Would this food work?

[Hoovershounds]

I am already using the Chicken soup lite and PMI exclusive lite and was wondering if this looks like it would make a good addition to what i all ready have.

Ingredients
Wheat Flour, Ground Whole Wheat, Corn Gluten Meal, Peanut Flour, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of natural Vitamin E), Wheat Bran, Chicken Meal, Ground Rice, Lamb Meal, Wheat Gluten, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Monosodium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Malted Barley Flour, Iron Oxide, Brewers Dried Yeast, Choline Chloride, Zinc Sulfate, dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E Supplement), Biotin, Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Ascorbic Acid ( source of Vitamin C), Ferrous Sulfate (source of Iron), Vitamin A Supplement, Sodium Selenite (source of Selenium), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Manganous Oxide, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide (source of Iodine), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Cupric Oxide.


Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (minimum) 26.00%
Crude Fat (minimum) 8.00%
Crude Fiber (maximum) 3.00%
Moisture (maximum) 11.00%
Ascorbic Acid (minimum)* 35 mg/kg

Amy

[hemi_mygirl]

I'm no expert on food, but those first 5 ingredients look sketchy to me. There's no meat meal in there...just chicken FAT meal. As a rule of thumb, any good hedgie food should have some form of meat meal (chicken or whatnot) in the first 5 ingredients.

But the fat content looks good, nice low number of 8%. The protein could be higher though, I feel.

[PrettyHate]

Id say no. The first 5 ingredients dont have any kind of protien source from a meat- infract, the first protien source doesnt show up until ingredient #7 and then again at #9- at which point there basicially isnt very much. Ingredients are listed from the highest concentration to the lowest concentration.

What food is that anyways? Ive never seen anything that at least doesnt have a by-product by ingredient #3 or #4.

As said above, protien should be higher (30-34%), fat is alright (should be around or below 10%). I wouldnt bother adding it since the actual protien sourse are so far down the list, most of this food is wheat and corn.

[horsegal]

I would agree with PrettyHate there isn't enough meat or even meat meal. What kind is it?

[HedgeMom]

That looks more like a dog cookie ingredient list than a kibble list.

[PrettyHate]

Did a search for those ingredients- I came up with Nutro Puppy Drumsticks (You were right Nancy).

http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/product_detail.asp?pf_id=2032402&dept_id=292&brand_id=14&Page=

In which case no- not a good addition to your hedgies kibbles.

[HedgeMom]

Did a search for those ingredients- I came up with Nutro Puppy Drumsticks (You were right Nancy).

http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/product_detail.asp?pf_id=2032402&dept_id=292&brand_id=14&Page=

In which case no- not a good addition to your hedgies kibbles.

HAHAHAHA! Do you know how SCARY it is that I knew that? I'm going down a list of ingredients in acceptable foods that I just happen to remember and think "Self, that sounds like a dog cookie recipe". :rofl:

Maybe I should switch to reading romance novels and skip the pet food lables for a while.

[Hoovershounds]

WOW!!! You guys are really good. That is exactly what it is. Nutro dog biscuits. I thought that maybe I could put it in the food processor to make the peices smaller and that it would add fiber/filler to the mix. After looking around I think maybe the Exclusive low fat dog food would work???

Crude Protein, minimum 26.0% Vitamin A, minimum 20,000 IU/kg
Crude Fat, minimum 9.0% Vitamin E, minimum 150 IU/kg
Crude Fat, maximum 11.0% Zinc, minimum 180 ppm
Crude Fiber, maximum 3.0% Omega-6 Fatty Acids, min 1.7%*
Moisture, maximum 10.0% Omega-3 Fatty Acids, min 0.3%*
Ash, maximum 6.0% Glucosamine Hydrochloride, min 450 ppm*
Calcium (Ca), minimum 1.0% Chondroitin Sulfate, minimum 150 ppm*
Phosphorus (P), minimum 0.8%
*Not recognized as an essential nutrient by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profile.

INGREDIENTS: Chicken, chicken meal, oatmeal, whole grain brown rice, rice flour, corn gluten
meal, brewers rice, dried beet pulp, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a source of vitamin E), flaxseed, dried egg product, natural chicken flavor, brewers dried yeast, potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, glucosamine hydrochloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate,
chondroitin sulfate, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate,
sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement,
menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulfite (source of vitamin K activity), riboflavin,
vitamin D supplement, folic acid


I understand that there should be variety & I am really trying to get it. I don't feel that feeding two or three different kinds of cat food offers a whole lot of variety when they all have the same basic ingredients.

[hemi_mygirl]

That looks better, since chicken and chicken meal are the first 2 ingredients. The protein itself is still on the low side, but since it's added to the mix, it should be fine. Although...I'm kind of iffy about the oatmeal in there...I've never heard of that used. Experienced food people! What do you think? LOL.

As for the dog food, I know my Hemi loves the Royal Canin dog food I add to her mix. It's the first thing that she eats.

[Hoovershounds]

I think Prettyhate uses royal canine dog food in her mix too but it has higher fat? and I was trying to stay on the low side. Boy this is ruff. Why cant someone just make a good hedgehog food. They could charge a billion dollars for it & I would still buy it (on credit of course) just so that this whole food thing would be easier.
Amy