Kitten Food - How long is okay?

[Igelchen]

Romeo is now 3 months old and weighs about 250 gram. He gets a mix from Royal Canin 37 light, Natural Balance and CSFCLS kitten formula right now. Of course he always eats the kitten stuff first! :)

I know that the kitten food has a very high fat percentage and so I am planing to switch to the CSFCLS adult light formula soon.

My question now is, how long (up to what age) can I give my baby hedgehog kitten food?

I have some of the CSFCLS kitten kibble left and was wondering if it would be okay to continue giving it to my hedgie in a mix for a little longer until it is all gone.

Thanks!

[Nancy]

Unless he looks skinny, I'd cut the kitten food now. Are his side sunken it when you look at him from above? :)

[Igelchen]

Unless he looks skinny, I'd cut the kitten food now. Are his side sunken it when you look at him from above? :)

No, he looks just fine. He certainly is not very big but I don't believe that he is too skinny. It's kind of hard for me to tell because he is my first hedgie so I don't really have any comparison.

He usually eats about 40 kibbles per day/night, sometimes more and sometimes less.

Do you think his weight is okay for his age?

[paris26]

Are you able to post a picture of him? I have an almost 3 yr old hog who weighs 200 grams, a 4 yr old female that weighs 198 grams, and my youngest hogs which are about 1.5 years range from 300-350 grams. It's hard to say what an average weight should be at any age. As long as they are active, eating and eliminating, Romeo is probably just fine.

I agree with Nancy though.. I would use whatever kitten food you have on hand up and then that's it!

[Igelchen]

I posted some pictures of him 2 weeks ago under Hedgie Talk. The threads are "Romeo - Garden and Play Time Pics" and "My little soccer champ".

That's true, you can't really tell what the "right" weight is. Every hedgehog is different. Romeo is active (running in his wheel every night) and eating + drinking normally. Still, I will start tomorrow to switch him from the CSFPLS kitten food to the adult light formula. Do I need to change slowly from one to the other (keep mixing both for a while) like you do with a completely new food or is it okay to stop with the kitten food immediately?

Thanks for all your advice!

[HedgieMate]

I'm sure going cold turkey of any kind presents some degree of stress for HHs. I've read many posts in this forum suggesting to "gradually" switch to new food, so introduce a small portion of adult light formula in his current diet, increase the portion slowly if he takes it, and then eliminate the kitty formula completely once he gets used to it.

How quickly you can move Romeo from the current food to the new formula depends on him. Some hegies are more adaptable and take changes without any resistance. On the other hand, some hedgies are VERY fussy about what they eat and refuse to touch any new food for a long time. For example, our hedgie took almost 5 months to decide that he actually liked eating CSFCLS! :rolleyes: