[drpepperheather]

Just a little update on Ziggy. He is now 4 months old, and I took him to his first vet appointment yesterday so that he and the vet could get acquainted with one-another. The appointment went well (meaning he actually cooperated), and the vet said everything looks good.

Well, except for one thing. In the vet's exact words, "He's looking a bit like a Ho-Ho...but we want him looking more like a Twinkie." In other words, he's rounder than he should be. The vet was really pushing the Pretty Pets hedgehog food and the Hills Prescription diet since they have such low fat contents (I think like 5%), but I do not want to feed either of those to my baby.

So, my plan is to take out all the higher fat foods out of his food mix (the ones with 12-14.5% min fat) and stick with just the lite cat formulas. So, his new mix is made up of Blue Buffalo Weight Control, Wellness Healthy Weight, Innova Low Fat, and Natural Balance Reduced Calorie. He only gets about 5-10 mealworms a week as a treat, so I really don't think that treats are the problem. Plus, he has a fairly large cage to explore, and runs on his FS wheel every night.

Is there anything else I should be doing? I am still planning on free-feeding him the cat food since he's only slightly overweight, but I can start to limit kibble if necessary. I just don't want him to get too overweight, since I hear that it can be really hard to get them back down once that happens. I mean, the vet said that he is only slightly overweight, and at the appointment when he was being poked at with the back of a pen (sigh) I saw that he for sure can still roll up into a complete ball. But anyways, I figure it's better to prevent a problem now then try to fix one later...

 

[LizardGirl]

Reducing the fat in the food as well as feeding less mealies are the best things (IMO) to do. I wouldn't limit kibble, especially as he is still young and growing.

If the vet was pushing Pretty Pets, he probably wasn't educated enough to know whether Ziggy is overweight or not in the first place. :? I would look into finding a better vet. They don't necessarily have to be experienced, just willing to learn.

Good job to Ziggy for cooperating!

 

[Nancy]

At 4 months old he is still growing and his structure may catch up to his weight. Don't limit his food but you can add cooked veggies as treats rather than mealies. Also encourage as much activity as possible.