Adding vitamen A? - Losing weight

Hi all,
I haven't posted in ages, but have a question. Winston went to the vet today as he has gone from about 475 to 415 in the last few weeks. The vet can't find anything wrong with him. In fact, she says he's pretty much perfect health wise. She did notice ridges on his nails, and is wondering if his recent weight loss is due to a vitamen deficiency. She recommended adding or changing some of his food to something with more vitamen A.

He currently gets Acana Grasslands cat and Innova low fat adult cat, along with either some cooked chicken or mealworms every night. He's been eating normally and is still active and pooping every night. The vet also asked me to bring him back in if he goes below 400 weight wise.

Can someone please suggest another way of adding vitamen A to his diet? Should I look at changing or adding to his food? He doesn't seem to be wanting a change in food as he has in the past, but I don't mind adding to it slowly. Thanks!!

Hadn't heard of hedgie needing more vitamin A before... quite interesting.

My first thought would be to find some foods with more vitamin A and let him have those. Things like sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, etc... I suggest these as they seem to be favored by my little ones. But there are others - probably a google search would turn them up. See if he'll try a little. You can get an actual sweet potato/carrot/squash and prepare it - some for him; a lot for you. Or check out the baby food aisle.

If you really don't want to change his diet or he turns up his nose at other foods after you try and try, I'd suggest you find a gel cap version of what the vet recommended, get a needle, poke the gel capsule, and put some drops on his kibble. A giant caution: I have no idea what the dosing for your hedgie should be. I know there are problems if a person overdoses on it - it can become toxic. Thus, I'd assume the same holds true for hedgies. I just don't know where the line between helpful and hurtful is - like, if it's the difference between one drop vs two drops OR the difference between a couple drops vs eating the entire bottle. Definitely check in with your vet about safe/dangerous amounts before going this route.

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll have to look for new food with more vitamin A, as he won't touch any fruit or veg. I've tried before - fresh, steamed, baby food. The only time he'll eat it is if the chicken is in it, and then he only takes the chicken out. Hmm. Maybe sweet potato baby food over chicken will do the trick. We shall see...

Even if he's just pulling out the chicken, I'll guess that there's at least a little veggie that's stuck to the chicken... might be enough Also, the powers that be (Gerber, Beech Nut...) do make chicken & squash in one jar - so maybe? There are a couple other combos out there that combine veggies and meat.

I have a little boy who seems not to recognize fruits or veggies as food unless I'm squirting them through an oral syringe... upon which he laps them up quite enthusiastically... biting and tugging on the syringe for more. I have no idea how common his behavior is - maybe worth a shot? Or maybe my little guy is just funny that way.

Good luck! You'll have to keep us posted on your food adventures.

I've tried the chicken and veg mixes in the past with the same though. No go. He has syringe ate meds before, but only the super good tasting ones. The rest I've had to inject with pointy syringes into his chicken. Good thing he likes his chicken!! We shall see. Thanks again