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Input on this food?

4265 Views 20 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  KathyS, 
K
Newbie here! :D
I was looking at Naturals, with Vitamins and Minerals by Cat Chow. I normally don't use this for my cats, but was browsing what I can get them that works for our new hedgie, Puck also. It says the protien is 38% and the fat is at 13%. But chicken meal is the first ingredient.

There is also Iams Natural with Chicken, first ingredient is chicken, but the protien is at 33% and fat at 15%.
I have looked at the list posted, but I wan't sure if these would work also.

We just got Puck and he was being fed Iams Proactive Health with chicken, first ingredient is chicken, with 33% protien and 15 % fat. He seems fine on it, so I really don't know IF we should switch anything. Any input is welcome! Thanks! :)
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SnufflePuff said:
hedgielover said:
The thing with those bad foods is that an animal may seem fine on the food for ears and then develop kidney problems and die. It's better to do everything so the animal thrives instead of just seems fine.

A good rule of thumb when buying foods is stay away from any brand you can buy in the grocery store or wal-mart etc. Iams, Whiskas, Science Diet, Eukanuba etc. They are all bad and even if they have natural varieties that look better they usually are not better by much.
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Just wanted to point out that Hill's Science Diet is actually one of the best pet foods (for cats and dogs) on the market (besides veterinary brand food only sold in clinics) and is absolutely not sold in grocery stores. In fact Science diet's manufacturer Hill's is who makes the much-used A/D cat food that we often syringe to our hedgie friends when needed.
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Hills makes two lines of food, their veterinary line called Hills Prescription Diet that can only be bought at vet clinics or in the vet area at pet stores, and their crap line called Hills Science Diet. Science Diet IS a crap food as it contains by products and corn.

As for the original post - those foods are not the best. I would recommend Royal Canin. Use the Baby Cat formula for hedgehogs under 4 months, and the indoor 27 adult fomula for adults over 4 months. When you look at the nutritional content you want a food with 30% protein (37 is a bit too high) and 15% or less fat. Avoid any food with animal by-products, corn, corn meal, or corn gluten in the first 5 ingredients. Meat meals are good, don't confuse them with by-product meals.
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Meat and meat meals are excellent sources of protein. Legumes like green peas are also sometimes used as a protein source, these are fine. Basically, to find out if a food is good or not, you want to follow these rules:
1. No corn products (corn, corn meal) in the first 5 ingredients. If it's lower on the list it's okay. Corn gluten and corn gluten meal are not as indigestible so it's okay if it's after the first 3 ingredients.
2. No animal by-products int he first 5 ingredients. Lower on the list is probably okay.
3. Make sure it has at least some Taurine which is important for eye health
4. For baby hedgehogs (up to 4 months) you want a cat food or dog food with about 30-35% protein and 15-20% fat.
5. For adult hedgehogs (over 4 months) you want a cat food or dog food with about 30% protein and 15% or less fat. If your hedgie is a runner and has trouble keeping weight on then you could increase fat intake up to about 20%. Most hedgehogs need 12-15% though.
6. If you buy dog food crush or cut the kibble into smaller pieces or buy a small dog breed dog food.

I recommend Royal Canin Baby Cat 34 for hoglets and Royal Canin Indoor 27 for normal adult hedgehogs. The ingredients are good, it's found in most pet shops, it's not terribly expensive, and it meets these criteria.
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