Weight Loss Plan

[Prue]

Prudence came to me as a 650g lazy adorable lump of double chins and rolls. I could tell immediately that she was overweight, and when my breeder said that she was 650 grams I can't say I was surprised. She also told me that she doesn't really run on her wheel and had lived with a couple other retired females.

My theory is that she was probably eating more than her share of food and had gotten so fat that running was no longer comfortable.

I bought a light Royal Canin cat food and slowly started incorporating it into her food (the breeder had her on Spike's Delie Ultra, which I thought was too much protein and fat for a hedgie her size). It is now a 50/50 blend of both foods(I feed 1 tablespoon). A couple weeks ago Prudence started running on her wheel, and it is now dirty every night. She comes out for a run in the playpen every night. She has totally changed from the hedgie that preferred to just sleep.

Since I adopted Prue she has gone down to a steady 600 grams. I would still love to get her down to 450-500 or so, but was wondering if anyone had any recommendations. I would like to incorperate a third food, is there a brand that works best? Also is one tablespoon enough? The breeder had recommended that amount, but she polishes it off every night. What is the perfect weight that Ii should aim for?

[Lilysmommy]

Weight will depend on Prue specifically - her body size, length, etc. As she loses weight, you'll be able to see how she's looking and if she's still chubby & needs more off, etc.

It sounds like you've already made some great progress!! I'll see if anyone else can recommend good kibbles, I have a list of some common & easily found brands in the Nutrition section stickies, but I don't feed kibble & I know there are some newer brands now that are also good. But if you let me know what stores you have near you that you can get food at, I could take a look & see what you have available that looks good.

One tablespoon is probably fine for now while you're working on weight loss. If you wanted to up it to 1.5 tablespoons & see if she continues to lose weight with the lower fat food in there, you could also do that. I think 1-2 tablespoons seems to be about an average amount to eat for most hedgehogs.

Another thing to consider trying if you haven't yet is swimming. My friend is a hedgehog rescuer & recently took in a very obese hedgehog. She was also fat enough that she couldn't run on a wheel comfortably & didn't really do much because she was just too big & didn't feel good. My friend started her on a swimming regimen to help her start to lose weight & get to the point where she could run on a wheel again. It really helped a lot & we saw a similar progression in personality once hedgie started feeling much better with less weight to carry around. This hedgie hated water & swimming, so she no longer has to now that she can run on a wheel, but just another idea to try & see what Prue thinks. Just make sure that you watch her very carefully as swimming is very hard work & they can tire very quickly & drown fast if they can't keep their head up or have a place to rest. My friend kept swimming sessions to 10 minutes & watched carefully to make sure there were no problems.

[Prue]

Thanks for the great response Lillysmommy! I will definitely check out that sticky and give swimming a try.

[Soyala_Amaya]

Yep, the Pancake came in at just over 800 grams! She was so fat even moving had to be painful! She is almost down to 600 grams after 2 months, and is a sweet, cuddly baby who loves to snuggle and get belly rubs. She'll be a great pet when I find her a new home!

[Dita-rainblood]

I want to do swiming my hate run on her wheel like I tired everthing she doesn't like it ....how long did you let them swimming for I was gonner do like a few mins a day