Vern's Bodegas Blend, A soft food diet
- Many people avoid soft foods thinking they cause teeth to build up more plaque and have problems faster. This is a myth though - soft foods don't cause any more problems for teeth than dry food does. Dry food ends up just as sticky once chewed up and mixed with spit.
- Some hedgehogs actually need softer foods, if they've lost teeth or if they're older and have a weaker jaw.
- There are several ways to offer softer food to your hedgehog. All have their issues to consider and you'll have to decide which will work best for you and your hedgehog. Look at the posts below to see some of the different options.
- If you're looking for canned cat foods for treats or a diet, make sure you calculate the dry matter basis (DMB) percentages for protein and fat - the percentages listed on the label don't account for the extra moisture in the food, and the protein/fat recommendations for hedgehogs are based on DMB percentages. Canned cat foods often have higher fat and protein amounts, so you'll want to choose carefully, especially if you plan on using it as the main diet for your hedgehog. You can calculate DMB percentages with these two calculations:
100% - moisture content = dry mass %
(fat or protein %) / dry mass % = dry mass (fat or protein) %
Example: Innova Canned Cat & Kitten Food
Protein: 11%, Fat: 7%, Moisture: 78%
100% - 78% = 22%
Protein: 11% / 22% = 0.5 = 50% protein
Fat: 7% / 22% = 0.318 = 31.8% fat
So this food is actually very high in both protein and fat, and would only be good for an occasional treat, but NOT a regular diet.
*** Syringe-feeding is often a reason to need softer food, as mentioned below. If you need tips or advice for syringe-feeding, there will be a new sticky coming for that soon, in the Health forum.
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Bodegas Blend,
by Teresa Mills
In the course of rescuing hedgehogs for the past 8 years we've encountered numerous hedgehogs losing teeth or for other reasons needing a soft food diet on a long term basis. Poppy, Nibbles, and now Bodega. We relied on Jeannes magic recipe and various people foods to maintain their diet.
After numerous variations and some trial and error we've concocted a recipe here to add to the menu (to give them a little variety) that is a smashing success with the herd and feel confident making it available for all the hedgehogs in America to enjoy.
The mix:
2 cups cooked shredded/diced/minced chicken breast fillet (or any other cooked lean meat)
2 ½ to 3 small containers of yogurt
1 small container Breakstone's cottage cheese doubles/blueberry (this is Bodega's favorite flavor)
1 medium jar chicken and gravy baby food
1 medium jar beef baby food
These foods can be chopped by hand with a knife and cutting board, or minced in a blender. If you want to add powdered kibble that will work just as well, and there's no reason why mashed mealies or crickets cannot be added to the mix.
Combine ingredients into a bowl and dollop it in ½ tablespoon sized portions into ice cube trays and freeze. When frozen store in the freezer in a Ziploc bag (makes for a nice treat on the warmer days of summer as well).
10-12 seconds in the microwave softens the food and makes a nice meal for the hedgehog, feed 2 or 3 cubes a day; with 1 or 2 still frozen late in the evening for the hedgie to nibble on through the night as it melts.
Substitutions are at your discretion, the base can be any flavor of yogurt the hedgie likes, same for the baby foods.
Bodega seems to be particularly fond of the blend (he cleans the dish every time) in addition to treats of moths and soft skinned bugs, dishes of canned salmon/mackerel/etc picked and deboned , scrambled eggs, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, pumpkin and other foods.
Even our uber picky Keenen the Fierce goes after Bodega's recipe with a gusto we don't often see here.
With Poppy and Nibbles we also powdered the kibble staple in a coffee grinder and mixed it with off the shelf VitaGravy available here at Petsmart.
This recipe makes a fine addition to Jeannes magic recipe for long term maintenance of hedgies needing a soft food diet for whatever reason.
- Many people avoid soft foods thinking they cause teeth to build up more plaque and have problems faster. This is a myth though - soft foods don't cause any more problems for teeth than dry food does. Dry food ends up just as sticky once chewed up and mixed with spit.
- Some hedgehogs actually need softer foods, if they've lost teeth or if they're older and have a weaker jaw.
- There are several ways to offer softer food to your hedgehog. All have their issues to consider and you'll have to decide which will work best for you and your hedgehog. Look at the posts below to see some of the different options.
- If you're looking for canned cat foods for treats or a diet, make sure you calculate the dry matter basis (DMB) percentages for protein and fat - the percentages listed on the label don't account for the extra moisture in the food, and the protein/fat recommendations for hedgehogs are based on DMB percentages. Canned cat foods often have higher fat and protein amounts, so you'll want to choose carefully, especially if you plan on using it as the main diet for your hedgehog. You can calculate DMB percentages with these two calculations:
100% - moisture content = dry mass %
(fat or protein %) / dry mass % = dry mass (fat or protein) %
Example: Innova Canned Cat & Kitten Food
Protein: 11%, Fat: 7%, Moisture: 78%
100% - 78% = 22%
Protein: 11% / 22% = 0.5 = 50% protein
Fat: 7% / 22% = 0.318 = 31.8% fat
So this food is actually very high in both protein and fat, and would only be good for an occasional treat, but NOT a regular diet.
*** Syringe-feeding is often a reason to need softer food, as mentioned below. If you need tips or advice for syringe-feeding, there will be a new sticky coming for that soon, in the Health forum.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Bodegas Blend,
by Teresa Mills
In the course of rescuing hedgehogs for the past 8 years we've encountered numerous hedgehogs losing teeth or for other reasons needing a soft food diet on a long term basis. Poppy, Nibbles, and now Bodega. We relied on Jeannes magic recipe and various people foods to maintain their diet.
After numerous variations and some trial and error we've concocted a recipe here to add to the menu (to give them a little variety) that is a smashing success with the herd and feel confident making it available for all the hedgehogs in America to enjoy.
The mix:
2 cups cooked shredded/diced/minced chicken breast fillet (or any other cooked lean meat)
2 ½ to 3 small containers of yogurt
1 small container Breakstone's cottage cheese doubles/blueberry (this is Bodega's favorite flavor)
1 medium jar chicken and gravy baby food
1 medium jar beef baby food
These foods can be chopped by hand with a knife and cutting board, or minced in a blender. If you want to add powdered kibble that will work just as well, and there's no reason why mashed mealies or crickets cannot be added to the mix.
Combine ingredients into a bowl and dollop it in ½ tablespoon sized portions into ice cube trays and freeze. When frozen store in the freezer in a Ziploc bag (makes for a nice treat on the warmer days of summer as well).
10-12 seconds in the microwave softens the food and makes a nice meal for the hedgehog, feed 2 or 3 cubes a day; with 1 or 2 still frozen late in the evening for the hedgie to nibble on through the night as it melts.
Substitutions are at your discretion, the base can be any flavor of yogurt the hedgie likes, same for the baby foods.
Bodega seems to be particularly fond of the blend (he cleans the dish every time) in addition to treats of moths and soft skinned bugs, dishes of canned salmon/mackerel/etc picked and deboned , scrambled eggs, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, pumpkin and other foods.
Even our uber picky Keenen the Fierce goes after Bodega's recipe with a gusto we don't often see here.
With Poppy and Nibbles we also powdered the kibble staple in a coffee grinder and mixed it with off the shelf VitaGravy available here at Petsmart.
This recipe makes a fine addition to Jeannes magic recipe for long term maintenance of hedgies needing a soft food diet for whatever reason.