# Need Help w/ Food Mix



## marissa.peterson (Apr 16, 2015)

Okay, all the percentages and all the info out there is just overwhelming, much less going down the cat food aisle. Rosie is currently on IAMS Adult with Chicken, but I know there's probably better.

Here are the foods I have access to, from the store I'll be working at soon:
Blue Buffalo
Natural Balance
Royal Canin
Nutro Max
Hill's Science Diet
Wellness

If those are all horrible, I can also shop at another store, and get these:
Simply Nourish
Simply Nourish Grain Free
Purina
Purina One
Purina Pro Plan
Nutro Natural Choice
Nature's Recipie
Hills Ideal Balance
Authority
Blue Basics
Blue Freedom
Nature's Variety Instinct
Purina Naturals
Nulo Medal series
AvoDerm
Wellness Trufood

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Natural Balance, Simply Nourish, Nature's Variety, Nulo Medal Series, Avoderm, and Wellness all have decent ingredients. Blue Buffalo does as well, but a lot of people have been avoiding them due to recent lawsuits calling them out on lying about their ingredient quality.

A couple of notes about the above brands - the Source cat foods from Simply Nourish have better ingredients, but also higher protein. Nature's Variety & Nulo Medal Series also have high protein. All of those foods would still be fine, but only mixed with lower protein foods so that the average ends up being around 35% or below. Wellness is a hit or miss one - it causes some hedgehogs to have loose stinky poops, thought to be because it's too rich. Some hedgehogs do fine with it though. And if I remember right, Natural Balance is one that many hedgies have been picky on, though Lily liked it.

IMO, I would go with one of the Nulo Medal Series dog foods (you'll just need to crush the kibble up so it's small enough for hedgie to eat) along with Nature's Variety cat or dog food. If you want more specific suggestions, I would go with the Freestyle lamb dog food, Medal lamb dog food, or Medal chicken dog food with Instinct duck & turkey cat food or Instinct rabbit cat food. The protein % should average out to 35-36%. The fat will be on the high side though (17-18%), so you might need to choose different foods or add in a low fat third one as a bigger portion of the mix to balance them out if she's prone to putting on weight. Since her current food is 15%, if she's doing fine on that, she might be okay with it, but she might also gain too much weight, so it'd be something to keep an eye on.


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## marissa.peterson (Apr 16, 2015)

Thanks so much!

Rosie seems a bit underweight to me, so a little gain probably wouldn't be bad. The vet dismissed it as 'well she's not overweight'.

I'd love to hear if anyone else has input as well!


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## Kazuki7171 (Jul 13, 2015)

How are science diet and ideal balance food? Are they good for hedgehogs?


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