Quills, Quills, Quills.

[aesthetics]

Okay. So what exactly are the different aspects of quills? One of my hedgehog's has quills that are both easily flexible, and he also has some that are a bit harder to bend, which is normal, right? But today I found a quill that snapped when I bent it. It was a larger one, so I'm not sure what happened... I took a look at him and the other quills, and they seem normal.

Why would it be hard to bend? It appears to only be around the band where it's hard to bend, and where it snaps, there in the middle it appears to be a bit thicker, and white.

Could this be a temperature thing? Seasonal? He doesn't have dry skin.... Nothing around his quills...

[Nancy]

Quills should not snap when bent. Usually they are very difficult to get to break and have to be bent back and forth repeatedly. Brittle quills is often a nutritional deficiency or illness or stress related. If he is not loosing quills and this brittle one was a random thing, I wouldn't worry too much yet. What foods are you feeding him? Perhaps he needs something more in his diet.

[aesthetics]

I thought maybe the quill was frozen, or cold, or something. But it could be stress related --

I feed him a high protein (30+%) diet, and a few sparing mealies on the side. In summer he used to get banana, and strawberry (which he'd annoint like mad), but because of winter he really hasn't been getting a good variety... I could fix him an egg or something, but anyway --

Someone in my family thought my hedgehog was obese, and nicknamed him "fatty", so I've been trying to cut back in his kibble amount, and perhaps too drastic. I used to fill up his bowl, so he'd run on his wheel, and run over to the food, eat, drink, and get right back on. But since I kinda put him on a "crash diet", I only gave him about/around a tablespoon of food daily.

He's not terribly fat, but he doesn't roll into a tight ball unless I play around with his forehead quills while holding him in his ball form.. :/

[nikki]

what kind of food are you feeding him? brand etc, also what is the percentage of fat in it? Its not recommended that you ration their food, if they need to lose weight its healthier to give them a lower fat cat food and hiding some around their cage so they have to look for it. As long as he can roll into a ball when you make him do it, he's not overweight.

[aesthetics]

Originally Posted by nikki

what kind of food are you feeding him? brand etc, also what is the percentage of fat in it? Its not recommended that you ration their food

I feed my hedgehogs a high protein, low fat mix. It's a two meat, one meat meal food - and is in the Whiska's brand. 35% protein, 10% fat min. It also has great levels of calcium, and fiber.

I read from a breeder on here in a thread, that hedgehogs don't need more than a tablespoon of kibble daily, hence that approach rather than filling his bowl to the brim.

[Hedgieonboard]

I'm not 100% because I can't find the post where that was said but is it possible the breeder that said only a table spoon might have meant it as a good size for a treat? Like a tablespoon of baby food or something similiar as an occasional treat? About the Whiska's food brand I think I remember hearing that even though it has meat as the main ingredients that it doesn't stand up against the other tests like not having carcinogenic chemicals or meeting the protein and fat % requirements. I looked through a bunch of cat foods when researching what I would feed my hedgie and I really did find that the list that was compiled on this site had the best options on it. All the stuff I read on here about the different things to look for made me even look harder at what my dog was fed as well and he got a new food as well after talking over my plans with the vet lol

[aesthetics]

Originally Posted by Hedgieonboard

I think I remember hearing that even though it has meat as the main ingredients that it doesn't stand up against the other tests like not having carcinogenic chemicals or meeting the protein and fat % requirements

I did look at the list, and the brand has a lower fat minimum than the 15% allotted. Whiskas, which is owned under Mars, Inc. manufactures all the Royal brands, and Pedigree, as well.

Carcinogens in some pet food include Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), Propylene glycol (also used as automotive antifreeze) and Ethoxyquin. The FDA/CVM requires all pet foods in the US. Information for Consumers bulletin, on their site: "the Center for Veterinary Medicine is responsible for the regulation of animal drugs, medicated feeds, food additives, and feed ingredients, including pet foods... The Act does require that pet food be truthfully labeled."

What people should be concerned with are wet cat food, as that contains raw preservatives such as Ethelyene Oxide. Most carcinogens are also in coloring, such as chromiums.

The most serious case of carcinogens actually came from a "natural" cat food: "Petcurean and Pet Food Express touted the high-priced Go! Natural pet food as a premium product that was one of the 'healthiest pet foods in the world.' We believe the evidence will show, as alleged in the complaint, that Go! Natural contained substances toxic to animals and this is why so many pets have died." It killed 13 dogs and cats.

And, after looking on the FDA website, it appears that the Nutro brand was reported as under investigation earlier this year.

^ Just stuff I took the time to look up.

[Nancy]

Whiskas is a CRAP grocery store brand and is not a healthy diet for any animal.

[LizardGirl]

I absolutely agree with Nancy. I would never feed any of my animals, heck, not even my crickets Whiskas. I rate them down with Friskies, 9 Lives, etc. Some of the worst stuff you could feed.

[Hedgieonboard]

If you found a Whiskas Brand that met all of the food recommendations then that is great because I was unable to. What I meant with my post was that in my search for a good food none of the grocery store brands held up to what I was looking for. I see above you posted a lot of information about the chemicals and that pet food makers didn't have to post them but from what I remember the grocery store brands had Ethyoxylin, BHA and BHT clearly posted in the ingredients list of the ones I reviewed and therefore automatically went off of my list of possibilities. The ones that didn't get knocked off my list for the chemicals got bumped off for having poor ingredients, too much fat, or too high of a protein content. I don't know if you meant that there may be chemicals in the food that we're unaware of, this might be true or might not, but I'm not going to buy one if I'm 100% sure there is because they appear in the ingredients list. I looked through everything because its always more convient to go to the grocery store for a food but the foods didn't make the cut in my eyes. You may use anything you like for yours I was only explaining why I won't use them for mine.