kathyjacks

Hi , I am doing research on caring for a hedgehog. We are planning on getting one as a pet in a few months after learning as much as we can. I am very interested in the hedgehog diet and have been able to find very little specific information on the subject. Can someone give me a list of meats, fruits, other human foods and then I know cat food and hedgehog food are also options. I am wondering if a mix of these wouldnt' be a nutrient rich diet for a hedgehog. Can someone elaborate on this?

redrose

List and Breakdown of Most Readily Available Dry Cat Foods that are
High Protein / Low fat Formulas, Suitable for African Hedgehog Diets:
These Products use Two Meat sources as their primary ingredients:
Innova Reduced Fat Cat
Innova Senior Cat Food Dry
Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul Light
Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul Senior
These Products use One Meat source as their primary ingredient:
Wellness Super5Mix Lite Formula
Premium Edge Adult Cat "Healthy Weight" Weight Reduction & Control Formula
BLUE Spa Select Lite Cat Formula
Solid Gold Katz-N-Flocken
Natural Balance Venison & Green Pea Formula
California Natural Herring & Sweet Potato
Newman's Own Organics Senior Cat Chicken Formula
Evolve Senior/Lite Formula
Pet Promise Healthy Weight and Aging
by Nature Organics Chicken Formula Dry Cat Food
Castor & Pollux Natural Ultramix Indoor
PetGuard Organic Mature Cat Food
These products use a Meat Meal as their primary ingredient:
Eagle Pack Cat Less Active
Felidae Platinum Diet Formula
Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Weight Management
Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Indoor Adult
Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Senior Cat Food
Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Indoor Senior Cat
Natural Life Feline Adult Formula
Lick Your Chops Senior Dry Cat Maintenance Formula
Royal Canin Feline Nutrition Indoor Light 37 Formula
Royal Canin Feline Nutrition Indoor 27 Formula
Products using Meat by products, Grains, or Vegetables as their primary ingredient are not listed.
All products listed are 100% natural.
All products listed report less than 15% Fat (min.) content.
Always check all ingredients carefully in these or any commercially prepared foods.

By someone on chins n quills

redrose

Hi Kathy,

High Quality Kibbles:

*Blue Buffalo
*Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers Soul
*Eagle Pack
*Evolve
*Felidae
*Innova
*Natural Balance
*Nutram (Canadian Food)
*Royal Canin USA
*Wellness
*Wysong

Mediocre Kibbles
*Most Purina
*Nutro Max Cat

Junk (aka Dont Even Bother)
*Fancy Feast
*Special Kitty
-Pretty much anything you can buy at Walmart, Safeway etc.
__________________
List by PrettyHate of chins and quills

redrose

yet another list by Nancy from chins-n-quills.com

** DO NOT FEED **
Vitakraft hedgehog foods
Pretty Pets brand
Brown's brand

-------------------------------------------------------------------
EXTRA FOODS, Treats: tablespoon daily (remove treats food daily

FRUITS & VEGGIES
apple (small bits)
banana
banana (thin sliced)
beans
bell pepper
blueberries
blueberry
carrots (cooked)
carrots (cooked)
corn (cooked, small amounts only)
grapes (chopped, seedless or remove seeds)
peas (cooked)
potatoes (mashed)
strawberry
sweet potato (cooked)
melons (honeydew, watermelons, etc)

BABY FOOD
various fruits and veggies
chicken and gravey
beef and gravey
baby food sticks
meat & veg baby food
applesauce

MEATS: always cooked and in moderations
(most any cooked, unseasoned meats)
beef
chicken
fish (broiled salmon, etc)
gound beef
pork
turkey
[color-red]DO NOT FEED CANNED OR PROCESSED MEATS[/color]

OTHERS
tofu
rice
wet cat or dog food (read labels first)

-------------------------------------------------------------------
SPECIAL TREATS, 2-3 times a week only
cottage cheese (modertions)
crickets
hard boiled egg whites
meal worms
regular cheese
silk worm
small amounts of cheese
yogurt (plain lowfat )

-------------------------------------------------------------------
** DO NOT FEED **
Vitakraft hedgehog foods
Pretty Pets brand pet food
Brown's brand pet food

avocado
canned or process meats
chocolate
cow milk
heavily processed foods
hot dogs
onions
outside bugs
peanuts
potatoe chips
raisins
raw eggs
raw meats

Last edited by Nancy : 09-19-2006 at 07:31 AM.

redrose

Hi Kathy,

I guess I really gave you a lot of info to digest but its better to know what hedgies eat before you buy one. Mine mostly eat very high quality kibble(dry cat food) as listed in my second list and a few mealies 2-3 times a week. Nature's Variety ....Prairie Chicken Meal & Brown Rice Medley seems to the favorite one here..... check out www.hedgehogvalley.com that a site by Tig a USA breeder in Kansas....I have one of her male hedgies and I would have to say she has one of the best quality hedgehogs around.

Red from Canada

kathyjacks

Thanks so much redrose! Thats is the exact information I was looking for and I am so glad you threw in what NOT to feed them because that was going to be my next question. I definitely want to be prepared before hand , which is why I ended up here. I really appreciate all the information because its all clear and in one place which helps alot. thanks again.

fertmom

I would just like to add that since no one seems to really know what nutrients a hedgehog needs that most hedgehog owners feed a variety of kibbles to try and ensure a wide variety of nutrients and supplement the kibble with a large selection of the other foods listed above. Also if one of the foods is discontinued or recalled you have others to fall back on. Some hedgehogs will hate a food at first, but after offering it a few times (sometimes as much as 10 times) they will then chow down on it. It may be a taste thing or it may be that at that time their body is craving those specific nutrients.

__________________
~Annie~ 1 cat-Miss B.B. and 1 ferret-Toffee
RIP hedgehogs: Prickles, Pepper, Coconut and Nutmeg
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