[Prue]

So I have finally found something other than her kibble that Prue will eat! I just gave her half a teaspoon of my cat's wet food and she gobbled it down right away. I am excited to have found something else that she will eat, but have a few questions.

1. It is called Purina Pro-Plan Veterinary Diets- EN Gastroenteric. I have heard people say that Purina is low quality, but brand name aside, how is this food?

Guaranteed Analysis (Canned)

Crude Protein (Min) 9.5%
Crude Fat (Min) 4.0%
Crude Fiber (Max) 2.0%
Moisture (Max) 78.0%

Ingredients (Canned)

Poultry by-products, liver, water sufficient for processing, turkey, rice, oat fiber, calcium gluconate, fish oil, artificial and natural flavors, guar gum, potassium chloride, carrageenan, salt, magnesium sulfate, calcium phosphate, Vitamin E supplement, taurine, thiamine mononitrate, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, niacin, calcium pantothenate, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, manganese sulfate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, biotin, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, potassium iodide.

2. How often should I feed it? I want to try and feed it to her as much as possible because her diet really could use some nutritional variation and excitement.

3. How much should I feed her? I have no concept of what is a suitable amount, any tips would be appreciated.

 

[Artemis-Ichiro]

Read the sticky for advanced nutrition, I believe that one has the formulas to find the real fat and protein and all info related to wet food.

If you have more questions after that keep asking and the experts will answer.

 

[Prue]

Thanks! I'll check that out now.

 

[Lilysmommy]

As far as wet foods go, it's not fantastic. Goes right along with Purina's usual quality, unfortunately. Poultry by-products aren't a good ingredient, especially as the main ingredient, and menadione sodium bisulfate complex is also a concerning ingredient. You can read more about both & why they're not great to have in a food here - http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/foru...3034-beginner-s-guide-hedgehog-nutrition.html

Personally, I wouldn't want to feed it to either animal. But it's up to you & what you're comfortable with. If you want to feed it, I would go with no more than a few times a week, maybe 1-2 teaspoons. The fat isn't too bad (18% DMB), and the protein is high, but also not bad for a wet food (43% DMB). Just keep an eye on her weight & cut down if it seems like she's gaining too much from it.

 

[hkortokrax]

I feed my little one Blue Wilderness, pretty much the chicken and turkey wet food. He gobbles it up. I steer away from anything containing fish. (I learned that the hard way, but I'm happy that he's not longer a stinky boy!) Not sure if you can get Blue up in CA, but read the stick on nutrition, and make sure there's no fillers, by product of corn, grain, soy etc. and make sure you check the fat and protein %. I give him about a 1/2 Tbsp of wet, w/ a 1/2oz of dry kibble. I found that if I give the right mix of wet/dry ratio, his poops are more solid, and he's less likely to get poop boots from running on his wheel, as he has refused to litter train.

 

[Theobromine]

I'd be wary of feeding hedgehogs veterinary diets since they can be formulated to meet rather specific needs of SICK animals that normal animals do not need. They do make it so that a normal pet can eat it fine without any major consequences, but do remember that this is in the case of the animal species they formulated the food for (i.e. a cat or dog).

Veterinary lines of pet food do have stricter guidelines for making and checking the food before shipping them out so it can be beneficial in this sense... But again, I'd be wary of why the food is recommended to certain patients.

P.S. Even 'Maintenance' foods are not necessarily normal. A lot of veterinary line food for felines labelled 'maintenance' also help to prevent urine crystal formation (which I believe was by maintaining a certain pH level in the urinary tract -> may be good for cats, but we don't know if hedgehogs have the same needs).