# Best way to crush up kibble?



## shaelikestaquitos

So if you guys have not read my previous post, Kashi has had some trouble with his kibble (he's been getting them stuck to the roof of his mouth) so for the past week or so I have been dutifully crushing them up every night before giving it to him.

My sister just picked up a huge bag of NB today and so I decided this time I would crush up a large amount of kibble for Kashi and put it in a tupperware... This proved to be harder than I expected :evil: 

It took me like half an hour using my butter knife + a ziploc bag (I use the hilt to crush them up) to get about 95% of the kibble crushed up... so I'm looking for better ways to do this. Suggestions?


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## Puffers315

Zip lock bag not zipped fully closed and a hammer.  Not sure how hard you'd have to hit, might not be a thing to do if you're in apartment late at night.


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## shaelikestaquitos

Puffers315 said:


> Zip lock bag not zipped fully closed and a hammer.  Not sure how hard you'd have to hit, might not be a thing to do if you're in apartment late at night.


 :lol: My mom actually had to tell me to stop with the banging because it's past midnight right now and apparently I was making too much noise, even with the butterknife >_>"

The only thing I'm worried about is that I've produced tons of crumbs/kibble powder from even using the hilt... Seems like such a waste (this is the frugal Asian in me talking :roll I wonder if I could use that for something else?

Plus, again, with the hammer there's just so much space to cover. I wonder if I could use a rolling pin or something instead?


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## LizardGirl

I cut every single piece of kibble Inky eats into 2-4 pieces.  Just get a dedicated pair of small scissors (I like sewing ones since they are sharp) and literally cut the kibble in half once or twice. It makes the pieces nice and small without turning them into dust.


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## Hedgieonboard

If you have a plastic cutting board you can put it over the kibble and then put a heavy book on it and kneel on them. It will bust them without too many crumbs and not much noise. The cutting board would keep the book from being damaged from kibble that would press into the cover.


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## schmelderz

Would using a mortar and pestle be easier?


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## PJM

I'm glad you've posted this Shae. We recently realized that Zoey doesn't have many teeth & the ones she has are really worn. I've been giving her moistened kibble, but also need to give her some hard kibble crushed. I like some of the ideas.

I was planning to do what I do with nuts when I bake. Put them in a large ziplock bag & hit lightly with a rolling pin. Haven't tried it yet though.


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## Nancy

Using a rolling pin will give small pieces and crumbs too. I usually use a sharp knife blade and push down on the kibble to break it. It still gives some small pieces but not as many. Lizards scissor idea would work as well although I've never tried it.


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## chaos_emerald

Emmy's jaws are too weak to crush normal kibble now, too. I bought a pill crusher for her food. You just don't grind it until the food is completely crushed. After one or two grinds most are broken up and there's only some dust. Good thing about it is you can do more than one piece of kibble at a time. It's worked so far, she has no problems with it.


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## HedgeMom

There is a difference between breaking kibbles to make it easier to eat and preventing choking and crushing or grinding kibbles to use in a soft diet. PJM, check the archives for soft diet suggestions. There isn't any reason that a hedgehog must have hard kibbles. Hard kibbles are not cleaning teeth; in hedgehogs they actually contribute to premature wear. 

To break a large quantity of kibble, put down a layer of plastic wrap, spread kibble out in a single layer, put another layer of plastic wrap and then grab the heaviest skillet in the house. Lay the skillet on the kibble and just push down until you hear the kibbles break. Most will break into two or three pieces, just pick out the ones that didn't break, dump the rest in a baggie and continue until you have a goodly amount broken. 

If you need to crush kibble to use it to dust a new food, a coffee/spice grinder works the best and gives the most consistent grind. If you're using it to feed a soft diet, soak the whole kibbles and then run them through the blender to make a smooth, lump-free food.


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## silvercat

HedgeMom said:


> There is a difference between breaking kibbles to make it easier to eat and preventing choking and crushing or grinding kibbles to use in a soft diet. PJM, check the archives for soft diet suggestions. There isn't any reason that a hedgehog must have hard kibbles. Hard kibbles are not cleaning teeth; in hedgehogs they actually contribute to premature wear.


I was under the impression that too much soft food such as wet cat foods was hard on the digestion and liver?


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## HedgeMom

silvercat said:


> I was under the impression that too much soft food such as wet cat foods was hard on the digestion and liver?


No. Wet cat foods are 75 to 90 % water, which is neither hard on the digestion nor on the liver. Hedgehogs with dental issues thrive on a homemade soft diet.

