Questions about Medi-Cal & Eukanuba

[hedgehogmomof2]

I've been reading all the threads about what foods hedgehogs are fed. I'd like to ask what more experienced hedgehog owners think of Medi-Cal cat foods. As I mentioned in another thread, I feed Sophie a combination of 4 Formulas of Medi-Cal. Sleepy gets Eukanuba because that's all he seems to like, other than Purina Kitten Chow, which he loved until I switched to Eukanuba.

Ideally, I'd like to cut back to one Medi-Cal formula and add some Eukanuba into Sophie's mix, or another brand, preferrably a little cheaper. Below is a list of the first 4 or 5 ingredients of each Medi-Cal formula currently in her mix, along with the protein, fat & fibre percentages. I'd appreciate your opinions on this food, if I should keep a Medi-Cal formula, which one? What brands do you recommend adding?

Medi-Cal Development (kitten) Formula
Ingredients: Chicken Meal, Rice Flour, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, Rosemary Extract, Citric Acid & Lecithin), Dried Whole Egg, Corn Gluten ...

Protein (chicken, egg, fish) 34.6%
Fat (flax, docosahexaenoic acid, chicken) 21.7%
Fiber (beet pulp) 1.8%

Medi-Cal Preventative (optimize health) Formula
Ingredients: Brewer's Rice, Chicken Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, Rosemary Extract, Citric Acid & Lecithin), Corn ...

Protein (chicken, corn gluten, egg) 31.4%
Fat (fish, flax, chicken) 21.5 %
Fiber (beet pulp) 1.3%

Medi-Cal Weight Control Formula
Ingredients: Brewers Rice, Chicken Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Corn, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, Rosemary Extract, Citric Acid and Lecithin)

Protein (chicken, corn gluten, egg) 31.9%
Fat (flax, fish, chicken) 11.4%
Fiber (pea fibre, beet pulp) 4.4%

Medi-Cal Mature Formula
Ingredients: Rice Flour, Corn, Chicken Meal, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, Rosemary Extract, Citric Acid and Lecithin), Corn Gluten Meal

Protein (chicken, corn gluten, fish, plasma, egg) 27.2%
Fat (fish, flax, chicken) 15.6%
Fiber (rice, corn) 2.0%

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Eukanuba Adult Chicken & Rice
Ingredients: Chicken, Chicken Liver, Chicken By-Product Meal, Brewers Rice, Chicken By-Products

Crude protein not less than 34%
Crude fat not less than 21%
Crude fiber not more than 2.5%

That is what I currently feed Sleepy, but was thinking of changing to the Eukanuba Adult Weight Control.

Ingredients: Chicken, Chicken By-Product Meal, Chicken Liver, Corn Grits, Corn Meal

Crude protein not less than 30%
Crude fat not less than 12%
Crude fat not more than 14.5%
Crude fiber not more than 2.5%

Does anyone recommend changing to the weight control Eukanuba? Should I keep any of the Medi-Cal formulas?

Any input would be very much appreciated. I'm sorry for making this so long and tedious. I just want the best for my little hedgies.

[Ododad]

I have no knowledge of Medi-Cal foods but I am impressed with how hard you are trying to ensure your hedgies good health. kudo's to you! :applause:

[PrettyHate]

Note that the Medi-cal does not have any by-products, and that the Eukanuba does. That said I would take the Medi-Cal over the Eukanuba.

As far as which Medical, I would go for either the weight reduction, or the senior. Perhaps the weight reduction...it has more fiber. Yay for keeping hedgies "regular". The adult or kitten would be alright if it was only a small portion of the mix. Both of them are quite high in fat.

Eukanuba is made by the same company as Iams. Cant say Im a big fan of Iams...IMO Eukanuba is just an over priced version of an otherwise not so great food.

Other foods you may consider switching over to (or adding to your mix) may include:

Royal Canin Slim 38
Buffalo Blue
Wellness/Wellness Lite
Wysong
Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul

Good luck.

[Nancy]

I have no knowledge of Medi-Cal foods but I am impressed with how hard you are trying to ensure your hedgies good health. kudo's to you! :applause:

Billy, Medi-cal is Canadian and around here is only sold through the vet.

My gang used to get Medi-cal Weight Control in their mix. It was one of their favourites but I haven't had it recently. I guess the main reason being I don't think of it unless I'm at the vets. :laugh:

[hedgehogmomof2]

I'm going to try mixing some Medi-Cal in with Sleepy's food tonight. He really loves Eukanuba, so hopefully he won't just pick out the Eukanuba pieces. It would certainly be nice to have both hedgies eating the same foods. It would be a lot cheaper that way. I will probably see what samples I can get from other vets. Hopefully they'll have samples of Royal Canin or another high quality food so that I don't have to buy a bag to find out the hedgies won't eat it.

Thankyou to everyone who's replied so far. :)

[Nancy]

The vets usually don't carry Royal Canin but petstores often have sample bags of it. Most large chain stores have food reps and just ask one of them for a sample. Also Royal Canin comes in a very small trial sized bag which I think costs about $3.00.

The vet will probably have Science Diet and keep in mind that the vets Science Diet and the one sold in stores are different quality. :)

[hedgehogmomof2]

I tried to be sneaky last night and add Medi-Cal to Sleepy's food. I broke the pieces up tiny, along with breaking up the Eukanuba, hoping he'd eat it all. No such luck! Sleepy picked out the Eukanuba and left the Medi-Cal.

I'm going to check at a couple different vet offices and see if I can get some Science Diet or something the same shape as the Eukanuba.

When I got Sophie from the breeder, a small bag of Royal Canin Slim 38 was included (I had forgotten the name of the food or I would have mentioned it earlier). I tried mixing this with the Eukanuba for Sleepy, but he wouldn't eat it. Sophie ate the Royal Canin until I mixed it with a small sample of the Medi-Cal that I'd gotten from the vet's office. After that, she would only eat the Medi-Cal, which is why I switched in the first place.

Sophie seems to be a picky hedgehog. She won't eat Eukanuba, chicken, sweet potato, squash, mealies or caterpillars. I've offered all of these on more than one occasion. Is it alright for her to eat just a cat food diet or should I keep trying with the chicken, etc.?

[Nancy]

Very often when adding a new food, if they really like the food they will eat only it for a while. Just keep giving her the Royal Canin with the Medical and I'm sure she'll soon be eating both. For some of my more stubborn ones I will put only a tiny amount of the prefered food in with the others. That way is they get the one they want but still have to eat the other food too. They really do need a mix of foods and sometimes we have to be sneaky about it. :laugh:

Sometimes if takes numerous times of offering a new food before they will eat it. Yes they can be picky little things. :)

[hedgehogmomof2]

Thankyou for the advice. Tonight I will add less Eukanuba and more Medi-Cal to the mix. I won't break it up because Sleepy doesn't like his food crunched up. He shows less interest when it's crunched up than when it's left whole.

Thanks again!