, "gotta back off the superworms ... seems like hes holding out for them ..". Which kinda makes sense. I'm just scared that he'd starve himself to death if I stop giving him supers.

Update: He ate a bit more than yesterday and he's drinking a lot of water.I did notice that he tries to chew on the cat food and then spits it out. I wonder if he has gum problems. He also ran on his wheel last night and pooped all over it. If things don't get better after the Easter Break, we're really gonna have to visit the Vet.


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

Try giving him 3 bowls of food when you get the chance.
1 bowl with his normal kibble.
1 food with crushed kibble (not crushed to powder, but broken up into smaller pieces)
1 with soaked kibble (just add water approximately 1 hour before he normally wakes up)

Make sure you know how many kibbles are in each bowl.
Then you can see if he really is having difficulty eating, or just being stubborn.


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## SiegeRichters (Apr 5, 2012)

Immortalia said:


> Try giving him 3 bowls of food when you get the chance.
> 1 bowl with his normal kibble.
> 1 food with crushed kibble (not crushed to powder, but broken up into smaller pieces)
> 1 with soaked kibble (just add water approximately 1 hour before he normally wakes up)
> ...


Good idea! I'll try it later. Thanks!


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## connorshogs (Mar 24, 2011)

Supperworms are no good. Hareder to digest. Also I would switch the food when he starts eating good again. Like royal canin kitten or baby cat.


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## SiegeRichters (Apr 5, 2012)

connorshogs said:


> Supperworms are no good. Hareder to digest. Also I would switch the food when he starts eating good again. Like royal canin kitten or baby cat.


I'm going to try to find that brand in the Philippines. I'm just not sure if it's sold here. Anyways, my hedgie's starting to get better. He was probably holding out for the supers. I gotta control his intake. Thanks for the advise everyone!


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