The only digestion issue occurs when an anorexic animal is suddenly offered nothing but wet food. The sudden change in diet can cause diarrhea, just as if you suddenly switched kibbles.

If you use the typical recipes on this forum to create a soft diet, you'll find that they are nothing more than the daily foods fed in a wet form. I use the kibbles the hedgehog is used to, a jar of baby food meat, a jar of pumpkin, low sodium broth and ground insects. The higher fiber from the pumpkin and the slightly higher protein aid in proper digestion and keeping weight on an elderly or ailing hedgehog. Extra protein is required by older animals (and people) because they easily lose muscle mass when ill.


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## PJM

Thanks for the suggestions Hedgemom. Looks like I'm going to be playing in the kitchen this afternoon!  
Sorry for the side-track Shae!


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## RalphsMum

I was crushing Ralph's bigger kibble with the back of a fork...but it hurt my thumb!
....and i discovered he doesn't like to eat anything too too small, like the kibble crumbs..
So currently i am using some kind of "large heavy screw" - best way to describe whatever the heck it is...anyhoo, i use the large flat end to hit each kibble and it works quite well by breaking the kibbles into 2-4 pieces. I do like the crushing a large amount with a skillet idea.....


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## silvercat

HedgeMom said:


> silvercat said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was under the impression that too much soft food such as wet cat foods was hard on the digestion and liver?
> 
> 
> 
> No. Wet cat foods are 75 to 90 % water, which is neither hard on the digestion nor on the liver. Hedgehogs with dental issues thrive on a homemade soft diet.
> 
> The only digestion issue occurs when an anorexic animal is suddenly offered nothing but wet food. The sudden change in diet can cause diarrhea, just as if you suddenly switched kibbles.
> 
> If you use the typical recipes on this forum to create a soft diet, you'll find that they are nothing more than the daily foods fed in a wet form. I use the kibbles the hedgehog is used to, a jar of baby food meat, a jar of pumpkin, low sodium broth and ground insects. The higher fiber from the pumpkin and the slightly higher protein aid in proper digestion and keeping weight on an elderly or ailing hedgehog. Extra protein is required by older animals (and people) because they easily lose muscle mass when ill.
Click to expand...

I don't want to hyjact this thread and if it's too off topic, will happily create a new thread. Do you have any suggestions on how to 'promote' wet food? I tried to give Annabell a treat of wet cat food tonight but she had no intrest past smelling it. I've tried a couple times & always the same response. I tried leaving it near her to smell it to become interested, putting it on the 'treat' spoon so she knew it was food, setting the dish near her regular food, mixing some of the regualar hard kibble in with it. For the last, she just picks her regular kibble out.

I'm okay with saying if she doesn't like it, she doesn't like it. My concern is if there is ever a health issue (say dental) in which we need to switch to wet food. If I needed to make such a switch, I would like that she already was familiar with the wet food (even as only a treat) and 'knew' it was food.


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## KimchiTheHedgehog

I crush the kibble with my hand what i do is "rip" it into smaller pieces or soak them in clean water just for a while then "rip" it.


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## LizardGirl

> Do you have any suggestions on how to 'promote' wet food?


If you are just softening the regular food, you can try adding a little bit of wet food mixed in... the Wellness Pouched foods have chunks and gravy, and I can usually get Inky to eat all his softened food by adding some of that gravy. He'd die for it.  If you can find a soft food Annabell likes, that might work.


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## SweetLittleFarm

The breeder we adopted Zeek from grinds the food for all her hedgies. She's been raising hedgehogs for many years and found that no matter which food she used she would eventually end up with broken teeth. About two years ago she started grinding the dry kibble and hasn't had any problems since. I don't have a large grinder that can grind cat food like she does, but I use a coffee grinder instead. Every two weeks or so I grind a few cups worth and store in a small plastic recycled Folgers coffee tub. I pulse the grinder about 10x each time it's loaded. It isn't quite to a complete powder/dust and there are still a few little "pieces" but for the most part they are ground fairly well. Takes me less than 5 minutes to grind it all and lasts for a couple weeks. This has worked very well for me, food stays fresh with the plastic lid and I can very easily fill his food dish each night. I like not worrying about choking or teeth breaking.


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## Little_Hodgins

I found it really easy in just crushing the kibble with a spoon every night. There are no loud noises and it doesn't take longer then three minutes.  But for the whole bag I would say using a ziplock bag. Zip it closed partly and use a rolling pin, roll it over the kibble in the bag. That way it doesn't turn to dust and the kibble is all bite sized pieces.


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