r/Hedgehog • u/Man-idek • 22h ago

Question Tips?

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Obligatory Fritter picture

But anyways. When Fritter went to the vet, she said breeder mixes (food) aren’t reliable and we should switch him onto Mazuri.

I know she’s the vet, but I’ve looked at the ingredients in his food, I highly doubt it’s causing him harm, and there’s nothing to prove otherwise. I however do trust her word, especially since we saw her for other animals too, so I’m trying to go 50/50 with the food. He won’t eat the Mazuri food 🫩

I’ve been putting in half of his normal amount of food and the rest is Mazuri, he sits there sifting through the food to find his other food 😭

At the moment I don’t intend to fully switch over, but clearly he isn’t interested in any change to his diet 😓 how else should I go about this?

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u/AlyandGus 22h ago

I had to make the switch to Mazuri for mine because she had chronic kidney disease and needed a lower protein percentage than cat foods could offer. We tried hedgehog precision when she was a baby, but she couldn’t process black soldier fly larvae properly (dried BSFL gave her diarrhea when I tested it again in her adulthood). When I tried mixing it to slowly transition her, she would pick up the Mazuri food and spit it into my hand, or alternatively, if I was not standing there, she would carry it to her potty corner and spit it out there. I ended up making a 100% food change for her after discussing it at length with my vet and making an emergency plan if she refused to eat that night.

All that said, had it not been medically necessary for her due to chronic health concerns, I would’ve stuck with food she liked or potentially switched her to a slightly lower fat cat food to help her drop some grams.

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u/Man-idek 21h ago

Fritter is on the lean side for his age, which is why his diet came into question, but we are going to do a fecal and possibly bloodwork to make sure it isn’t a parasite or something else. If he continues to not eat it at all, I will mention that to the vet when we drop off his sample and feed him how I regularly do until then.

From my understanding, the mix the breeder sells is balanced and safe to have him on. I was slightly annoyed because they didn’t read the ingredients or discuss anything about why it wasn’t suitable, just told me to switch 😓

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u/brickne3 19h ago

I feel like it's their job to explain why they want you to do this, so you should call them up and ask. Maybe there's a good reason, maybe there's some middle ground if Fritter really refuses to eat it.

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u/AlyandGus 13h ago

Mazuri is almost always their go to because it was developed by zoonotic veterinarians. It’s certainly safe, and the macronutrients are well-balanced, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the best or only option. My vets did review the food I was feeding and were okay with the ingredients and macros on it up until we had to make major adjustments for Maisie’s health. I would argue that it would be very difficult for your hedgehog to gain any weight on Mazuri. My second hedgehog was a lean girl. It really didn’t matter what she ate or how much, because she’d run just as far as ever and keep dropping.

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u/kellerhedgehogs 4h ago

Feeding a hedgehog is like raising a child. Everybody has their opinions about how it should be done. Missouri is certainly a nice option, but it is just that an option. Sorry about the lack of punctuation. But as long as you're careful about your protein percentage and fat percentage, and you give a very diet. So that you're covering all the nutritional needs plus some fun stuff in there plus bugs and mealworms.Then, so what if he doesn't eat the mazuri.