Food allergy/ irritable bowel

[Q-Bert's Mom]

Does anyone out there have any experience with a hedgehog that can only tolerate certain foods? My new little guy had nasty poops for the first 5 weeks I had him (he's 12 weeks old now). I thought maybe it was the change in food (the breeder was feeding Insectivore Fare, I was feeding Wellness Lite). I did a fecal float (twice) and both were negative for intestinal parasites. I did a fecal smear that was loaded with bacteria, so I put him on a course of antibiotics with a bland diet (Hills i/d canned) and some yogurt. Didn't help much. Some, but not much. I put him back on the Wellness and the poops went right back downhill again. I recently switched him to dry Hills c/ds (also a bland diet) and that seemed to help a lot. I'm also adding in now Purina Veterinary Diet EN (for animals with gastrointestinal issues like irritable bowel syndrome). His poops are perfect now.

I'm thinking that I may need to always feed him the EN and be careful about whatever else I feed him. I'm going to start keeping a log about what I give him and how his poops turn out. I'm just curious to know if anyone else has had a similar problem with any of their hedgies and what has worked well for them. Hope to hear from someone!! :)

[Nancy]

Our Daisy had rank, soft poops for probably 7 months. Her poop just reeked and was softer and lighter coloured than the others. You always knew when she had pooped just by the smell.... and there were 15 other hh's in the room but she was the only one you could smell. She ate the same as the others but she has finally got normal smelling and texture poops. For some reason she just took 3 times longer than the rest.

At one point in time we tried our gang on Hill's Science Diet, pet store version. All of them were fine with it but Snow. She vomited it and had violent diarehea from it. Snow also is one that if she eats too many mealies at a time will have bright neon glow in the dark green poop. Obviously she has a more sensitive digestive tract than the rest.

I think some hedgehogs just cannot tolerate certain foods, much like people. :)

[IanV]

My vet told me years ago to use a little bit of yogurt with active Acidopholis cultures (I think thats what its called...its late). I know I had to look around a bit to find it, but it worked great for me. Worth a shot at least.
Ian

[Q-Bert's Mom]

IanV, I did try the yogurt for a little while, but it didn't seem to help much. I'm thinking now that it really doesn't have to do with the amount of bacteria in his system. I think his little body is just sensitive to certain kinds of food for whatever reason, and I'll need to do some trial an error with his food. I work for a vet, and I certainly see this often enough in dogs and cats. It's frustrating, but I'll figure out what's best for him!