# Wet food only? (long explanation, questions at end)



## autumnh (Dec 4, 2016)

We adopted our hedgie from a friend who could not take him with when he moved. About a month or so after we got him, he seemed to get weaker and have some problems moving. It was over a very short period of time. He was eating fine and running on his wheel, showed some issues the next day but was eating and running. By the next morning he was extremely weak, and wobbly.
We found the only local vet who would see hedgies. The vet said he was underweight and thought it was some sort of organ failure and had maybe a couple days left. 

We took him home, upped his cage temp and switched to some wet cat food we had trying to keep him as comfortable as possible.
Over the next 2 weeks he started gradually improving. When he seemed back to normal, I gradually introduced dry kibble mixed with wet. He still seemed to struggle with chewing so I put it through a food processor, gradually adding a higher percentage of dry kibble. He started picking around any kibble and stopped eating the usual quantity. I tried backing off on the kibble, but he was still ignoring most of his food until it dried out and wouldn't eat more.
We switched back to only wet food and he's been just fine for the last months. 

A (non-hedgie) vet friend though it was possible he was ill and was losing ground until he was so weak. The warmer cage and soft food let him recover enough to get better.
At one point in there he lost a molar. Which doesn't seem unusual based on other posts I've read, but he is still preferring wet food only. I don't know if it was the tooth, the illness or just a picky eater.


My question is if it is a problem to feed only wet food? What brands or better/worse, what should we look for in ingredients?
At this point we have been feeding Sheba, with a variety of flavors mostly pate, but he will also eat the shredded if I make a mistake and pick up the wrong type.
Is the variety good or bad? He will eat the meat and meat/veggie flavors. We having offered any fish, mostly because it seemed weird that a hedgie would go fishing, lol.
Should we be offering different brands to hopefully make up for any deficiencies that may be in one or another? Avoid certain meats or flavors?
He is still eating just fine, running most of the night on his wheel, enjoys being held, etc. Still hates bath time 
I'm just concerned about long term dietary needs.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Did the vet check his teeth or do any tests to determine what might be going on? I'm a little skeptical of their reliability, given the inaccuracy of their comments and if they just tossed that guess out without doing anything to check first. At the very least, I would really suggest making sure someone does a thorough check of his teeth, and possibly x-rays, to make sure there isn't something bigger going on with them.

But it's fine to feed only wet food. Here are a couple stickies that have info on what to look for ingredients-wise and some good brands to look at - http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/foru...3034-beginner-s-guide-hedgehog-nutrition.html and http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/foru...d-may-2016-recommended-dry-cat-food-list.html One note - IMO, you can be a little more lax with DMB protein content of wet food than with dry food. There's more moisture to help with processing the protein & wet foods also tend to have better ingredients than dry foods of the same brand since they don't need to have as many carbs. There's info on getting the DMB percentages here - http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/12-diet-nutrition/19-soft-food-recommendations.html

Variety is good, IMO. Different flavors provides good enrichment and then you're not stressing even more about getting one specific flavor of a food to keep up with a picky hedgehog.

You don't have to offer different brands, but like with dry food, it's probably not a bad idea to do so, in case of sudden recalls or unavailability of the food. None of the brands should really be deficient - yes, it occasionally happens & results in recalls, but all commercial cat & dog foods are required to be balanced in the essential nutrients.


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