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Hedgie Help! Underweight Male and Overweight Female - 2yrs old

1K views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  Lilysmommy 
#1 ·
I have two hedgehogs right now about two years old who are siblings. My female is overweight and I am trying to restrict her diet more, but she hasn't seemed like she's losing any weight, my main problem is her brother though. He is about half her size and they get fed the same kind of kibble, I obviously give him more food because I would like him to gain more weight but he seems so much smaller than her and I can't figure out why.

When he is standing regularly he his body is shaped like ||, but when I have him in a ball in my hands he almost seems )( but the top of his body is wider and is almost like a \/, just not as dramatic. It feels so strange when I pick my female up because she is noticably heavier and shaped more like a ball.

I'm thinking about buying my male a different cat food,and keeping my female on the same one. Right now I feed them both Natural Balance and they seem to be liking it, but I can't really track his eating or running habits because he just runs away when I come in the room and turn on the light. I just track how much is missing from the bowl the next day and sometimes I'll see him jump off the wheel after I turn on the light. He seems to be moderately active from what I can tell, but it's kind of difficult. They are in separate cages so whenever I hear the wheels going I try and peek in and see which one is running, most of the time it's my overweight female, but I do catch him quite often, and I'm not sure if he's just running late at night when I am in bed.

I'm sorry I don't mean to be rambling but I am just trying to figure out what I should do here, they aren't that old and they are the same exact age so I don't know why they are so different. Sable and Spike are my babies and I'm just worried I'm doing something wrong here :(

Thank you to anyone who can help I greatly appreciate it!!
 
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#2 ·
It sounds like your two hedgehogs are completely opposites with body types & metabolism, which means they need different foods. Every hedgehog is unique & that includes siblings. :) And as a side note, it's typically recommended to feed a mix of two or more foods to make sure all bases are covered, & to guard against having one food change formula or becoming unavailable due to a recall, etc., which can cause a hedgehog to go on an eating strike (dangerous & stressful for everyone involved). Each of your hedgehogs would need their own mix tailored to their needs.

What specific type of Natural Balance are you feeding them? You need to make sure your female's getting a low fat food - under 12%. Restricting food is not recommended as a first approach to overweight hedgehogs as most hedgehogs don't overeat. The first step needs to be to reduce the fat content of the kibble fed. After that, you can try other measures such as increasing low fat treats/supplemental foods such as crickets, veggies, and low fat meats, and increasing exercise. Food restriction is a last resort.

For your male, he needs higher fat food. It would be a good idea to start actively tracking how much he's eating rather than going by sight. Measure or weigh how much you give him at night, then measure/weigh what's left in the morning to see how much he ate. If he isn't eating much, there may be something going on that may be cause for a vet visit.

If you really want to track their running distances, you can find tutorials on the forum & on youtube for how to hook a bike odometer up to the wheel. :)

(I moved my reply to here & deleted both of our comments on the 6-year old thread.)
 
#3 ·
Lilysmommy I'm sorry I'm still really new to this site and I can't figure out how to do anything lol. I am feeding them the chicken Natural Balance cat food, and I just take a small scoop with my hand for my female and fill the males up to the top for right now because the vet told me to start measuring the amount of food I give her to about 1/8 of a cup. I feel like that isn't enough and I don't want her to start feeling hungry because I don't leave her enough food. Anyway, Is there a brand of food you would recommend to help him gain weight or her to lose some? Like I said before the vet though she had a slight infection because there was redness and discharge coming from her and he thought it was because she's so big that her folds weren't getting enough air, but she can still roll into a ball so I know she isn't too fat. I'm just not sure what to do because so many people are telling me different things that I would rather have someone who knows what I am going through tell me what helped them more. I know that both my hedgies have opposite problems with their bodies, but I go to a small family pet center in RI that sells holistic pet food so if I could get some good brand names I could most likely find them there and then figure out what mixture would work for them.
I've previously fed them wellness cat food but that ended up making their poop too runny so that is when I switched them to Natural Balance and they've been good up until now.

Thank you again!
 
#4 ·
No worries, you're far from the first to post on an old thread! :)

Which specific kind of Natural Balance are you giving? They have numerous different formulas that are chicken-based. The reason I'm asking is to figure out what the fat content is on the one you're feeding. I guess I could've just asked what the fat percentage is instead. :lol: Sorry!

Knowing the fat content would help, but more or less for your female, you just want to go lower fat, if you can. Try to make sure the food still has lots of meat rather than a ton of grains - a lot of low-fat foods have a tendency to do that. It's not a huge deal, just something to avoid if possible since grains don't really help with losing weight, especially for animals that don't need them in the first place. :) The other thing I'd really suggest is to try & get her eating veggies & low-fat insects to help fill her up with nutritious foods that won't add a lot of fat to her diet. Crickets & ****roaches are good low-fat options. If you feed mealworms, I wouldn't give her any, or very few. If she's resistant to veggies, but likes meat, I found that Lily would eat any mixture of baby food as long as there was some meat baby food mixed in. I started giving her a tablespoon or so of mixed baby foods every night. My mixes had 1-2 jars of meat, 3-4 different veggies (usually 2-3 jars, some had multiple veggies), and a jar of fruit. I mixed it all up & froze it in an ice cube tray, then put the cubes in a baggy for storage.

It sounds like she already does exercise a decent amount, which is good. If she doesn't panic at water like most hedgies do, you could give swimming a try. Just be very careful - never take your eyes off her when she's swimming. They can drown very quickly. They should always have access to a place where they can touch down, either a platform or a shallow end of a tub. Start slowly, with only a few seconds of swimming time, then work your way up slowly. Make sure she gets the concept before you leave her unsupported - you don't want her face going under water. If she doesn't like water, swimming wouldn't be a great option & it'd be best to just encourage lots of exercise while she's out for bonding time. It'll probably be a long-term battle to work on getting her weight down, so try not to look for immediate results. Slow weight loss is better than sudden.

There are some brands listed in the Recommended Foods sticky, but there are a lot of fantastic (and better) brands that aren't on that list (yet). The main thing is to look for lots of meat, not a lot of grains or starches, and keep an eye out for ingredient splitting (peas, pea protein, pea flour, etc. all = peas). Make sure the protein is 35% or under as well, and then the different fat percentages for each hog. I would try to get as close to 10% as you can for your girl, or under, and your boy might need 15-18% fat.

If you get two foods for each of them, you can also balance percentages out that way, if you find a better quality food that has protein a bit too high. Check out small breed dog foods, and puppy foods for your boy. Dog food tends to have lower protein than cat food, even among the higher end foods.

It can be quite confusing figuring food out, especially for different hedgies. :) If you need more guidance, feel free to ask! Usually it's just a matter of trying a food & seeing if your hedgie likes it, and finding the ones that will work. Check with the center & see if they'll accept open bags of food that are more than 1/2 full & have the receipt, some stores will. They may also be able to get samples of some foods for you, which is really nice! Also make sure you introduce new foods slowly - one at a time & over a period of 2-4 weeks.
 
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