# Food frustration, concerned for hedgie's health.



## QuinntonsMom (Aug 11, 2010)

I have the pickiest hedgehog in the universe. He will not eat ANYTHING but Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul. Full fat. He will NOT eat wellness or blue buffalo and he will NOT eat Chicken Soup Light. It is so frustrating because we've spent a ton of money on all these foods and all we're left with is bags of food with 1 tblsp missing and a hedgehog on a fast track to fatty liver disease. Can anyone help please? With the wellness I tried storing it in the bag with his Chicken soup to disguise the smell. I'm really worried about him (though he does run a lot on his wheel so at least I know he's getting some exercise...)


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

ALOT of hedgies will not touch wellness especially the healthy weight. Most big chains will take foods back.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Over the years my gang have all chosen Chicken Soup Lite as their food of choice. If you want him to eat the lite version of Chicken Soup, mix a bit in a container with the regular and gradually introduce it that way. The lite version is the same as the regular but without as much fat so it's not like the taste is totally different. 

Personally, I'd emit Wellness completely. While it is a great food, it does tend to cause some intestinal upset with many hedgehogs. 

Blue Buffalo you can do the same as with the Chicken Soup. Mix a bit of it in a container. It will take on the smell and taste of the CS. What shape is the Blue Buffalo? Sometimes hedgehogs choose a food based on shape.

I wouldn't worry too much about the fat content right now. He doesn't look fat. Does he have a runners body shape?


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

How are you trying the new foods? How long?

Some hedgehogs are extremely resistant to change and it may require quite some time to switch over. If you haven't tried it already, try crushing the kibble he likes into a fine powder, put this in a small container along with some of the new food. Shake the container so that the new food becomes coated in the powdered old food. Then see if he will eat it. Sometimes this is enough to make the new food smell familiar and to get them to try it out.

He doesn't look fat to me in that image. If he is a very active hedgehog you may not need to switch him to a lower fat food right now. I have one now that I have to give regular cat food in order to maintain his weight. If he doesn't eat enough of the higher calorie stuff he drops weight extremely fast.


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## QuinntonsMom (Aug 11, 2010)

He's quite athletic looking, only a little under a half pound or 226 grams, but he's also only about 5 months old.

I've tried sneaking the new food in little bits with his old food. The chicken soup light is x-shaped like the regular, so he shouldn't have a problem there. I think it might be smell. It smells distinctly different even to me and I have a human nose. I gave up on the idea of wellness long ago, but I'll keep trying with the chicken soup light and the blue buffalo. I've been trying for a week today with the light and he still will completely reject it. I even tried keeping his regular food from him and only offering him a few pieces of the light when he was out of his cage (still free-feeding at night, of course) but he ignored it and when I finally gave in and gave him the full fat kind, he ate it like he'd never had food before (even licked up the crumbs and he's the messiest crumbiest little boy ever)


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

Try the crushing to a powder method I mentioned. It can help make the new food smell like the old. 

Another trick is to mix the two foods together in a container and let it sit together for a few days then try the new food again. Sometimes just sitting together is enough to help make it smell familiar.


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