Obesity

[Heavenly Hedgehogs]

Hi,wellllll, it feels like I've been away from this forum for ages, life was crazy busy this summer and fall.

I have a question.. about a month ago I got a call from a woman asking me to take in her hedgehog Clare. When I saw Clare I was amazed at how overweight she was. In all the yrs I have had hedgehogs I have never seen one like her They had her in a cage that was not much bigger than a hamster cage, so all she did was eat and sleep and was rarely given time out of the cage as "they were much to busy"

I immediately put clare in a 3'x2' cage, gave her a wheel and put her on a diet. She also gets time out every day. She doesn't like the wheel, doesn't walk around hardly, so she has lost a little weight but not much. any suggestions?????

Connie

[Nancy]

Glad you're back Connie.

Is Clare a big eater? If so, you can give her veggies to start her night time meal. With luck, she will fill up on veggies and then not eat as much kibble. For those who dislike veggies, that can be a challenge but sometimes they will eat it just because they are hungry.

You can also scatter the kibble around her cage so she has to walk to eat it. Locate her dish as far away from her bed as possible which at least makes her have to walk to get to either.

Go with the biggest cage you have and re-arrange her cage daily. This forces her to have to walk to find things.

I've had numerous fatties and it can be a real challenge to help them loose the weight, just like it is with people. I've also found that even when they do manage to loose, they very often put it right back on. Interestingly, none of my fatties have been big eaters.

[pammie]

im having a bit of a weight problem with my paco i am giving him a small handfull of food each night and he always clears his bowl. i have had him on a diet for over a month the lowest fat food i can find yet he is still putting on weight. he now weighs 700G!
will deffo try the veg idea he will eat anything

[Heavenly Hedgehogs]

Thanks Nancy!!
I hadn't thought of scattering the kibble, I'll do that, I'm sure she'll thsnk you for the forced exercise lol. Makes sense though. She isn't a big eating but does like carrots and peas so I'll try that too.

Connie