Am I feeding Cleo too much?

[Ldy_Icedragon]

Cleo has been gaining a ton of weight! She is around 3 or 4 months old and weighed about 248g a week 1/2 ago, 278 yesterday morning, and 293 today!! She is gaining tons of weight which is good because she was way too skinny when I got her but I'm wondering if I am feeding her too much or if this amount of weight gain is normal. I feed her about half her bowl per night and the majority of it is gone every morning. Let me know what you all think.

~Danielle

[PrettyHate]

What kind of food are you feeding her? and what kind of extras (treats) ?

Most hedgies will not over eat ..they will stop when they have had enough. That is more than I can say for myself! :laugh:

Cleo just might be a full figured girl. Although Im not sure what so called "healthy weight" of a hedgie is, you can tell if she is getting "fat" by seeing if she can still roll into a complete ball. If not, then it might be time for a diet of sorts :)

Also- have you ruled out the possibility of pregnancy yet? Or would she have had the babies by now if she was infact pregnant? I cant remember how long ago it was that you thought she might be.

[Ldy_Icedragon]

Oh she can still roll into a ball just fine. She is far from over-weight but I'm afraid she might be on the path too it. Right now she gets a mix of CSFTCLS and Browns hedgehog food, I just pick the raisins out. I'm trying to find something to replace the Browns food but she won't eat anything else. When I only give her the CSFTCLS she starts sorting through her food bowl looking for the other food. Also for treats she gets the tip of a spoon-full of wet kitty food almost every night. She's usually cranky until she gets her treats. Also I'm sure she's not pregnant I got her on September 22nd, of course I may be wrong because some hedgie pregnancies take longer but I doubt it.

~Danielle

P.S. I have also noticed that her belly drags on the floor when she's not running and it feels very round and full all of the time.

[Moose]

Maybe you can change her treat to something other than a canned kitty food. I know they are highly fattening. Plain cooked chicken or salmon would be healthy and yummy treats for them. How's her 'output'? By that I mean, does she do her business regularly? I'm wondering whether she's constipated since you mentioned her belly feels full all the time as well as weight gain. Oh and if CSFTCLS is not the lite kind, you may want to switch to lite.

[Ldy_Icedragon]

Is baby food an ok treat? If so I'll switch her back to that, she just seemed to like the kitty food better. Also yes she gets CSFTCLS lite and he poo's are normal. At least if you consider huge poo's everywhere normal!..lol

~Danielle

[PrettyHate]

LOL hedgies do have huge poops for their body size! The first time I saw one, I was amazed that such a small animal could make something so big!

Baby food is a fine treat :) If it is some kind of meat baby food, you might consider checking the fat content on it...Im not sure how much is in there. You might also want to give it to her every second night or less, and mix some other things in her diet as well. Fruits and veggies (banana, cooked carrots, peas, squash, mellon,blueberries, strawberries, cooked potato or mashed potato etc) as well as cottage cheese, yogurt, little bits of cheese, hard boiled egg,cooked pasta, tuna, salmon, and fresh cooked meat are all things that you can offer her. I think that one of the key factors in a healthy diet is variety :)

[Nancy]

Hi Danielle
Some hedgies are just low riders and their bellies drag on the ground when they walk. Doesn't necessarily mean they are overweight. Others walk standing full up with nice long legs. Just depends on the hog.

It may take a few days of her not getting the wet cat food or Browns before she will start to like other better quality foods. They tend to like high fat foods better, like kids and candy, they prefer what isn't good for them. :laugh:

[Ldy_Icedragon]

Ok well I'll switch her treats to baby food and try to find something to replace Brown's or just stick with the CSFTCLS. As for low-rider hedgies my first one was so I know what you mean but Cleo has long legs and is very tall for a hedgie. That's why her big belly was so noticeable. Anyways since she's young I'll only do minor adjustments to her diet since she may just be growing but once she's done growing I may have to give her a diet..lol Anyone know when hedgies typically stop growing?

~Danielle

[Moose]

As long as she can ball up then I'd think she's fine. That seems to be what ppl go by when determining hedgie's healthy weight. I think mine's still growing! I can't believe how big she's gotten and it wasn't a slow growth either. I swear she had a growth spurt in couple of weeks (according to weight charts we keep). My bf just called her buffalo butt! She'd be offended if she knew as she only weighs 320g or so.

[Nancy]

I tend not to believe being able to ball up as a standard for judging obesity. I have a new boy and girl here who are extremely overweight and they can both ball up totally with no effort at all. :)